Council visit pledge over Shropshire school closures

Cabinet members tasked with making a final decision on the future of Shropshire's under-threat schools will visit every one to speak to teachers and children, the leader of the county authority said today.

Keith Barrow today confirmed the visits would be in addition to consultation meetings held at a variety of different venues across the area.

The news comes after campaigners for Stiperstones School called for such a visit to be made, fearing councillors might not set foot on the school grounds with an up-coming meeting being staged in the village hall.

Mr Barrow, said: "The cabinet will be visiting every school included in the proposals at some stage during the consultation process.

"We want to make sure we visit every school for around the same amount of time, so it is done fairly and each school is given a fair crack of the whip.

"It is a very difficult situation but we want to remind people we are still going through the consultation period and nothing has been decided."

Faye Moore, parent, ex-pupil and co-leader of the steering group at Stiperstones School, said they had invited the council to visit the school during term-time to meet with the children as the consultation meeting had been arranged out of school time at the village hall.

She said: "We simply want the cabinet members to visit the school and meet with the children so that they can see what the school is all about and why the children love it so much."

The school is arranging a coffee morning this Saturday at 10am where they will be staging a letter writing campaign as well as fundraising. Consultation over the Stiperstones School will take place on March 16 at Snailbeach Village Hall.