Keep school open (From York Press)

Keep school open

9:43am Wednesday 2nd May 2012 in Letters

I WRITE in defence of Burnholme Community College. This school is invaluable as a venue for adult education classes and is a magnet for adults all over York.

There is also a demographic consideration. London and the south east have so many people from many countries that space in schools has run out.

Further north and only a small train ride from York, schools in Peterborough have run out of places. Classes are taught in multiple languages. York is not an offshore island and it is inevitable that the crush of population pressure will expand northwards.

The inevitable implication is that a school such as Burnholme will be vital in the years to come. Giving up the land to housing when Derwenthorpe represents further population increase in the near future would be very short-sighted.

Chris Clayton, Hempland Drive, York.

• HAVING read about Burnholme Community College closing, I find it a no-brainer when the playing fields back on to the Derwenthorpe building site. It’s obvious that the council will want to extend the building site, quite forgetting that for that a large percentage of the houses built will want school places.

Mike Dagnell, Bedale Avenue, York.