Council reassures parents on future of schools

Shropshire County Council has moved to reassure parents at Lydbury North and Clunbury that no decisions have yet been made regarding the future of their schools.

The county council’s cabinet will meet on 19 May to discuss a report outlining the responses to the initial consultation period on proposals to amalgamate 16 primary schools.

One of those proposals relates to the possible amalgamation of Lydbury North and Clunbury schools.

Concerns were raised by parents in January that councillors had already decided to merge the schools, following a letter written to parents by the headteachers of the schools. In the letter it was suggested that a potential site for a new school had already been earmarked, which led people to believe that councillors had already made up their minds to go ahead with the proposals.

Councillor Ann Hartley, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “Both headteachers wrote to parents following early conversations with officers, expressing the view that the council was minded to amalgamate the schools and that a predetermined location had already been identified. Naturally, people were quite rightly concerned that this misunderstanding had led them to believe the council had already made up its mind to amalgamate the schools, before any consultation had taken place.

“However, I can confirm that this is not the case. Indeed, as stated in the consultation paper, no decision has been made on the location of any proposed new school. Any decision even to make a statutory proposal for change, or to undertake formal consultation on changing a school, can only be considered by councillors following a report on 19 May.”

8 May 2008