How changes would hit Shropshire schools

An “all through” school could be created at Rhyn Park, St Martins, near Oswestry, for pupils aged three to 16.

A small Shropshire secondary school, which faced the threat of closure under an education shake-up, could be safeguarded by linking it with a primary school.

The move would create an “all through” school at St Martins, near Oswestry, for pupils aged three to 16.

Ifton Heath Primary would combine with Rhyn Park School, which has arts college status, on the Rhyn Park site.

Across the county seven individual schools have been earmarked for closure, while another amalgamation of two schools in Shawbury is also proposed.

A report to Shropshire Council’s cabinet says the St Martins proposals would safeguard the future of Rhyn Park School and secondary education in the area, along with community facilities, and provide a “vibrant new learning environment” for pupils of Ifton Heath.

The primary school has 191 pupils but places for 210, while Rhyn Park has 365 pupils in buildings with 541 places.

Among the other proposals going before cabinet next Tuesday are plans to create a single school in Shawbury by combining Shawbury Primary – which has 101 pupils on roll but 147 places – with St Mary’s School – which has 142 pupils on roll but 147 places – on the current Shawbury Primary site.

Only 22 pupils out of the total 243 currently come from outside the combined catchment area.

It is also proposed to extend Buntingsdale Infant School near Market Drayton into a full primary. It almost exclusively serves the military bases at Tern Hill.

At present, pupils transfer to Market Drayton Junior but the report says this means another change in the lives of service family children who generally undergo more transitions than pupils from civilian families.

The Wakeman secondary school in Shrewsbury would close in the summer of 2013. Pupils would be offered places at Meole Brace School.

The other proposed closures are Barrow, Hopton Wafers, Onny, Maesbury, Stiperstones and Lydbury North primaries

Barrow School, near Broseley, has 27 pupils on roll but 70 places. Almost all its pupils live outside the catchment area and there are said to be “ample” school places in Broseley.

Hopton Wafers School, near Cleobury Mortimer, has 30 pupils on roll and 70 places. Seventy six per cent of pupils come from outside the catchment area.

The children would be offered a place at Cleobury Mortimer School.

Onny Primary, at Onibury near Craven Arms, has 49 pupils on roll out of 105 places. Seventy three per cent of pupils are from outside the catchment area. The children would be guaranteed a place at Stokesay School. Maesbury School near Oswestry has 38 pupils on roll but 112 places. Pupils from the catchment area – 50 per cent – would be offered a place at Kinnerley School while those from outside the catchment area would be offered places in one of the three Oswestry primaries.

Stiperstones School near Shrewsbury has 36 pupils on roll and 56 places. Pupils would be offered a place at Minsterley School.

Lydbury North School, near Bishop’s Castle, has 29 pupils on roll and 56 places. Twenty seven per cent of children come from outside the catchment area.

Pupils would be offered places at Bishop’s Castle Primary. Some pupils, for reason of geography, might also look to Norbury School.

By Education Correspondent Dave Morris

View more: Lydbury North news, Oswestry news, Weston Rhyn news.

1
margaret rowlands

February 8, 2011 at 17:45

Really good news that this school, one of the best around, will be saved; not least because of the building itself. I think I am right in saying that it is the only building in Shropshire designed by Basil Spence (he of Coventry Cathedral fame) and one of the earliest examples of this kind of campus school, which has since become ubiquitous around Britain. May it continue for another 50 years offering local children, from both sides of the Wales/Shropshire Border, the excellent facilities etc. that it is well known for.

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- S Seymour
  
  February 10, 2011 at 11:40
  
  Saving a building because it’s history is not a good reason to combine Rhyn Park and Ifton Heath. The education of the pupils should be the prime aim – will the their education benefit from this plan?
  
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2
P.S.Burgess

February 8, 2011 at 18:12

This goverment is sutting down the countryside .Health Service next ? Petrol at an all time high,most of it tax.Building trade on its knees,Libdems should hold their heads in shame!!!

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3
JT

February 9, 2011 at 09:32

Hi, we have read with great interest the proposal for our local infant school (Buntingsdale Infants) to be changed into a primary school under your new restructure proposals. Although I can completely understand the reasoning behind the proposal (too many transitions for service children and young children etc) but I would ask that the council actually identify the rest of the primary age children, who are in the catchment area of Buntingsdale and identify where they in fact go to infant and junior schools. The school does not, as suggested, serves primarily service personnel children.

Your press release suggests that a lot of the children attend Market Drayton Junior school, and whilst that is correct, that those children who do attend Buntingsdale move the Market Drayton Junior in year 3, it is not so for the rest of the children who are under the catchment area of Buntingsdale.

Proper research needs to be undertaken into this issue, since the school site is not adequately sized, placed or staffed for a change and this will actually cost more money than the money which is saved from closing the other schools in other parts of the area.

Furthermore, more children from the Tern hill and Buntingsdale area go to other local primary schools, like Hodnet and Stoke On Tern, so that they do not have to go through a transition at year 3. In total, around 25 extra children (to my knowledge) attend a different primary school to Buntingsdale and Market Drayton juniors, and these are children which I am aware of, who reside in the same area as me, in catchment to Buntingsdale.

In light of the reasons for the closures of the other schools (drop in school numbers etc) I feel that it would be foolish to extend an existing infant school, when other local schools have more than enough places to accommodate children, if Buntingsdale were to be closed and not extended as proposed.

The school is a good selling point to army personnel who are being reposted to Tern Hill, since it is on the barracks site, but what the council is proposing is the opposite of what is needed for the area. Shawbury, for example, has two schools, one which used to be predominately for RAF children and the other which was for local children. The council now recommend to merge theses two schools, so why create another issue, only 8 miles down the road in Tern Hill.

The site does not warrant another primary school being built. Due to the transient nature of the armed forces, transition is one of the unfortunate consequences for children who are from parents in the armed services. However, surely a more logical approach would be to ferry out the children to existing primary schools and not to have to rebuild and extend an infant school, which already has a drop in school numbers.

I have children who have attended Buntingsdale and another local primary school, and feel that the needs of the local area are not being taken into account and that the longivity of the education needs of the children are not being taken into account.

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4
h morris

February 9, 2011 at 10:30

Maesbury School does NOT have 112 places – It’s almost half that.
20% of those pupils that are listed as being “out of the catchment area” attend Maesbury as it is the closest school (the school within their catchment area being over twice the distance away – qualifying for school transport!) They also live closer than some pupils who are actually in the catchment.

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