Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand slams plans to close old school (From News Shopper)

Rio Ferdinand speaks out on Greenwich Council's Blackheath Bluecoat closure plans

8:00am Tuesday 20th September 2011 in Top Stories Exclusive By Mark Chandler

ENGLAND and Manchester United footballer Rio Ferdinand has slammed plans to close his old secondary school.

Proposals to shut Blackheath Bluecoat in Old Dover Road, are set to be endorsed at a Greenwich Council cabinet meeting tonight.

Under the plans, the school, which has 631 pupils drawn from Greenwich, Lewisham and beyond, could shut by August 2013.

Ferdinand told News Shopper: “If the school is closed it would be a real shame as both myself and brother Anton had a great grounding there.

“The area is being regenerated and I feel the school is needed now.

“It would be a sad day for me if it was to be shut down.”

The cabinet report says falling pupil numbers have led to reduced government funding and a deficit of £1.184m, expected to hit £1.521m next year.

Officers wrote: “On current trends, there is no sign the school’s position is likely to improve substantially in the foreseeable future.”

But Barbara Taylor, 40, whose 11-year-old daughter Emily has just started there, said: “It’s very, very sad.

“Schools like this should be treasured.

“The teachers are lovely - they take really good care of the children.”

Executive headteacher Jeffrey Risbridger said the news had hit staff and governors “very hard”.

He said: “The council’s own enrolment figures show there are currently 838 spare secondary school places in Greenwich spread across a number of schools.

“It would seem the council’s aim is to reduce this surplus by focusing it on one school and then closing it.

“We find it hard to see why this should be Blackheath Bluecoat School.

"This is the only Church of England secondary school in the borough and enormous progress has been made in raising academic standards.”

He claimed this year’s record GCSE results and last year’s satisfactory Ofsted report showed Bluecoat was improving.

Bluecoat keeps pupils in the grounds for its 'compressed' 8.30am to 2.30pm school day. There is also a police presence outside with some pupils searched on their way in and out.

If the proposals are agreed, staff, parents, governors and other schools will be consulted before any final decision.

Where will the pupils go?

The council claims there are enough vacancies elsewhere for Bluecoat’s pupils.

Officers say demand could be met by a new University Technical College taking 14 to 19-year-olds, long-delayed plans for a school on Greenwich peninsula and an extra year group at Thomas Tallis.

Leader of Greenwich Conservatives Councillor Spencer Drury called the plans “astonishing” considering increased demand for places.

He said: “What we’re saying is we’ve got a school here which works fine in terms of its building and we’re going to close it.

“It’s a shocking decision to come to so suddenly.”

Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock said: “If it’s closed, that would be something we’d want to look at seriously and carefully.”