First day back as Shropshire primary school begins closure fight

Buildwas Primary School was put into special measures in January following a poor report from the government's education watchdog, Ofsted.

And on Monday, Shropshire Council began consulting on the future of the school, which opened 160 years ago.

But parents and governors say many of the failures have already been addressed and they need to be given more time.

They are planning a public meeting in Buildwas Village Hall on September 23 at 7pm to discuss the future.

Nigel Bowen, the chairman of governors, said:claimed the special measures were a result of failings under the school's previous leadership. "We need Shropshire Council to give the school more time. We are improving. Fundamentally we are a great little school," he said.

"We have submitted a balanced budget for this year, but I do worry that we may be closed to prop up the budgets of other schools who operate at a deficit.

"Our intention is to gain academy status and we are at the moment in negotiations with two local schools who are interested in sponsoring us."

Mr Bowen, 45, said the school had 59 about 60pupils and numbers were not falling. He added: "Figures I have obtained from the Department of Education said pupil numbers in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin will go up.

"We had 59 pupils start back at school today. That shows how committed parents are to our school. We are holding a public meeting to discuss the consultation and I would urge anyone interested to attend, not only parents of children at Buildwas Primary.

"If this school closes, our pupils will have to go to other local schools and that would swell some already over-sized classes – this consultation affects a lot more people than just the parents and children at Buildwas."

The public consultation ends on October 18.

One parent, who did not wish to be named, said all families were against the closure school being closed. He said the issues raised by Ofsted had already been addressed.

"The most recent Key Stage 2 Sats results show how things are improving, with 100 per cent of the pupils making expected progress and 72 per cent exceeding expected levels of progress," he said.

"We also have a nursery facility at the school and that was rated as good when OFSTED did their report.

"If the school was closed and we lost that nursery facility it would reduce the number of places available for the local authority.

"This is capacity they cannot afford to lose given the government's plans to double the amount of free child-care available to working parents in the next few years."

For more information visit www.savebuildwasschool.co.uk or email [email protected]