My name is Edward, and I am nine years old. I go to Cradoc School, and I wanted to tell people what’s really happening at my school.

When I started at Cradoc, I was only four. Even then, people were talking about closing our school. I helped in the ‘Save Cradoc School‘ campaign and sang a song that said:

Save our community, that’s what we want to see,

Say no to closure, rebuild our school, don’t want to lose it,

’Cos that’s not cool, keep us together and we can see this through,

Please save our community.

I sung this to the tune of ‘You’ve Got a Friend in Me’.

I really thought the grown-ups had listened, but now they’re closing our school again, even though the new one they promised hasn’t even been built yet!

We were told that Cradoc would stay open until the new school was ready. Everyone believed that. But they’re closing it early, and it doesn’t feel fair. The numbers of pupils have gone down, but not because children don’t want to be here but because of the choices made by the people who were supposed to look after us.

They stopped our breakfast and after-school club, took away our play equipment, and made parents feel there was no point in sending children here anymore because it will close soon. That’s what made the numbers go down. It makes me cross because the things that they did on purpose made some of my friends leave so that they would have an excuse to close the school early.

At school we are taught to tell the truth, to keep our promises, and to do the right thing. We learn about honesty all the time. But some grown-ups haven’t done that. They said one thing and did another. They broke their promise, and that’s not right.

The grown ups who decided this who are in charge of my school are meant to care about the children of Cradoc, but instead they made things worse for us. They didn’t tell the truth, and they broke their promises. It makes me feel really sad. The people making these decisions in the council look at numbers on paper. They see how many children there are, and think about money. They don’t see what we see every day. They don’t see our teachers who care about us, our friends, and the fields where we play and learn.

Cradoc might not be as big as some of the schools in town, but it’s where we belong. We have fields, trees, and forest school. We can run, slide down bankings, climb trees, build dens, play football, make mudpies, explore, and learn about all about nature. That’s how I learn best. The other schools are in town, with hardly any space. They’re crowded and noisy, and it would be hard for children like me who love being outdoors.

I really hope that they don’t close Cradoc now. If you do, they’re making money more important than children, and that isn’t fair. They have broken a promise, and promises should be kept especially to children. Schools should be about learning, caring, and doing the right thing. I really hope that they will do the right thing now for the children and the staff at Cradoc, and keep Cradoc open at least until the new school is ready.

Edward Carr (Age 9)