I have learned with horror that Hampshire County Council are proposing to close Stubbington Study Centre to provide the site for a new 'specialist secure welfare children's home'.

It would appear that, although there is a short period of consultation, the closure of this wonderful environmental study centre on the coast is a done deal.

During my twenty-five years as a Primary School Headteacher in Hampshire, we took hundreds of Year 6 pupils to the Centre for a week of scientific and creative study from first-hand experience and watched our children grow and flourish, taking on leadership roles in team-building activities.

For many, it was their first time away from home, and organising themselves required new skills and responsibilities. The Centre has touched the lives of thousands of children from socially deprived areas to wealthy suburbs and, for many, it has provided a life-changing experience.

In my long retirement I walk forty miles a week; I rarely, if ever, see young children outside the classroom breathing fresh air and exploring the environment they are told to care so much about.

Children as young as five are imprisoned in their classrooms learning formal English grammar and mathematics to the virtual exclusion of a broad and balanced rich curriculum which embraces the world around them. An experience like Stubbington gives children a chance to apply and develop skills they have learned in the classroom.

The closure of this Centre by politicians who know nothing of the vast educational and social benefits the Centre provides would be misguided, foolish and reprehensible. How dare they deny the opportunities to the young who are our future?!

Primary education has become stilted, driven by statistics and test results. Hampshire County Council should put our children first and find another site for their specialist secure children's home. Long may Stubbington Centre flourish and be a landmark experience for children in the future.

Bob Sprague
Chandler's Ford