School redundancy fears sparked by wrong letter to council
Friday 4th March 2011, 11:04AM GMT.
Shropshire Council bosses today admitted sending the wrong letter to parents and carers of a village school sparking fears among staff they could face redundancy.
Council officials apologised for the mistake over the letter sent out to notify people of consultation meetings.
Parents from Ifton Heath Primary School and Rhyn Park School and Performing Arts College, both in St Martins near Oswestry, received letters from the council about the possible merger.
But one line of the letter read: “If Ifton Heath Primary School were to close, the staff would be declared redundant.”
Today David Taylor, the council’s corporate director for people, said: “We have apologised to the schools as they received the wrong letter. Combining the schools would allow pupils from the Ifton Heath area to move through both the primary and secondary stages without any transitions, which has been shown to improve progress.
“If the proposal was agreed, the existing Ifton Heath and Rhyn Park pupils would transfer to the all-through school meaning there would be no less of a need for teachers and support staff.”
And today parents, grandparents and children at Stiperstones Primary School, also under threat, were due to form a human chain to spell out “SOS” on a county hillside.
Also today, Maesbury Primary School near Oswestry, recommended for closure, was due to welcome North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson as he arrived on a fact-finding visit.
Shropshire Council wants to shut eight primary schools and one secondary school across the county in a bid to tackle empty classroom spaces and funding issues.
Most Commented
- Shropshire Council will face £8m redundancy bill
- Clampdown on Shrewsbury chuggers
- Bishop's gay marriage views do nothing to support bible teachings
- Letter: Alcohol price plans annoy me
- Planners ordered to stay on Newport visit bus
- Letter: Angered by close encounter of the furred kind
- Letter: No sense in overseas job adverts
Shropshire Star on Twitter
Keep updated with the latest breaking news and content on our Twitter feed.
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Shropshire Star and Express & Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
Entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases.
OUR NEW APP
Get the new Shropshire Star app
Download the Shropshire Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
shropshirestar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Doh!
Report abuse
So, “Shropshire Council bosses today admitted sending the wrong letter”.
….does this mean that the letter was wrong, i.e., untrue, or that parents and carers weren’t supposed to know about the redundancy threat?
Report abuse
Wrong Letter? Whether due to Incompetence or Conspiracy this will have destroyed any trust by the local community in the education authority.
Report abuse