Governors at an under-threat Shropshire school today said they would apply for academy status in a bid to save it from the axe.

Officials at the Wakeman School and Arts College, in Shrewsbury, said they have been negotiating with a number of established and well respected trust organisations to reach a partnership which will secure the future of the school.

If the school is successful in its bid it would be removed from local authority control. The Wakeman is the only secondary school set to be closed by Shropshire Council under a shake-up of education in the county.

The proposal is part of the authority’s scheme to tackle empty classroom spaces throughout the county and funding shortages.

But governors at the Wakeman say they do not want to see a government inspected “good” school close and claim it would be a massive loss to the town.

Andy Rayment, chairman of governors, said: “We are very excited to be leading the school forward.

“With academy status we hope to offer a new dimension to education in the town. An academy that will be at the heart of the community.”

Early this year the Wakeman underwent an Ofsted inspection and the school was judged to be “a good school with outstanding features”.

This judgement confirmed what many governors, staff, parents and pupils have been saying about the school for a long time.

Headteacher Karen Moore said: “We are delivering a good quality of education to all the pupils in our care.

“We want to continue to do this and move onwards and upwards to achieve excellence as an academy school.”

In recent months the school has fought hard to overturn the council’s proposals to shut the school.

And officials say the support for the school has been overwhelming.

Di Younger, assistant head and governor, said: “It has been a very difficult time for the school but we have continued to do what we do best which is to put pupils first and deliver an excellent standard of education for all.

“We have been overwhelmed by the support shown to the school by parents and the community and we hope that they will continue to support our exciting plans to become an academy school.”

Academy schools are directly funded by central government and are independent of local government control.

An academy can receive additional support from personal or corporate sponsors.

By Russell Roberts