All my own children and three of my grandchildren were successfully educated there, so I take a strong interest in the debate about the future of the school: not least the prospect of it becoming an academy, redesignated as a Church of England school, and part of the Woodard Corporation to which Lancing College belongs.

We are now in the consultation period when the local people of Lancing and Sompting have the opportunity to express their opinion about what should happen to their community school.

In the interest of the children of the villages today and in the future, and for the sake of local democracy, I hope as many of your readers as possible will take this opportunity, which comes now, once and for ever.

Will all local children continue to have the right to attend school if it becomes part of Woodard?

Will the curriculum have to change?

Will religious rites be practised at the school?

What will be the relationship with local feeder schools?

Will future financing help Boundstone close the gap between itself and Lancing College, and who will control these finances?

What will be the effect on the teachers and other staff?

Have other schools redesignated academies all been successful?

Who will be controlling the school, and what say will parents have?

These questions are all totally separate from whether the buildings should be replaced.

Schools all over the country are being replaced without being redesignated or changing control.

If Boundstone needs new buildings, it must get them, whether it becomes a church school and part of Woodard or not.

But the questions above are hugely important.

Now is the time to ask them.

Stephen Love
Boundstone head teacher 1970 to 1994, Henfield