Autumn 2023

FEATURE
Community Assets Survey
public sector to show it can be
multi-functional, entrepreneurial
and provide excellence for all
ages of the population from the
ruins of a once great school.
The Parish Council will apply
to have the old High Weald
buildings as community assets,
and KCC needs to take the Long
Field off the market now that
construction of houses has been
refused at appeal. It should be
reserved for education until this
project is approved or the issues
addressed.
Data needs to be collected
from key players, such as the
existing primary and secondary
schools to show the destination
of their pupils, the Department
of Education, Leigh Academy
Trust, (plus another trust), KCC
education and politicians, TWBC,
parish and local education
leaders, to establish how to make
it happen. Parents need to be
involved, as it is their children’s
futures that are at stake.
Our plans are ambitious, but
Councillor David Selby led a project to ask
parishioners if they thought the parish needs
additional space for 1) a Pre-school, 2) delivery of
Youth Services and well-being activities and 3) Adult
Education.
Online and paper replies numbered 213, and the
results were:
Yes Maybe No
Pre-school 181 (85%) 30 2
Youth services 198 (93%) 14 1
Adult Education 164 (77%) 38 11
Although not statistically significant, it shows a
groundswell of opinion that we lack basic space for
these important community building spaces.
“Discontent arises from a knowledge
of the possible, as contrasted with
the actual.”
ANEURIN BEVAN: IN PLACE OF FEAR
the High Weald has been left
out and is now disadvantaged.
Should our community be
disadvantaged for helping the
less fortunate? No, we should be
rewarded.
Kim Fletcher, chairman,
Cranbrook and Sissinghurst
Parish Council
CLOSURE OF RAINBOW
PRE-SCHOOL
July 21 was a sad day for pre-school
children and their parents as the
Rainbow pre-school closed due to the
loss of its premises at the primary
school. Tears were shed as the staff and
trustees held a farewell event at the end
of their last summer term.
The school has operated for 42 years,
and prepared hundreds of children for
starting primary school. Pre-schools
socialise children and show them how
to get on with one another, playing
and learning the basics together. They
ensure children go on to primary school
ready to learn, able to eat and go to
the toilet. Children who have been to
pre-school have a head start when they
go to primary, making it easier for them
and the staff.
The government claims to support
working mums and does fund some
childcare schemes, but what’s the point
if they fail to support pre-schools like
this. This removal of service will be felt
for generations to come, as pre-school
is the start learning, of creating a
community and of finding friendships
that could last all their lives.
There has been frantic activity to
try to find another space in Cranbrook
to no avail. A very tearful trustee,
Nita Chandler, said that she had tried
everywhere to find a space for the last
year. Parish councillor David Sykes
organised a questionnaire to gather
data to enable the parish council to
apply for a grant to buy redundant
buildings that may be able to house a
new pre-school.
HAVE YOUR VOICE
If you are at all concerned about the closure of
local pre-schools like Rainbow or secondary schools like the High
Weald, don’t just sit there, STAND UP AND BE COUNTED. We are
inviting everyone to have their say on this important matter at
public meetings in the Vestry Hall at 2pm and 8pm on 4 October.
Come and add your voice to the re-establishment of proper
education in Cranbrook.
The Cake • Autumn 2023 13