Parents of Scoill Vallajeelt, Douglas, have voiced their concerns after their petition with 401 signatures was dismissed by education bosses.

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture last week announced that there had been just two formal objections to a proposal to move St Thomas’s Church of England School to the same site as Scoill Vallajeelt.

What it didn’t say was that one of those formal objections had been signed by 401 people.

During his discussion at Tynwald’s social affairs policy review meeting on March 16, Education Minister Graham Cregeen, said: ’Looking at that petition, some people have taken it round their work, just to get their colleagues to sign it.

’So I would question whether some of those people were signing it, whether it was just because colleagues asked you to sign at petition it’s not going to cost you anything just because you put your name down.

’We’ve taken it seriously. We’ve looked at all their objections... and we think we’ve addressed everything that they’ve put forward.’

Virginia Harding and Christine Sutton, parents of children who attend Vallajeelt, have called the proposal a ’moral issue’.

Christine said: ’The minister’s response is very dismissive.

’People have an opinion about the co-location proposal and feel strongly about what is happening and those who signed are registered voters. Parents and residents living near the school signed the proposal.

’I also got my neighbours to sign too.’

Virginia agreed: ’Everybody can be concerned with it, they don’t have to be attached to the school.’

Examples made in the petition included the children having a sense of inequality due to being in different schools on the same site and issues with impeded traffic in the area.

Christine explained: ’Co-locating the two schools would create segregation, as it’s setting people apart in different groups. Yes, Vallajeelt has the capacity to have more children come in, but has the department consulted a psychologist about the impact of having separate schools, on the same site, on the children?

’They’ve just looked at logistics and capacity and think it will be a good idea, but they’ve not looked at the human side of it.

’If plans go ahead, we will make the parents and children feel very welcome, but I do believe that coming into an established school will be a set back for the St Thomas’s students.

’I grew up in segregated education in Northern Ireland and I was affected by it, as I was part of the faith school and was treated differently.’

Virginia, a coffee shop manager from Braddan, added: ’During playtimes, there will be different groups of children with different uniforms from different classrooms. It’s going to stand out.

’The department is already changing our side of our school to have different entrances, different headteacher’s offices and different classrooms.

’We think both schools would be better merged. Vallajeelt has so many races and religions, that’s what’s good about it.’

Christine, who is a human resources consultant from Douglas, said: ’This was never a proposal, it was going to happen whether they got hundreds of rejections or not.

’The way they have handled it is very wrong.’

The department will seek approval for the co-location under the Education Act 2001 at next month’s sitting of Tynwald.

WHAT DOES CO-LOCATION MEAN?

The Department of Education, Sport and Culture has proposed ’co-locating’ St Thomas’s Church of England Primary School on Scoill Vallajeelt’s site on Meadow Cresent, Douglas.

They would remain separate schools, with different teachers and headteachers.

But they would share facilities such as the dining hall and the playground.

St Thomas’s is based on Finch Road, Douglas, in a building that’s no longer fit for purpose.

A falling school roll means that Vallajeelt has plenty of space unused.

Because St Thomas’s is a faith-based school - the island’s only Church of England school - any child in the island can go there.

Vallajeelt is like the other state schools and has a local catchment area.

Some parents have suggested a full merger between the schools. But that misses the point about catchment areas.

Whether the state should fund faith schools at all is another issue that has been raised.

The recommendation to co-locate the schools goes before Tynwald next month.

This week’s Isle of Man Examiner editorial comment is about this subject.