Schools plan climbdown

ShirehallA climbdown by Shirehall leaders which would secure the future of two Shropshire schools could be the blueprint to save others, it has been claimed.

Shropshire County Council is preparing to scrap plans to merge Lydbury North school near Bishop’s Castle with Clunbury School. Council leader Malcolm Pate will instead urge colleagues to allow the schools to form a “federation”.

The scheme will mean they maintain their individual sites and share resources.

The news has been greeted with delight by Lydbury North campaigners who have fought hard to prevent a merger.

A statement from the school’s governors said: “This is a chance to pioneer an exciting way of working which could pave the way for other rural schools in Shropshire.”

But there is anger elsewhere in the county with the news that the proposal to to amalgamate Oakland and Longmeadow primary schools in Bayston Hill, near Shrewsbury, is still on the table.

Governors, parents and staff from Oakland have been among the most vocal opponents in Shropshire over the council’s proposals.

Parent Keeley Caudwell has one child already at Oakland and her son Benjamin, four, is due to start in January.

She said: “I’m disgusted, I really am. Everything we have done since January of this year has been ignored, not listened to and swept under the carpet.”

The full set of recommendations, to cabinet on Wednesday, are that discussions take place regarding a proposal to run Lydbury North and Clunbury schools under a federated governance arrangement; the director of children and young people’s services is to report back in December on whether to proceed; a new school to be built at Ashford Carbonell to serve Ashford Carbonell and Caynham; a single school to serve all of Bayston Hill (replacing Longmeadow and Oakland schools, on the current Longmeadow site); that the following schools in Shrewsbury combine to form all-through primaries – Grange Infant and Junior, Mount Pleasant Infant and Junior, Springfield Infant and Holy Cross Junior, and Meole Brace Infant and Junior, together with Oswestry Infant and Beech Grove Junior.

By Education Correspondent Dave Morris

This article posted on November 12, 2008 at 11:45 and tagged; , , , ,

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2 Comments

  1. tory boy said: Nov 12th, 2008 at 18:59

    typical of labour to close our rural schools whilst flooding failing schools in their yards like sunderland, manchester etc with heaps of taxpayers cash, we should improve our good shropshire schools and close the bad ones in the slums, this is competition, open market education and it will be good for everyone

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  2. Still Tudor said: Nov 16th, 2008 at 16:00

    Tory boy-

    Didn’t you realise that funding for educating kids in urban Shrewsbury is routinely being diverted to support rural schools in backwoods Shropshire.

    Competitive open market education it ain’t– presumably, if it was, there would be more outstanding rural schools.

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