Two Shropshire schools to shut after councillors agree merger
Two rural Shropshire schools will close after a merger was agreed by councillors.
Shropshire council's cabinet yesterday approved a plan that will see the amalgamation of Hope CE Primary School, Worthen CE Primary School and St Mary's CE Primary School, Westbury.
The plans will now go to formal consultation before any closure or merger.
The three small schools will all move to the Worthern site, which will be expanded.
Currently, Hope has a capacity of 56 and had just 17 pupils in July. St Mary's has a capacity of 84 and had 32 pupils in July.
Members of Shropshire Council's cabinet agreed that the merger should go ahead, after officers said it would make the single school "more financially viable and sustainable" than the three separate schools.
St Mary's and Worthen were both rated as "requires improvement" in recent Ofsted inspections and the council says Hope, due for inspection in October, "is vulnerable to an unfavourable Ofsted outcome, given the rapidly declining pupil numbers, the impact on their budget and the difficulty in maintaining the current staffing levels."
Chirbury and Worthen Councillor Heather Kidd said the closures were "sad but necessary".
