11th hour lifeline for closure-threatened Shropshire schools

AN 11TH-HOUR lifeline has been thrown to five Shropshire schools facing closure.

Shropshire Council’s cabinet yesterday agreed to close Shrewsbury’s Wakeman School and primary schools at Hopton Wafers near Cleobury Mortimer, Barrow, Maesbury near Oswestry and Stiperstones near Shrewsbury. But council leader Keith Barrow has now thrown them a lifeline.

He said if schools come up with viable alternatives in the next six weeks of formal consultation they may still be saved.

The plans to close the five schools will now go forward to the last phase of consultation with the next council meeting on July 20.

Campaigners fighting to save the schools have vowed not to give up, with many trying to create federation deals with neighbouring schools. Cabinet gave governors at Onny and Lydbury North primary schools extra time to develop a firm business plan for federation.

The meeting also deferred a decision on creating an all-through school in St Martins, closing Ifton Heath Primary School and moving the children to the Rhyn Park Secondary School site.

And while cabinet agreed to move forward with closing one of the two primary schools at Shawbury, it deferred a decision until July on which site would close. Plans to extend Buntingsdale Infant School at Market Drayton into a full primary school were also passed by cabinet.

Councillor Barrow said: “We don’t want to close schools. If over the next six weeks solutions can be found then we would give them every consideration.”

He said campaigners and governors at Onny and Lydbury North had risen to the challenge and set the example the cabinet had been looking for.

Councillor Aggie Caeser-Homden cautioned that the council was working to a tight deadline and any plans had to be properly put together over just six weeks.

The meeting was told Hopton Wafers was talking to other schools and Maesbury was looking at federation but also talking to the Marches Secondary School about academy status.

Karen Moore, Wakeman headteacher, said the school would fight the closure recommendation.

Richard Jackson, a governor at Barrow School, said: “We will not give up, the fight will still go on.”

By Sue Austin and Sam Pinnington

1
Greg Watson

May 5, 2011 at 13:24

Having sat through the cabinet meetings yesterday and watched democracy in action I don’t believe a word of it, this is a predetermined school closure programme and it will not stop with these 5 schools. In my opinion there will be more over the next three years this is just the start. Schools should start trying to become academies and show the council how to run a viable school,whilst removing the money from their incompetent management, they keep talking about improving education in shropshire surely this was their responsibility in the first place and by closing these schools they will not improve education elsewhere.
What Mr Barrow fails to understand is that we were given the minimum statutory consultation period we work full time and to federate takes longer than that, I would also like to point out that it is much harder to federate when you are percieved as a school under threat of closure other schools do not want to be associated with you. More spin form Mr Barrow and don’t forget that one of the cabinet members making these decisions is a governor in Shrewsbury and has more unfilled places in his schools than nearly all of the ones under threat.

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2
ANDREW FINCH

May 5, 2011 at 13:58

Every village school they close within a few years large small to large developments occur which brings families back in to the village , where in turn all the children have to be bussed free of charge to another school madness.

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3
Len

May 5, 2011 at 13:58

If there are viable alternatives then the council should be duty bound to identify them and work with the schools to implement them, rather than putting the onus on the schools themselves.

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4
anon

May 17, 2011 at 12:09

this is not an 11th hour lifeline… schools have had since the beginning of feb to come up with alternatives (not that i think its the schools responsibilities to do that)

There are two schools that have done this Onny and lydbury north… I look forward to seeing weather their proposals will be carried forward or not…
The schools involved should have been working on their counter proposals already…
I hope these small rural schools can pull this out of the bag because I do believe they are an investment and not a burden but please stop whining and get on with the task.

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