TWO Bracknell Forest primary schools hosting polling stations will have to close on election day to avoid a “safeguarding nightmare.”
Wildridings Primary School and Wooden Hill Primary School will shut on Thursday, December 12 after both were sites were chosen as polling stations for future elections in October.
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This includes the general election in little more than a week’s time, leaving teachers at Wildridings Primary School no option but to close the site to avoid a “safeguarding headache”.
Headteacher Simon Cope told the News the polling station can only be accessed through the middle of the school.
He said bosses had conversations about leaving half the school open on election day, but this means the school would “still have random people walking around the site”.
Mr Cope added: “All it would take is a person with a dodgy background and it would be a safeguarding nightmare.”
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The school shuts the day before Wildridings students are due to stage their third Christmas nativity play, which was originally scheduled for December 12, but had to be put back because of the closure.
Despite this, he said the closure would mean “minimal disruption” for the performing children, as they will have already staged two plays by polling day.
“It is more disruption for the parents in terms of finding childcare”, Mr Cope said.
“It is not great that we have to close the school and but on the other hand we are trying to support our community.
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“The guys who have been organising it have been great - they wanted to use the church opposite but they can’t hold it there.
“The only place that is the right location is the school.”
Wooden Hill Primary School will also close on Thursday, December 12, with their nursery and reception Christmas show due to go ahead the following day.
Councillors at Bracknell Forest Council (BFC) reviewed the borough’s polling stations following local and European elections in May.
A consultation returned 36 objections to Wildridings Primary School being used as a polling station, with a further 28 opposition comments about the use of Wooden Hill being used as a polling station.
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BFC’s top team confirmed polling places at a meeting on Tuesday, October 22.
Cllr Chris Turrell said at the meeting: “This is to ensure everybody in our borough can exercise their democratic right to vote in a convenient location that is fully accessible to them.
“2019 has been busy in terms of elections and there were a number of submissions about this, not least from people who were concerned about the use of schools.
“Over the years we have moved away from and tried to eliminate it because we do recognise the concerns parents have about the disruption to schooling.”
Sandhurst School, a secondary with more than 1,000 students, now hosts College Town voters on election day instead of College Town Infant School.
However, a representative from Sandhurst School told the News this would mean “minimal disruption” for the students as it would not be closing.
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