SOME of your readers may be wondering why the good news about Devon's successful bid for Building Schools for the Future support does not extend to Queen Elizabeth's in Crediton.

Having been closely involved with the bid from the outset, as Chair of the Devon Association of Secondary Heads, I can maybe correct some misunderstandings.

Although QE has the worst "split" site in Devon and despite previous commitments from Devon that solving this issue was a priority for the County, BSF operates in such a way as to make this impossible to fulfil in the first wave.

In order to be in the first tranche of schools, projects had to meet criteria laid down by the Government. These are based primarily on attainment and deprivation, with the state of buildings being much lower on the list.

All Devon's secondary schools were assessed against these criteria and the first five decided on this basis.

I have fought long and hard as Chair of DASH for the County to adopt fair, transparent and objective criteria for decisions about the distribution to schools of ALL the resources they have at their disposal, so am fully supportive of the way this process was carried out and delighted that we have been successful.

At QE we also hope that having gained early entry to the BSF scheme, Devon will be able to pursue the long stated priority of a single site school for Crediton in the near future, particularly as this would significantly aid the Rugby Club in attaining their much needed new grounds.

Richard Newton Chance

Principal

Queen Elizabeth's

Community College

Crediton