Fightback
A FIGHT is on to to save a closurethreatened village school.
Whittonstall First School in Northumberland will close under plans to overhaul the county’s struggling school system.
The Conservative administration has set out wide-ranging proposals to axe financially unsustainable and schools with empty desks.
Three models, which involve restructuring the region’s threetier education system, have been put forward and a consultatio has been launched.
But parents are demanding answers as to why their school is being closed.
Whittonstall First School, which serves around 50 pupils in the village 13 miles from Hexham, has been listed for closure in all three plans.
More than 1,800 people have so far signed an online protest petitions.
Fiona Healey, 43, from Shotley Bridge, whose child is at the school, said: “Parents are upset and angry and we’ve come together and we intend to fight this decision.
“This school is financially sustainable, it’s had recent investment and there are plenty of families who want to send their children here.
“We’re confident we can achieve something – we’ve seen successful examples of parents standing up and preventing things like this in rural communities before and we’re ready to take this to the highest level.”
Ms Mealey added the news had been difficult for the children to process.
She said: “It’s been really hard on the children and a lot of the parents have said they’ve seemed different in the past couple of days.
“Some of them have volunteered to write to the Prime Minister to ask her to save the school.
“It’s been a distressing time for everybody but they’re just as involved as the parents in trying to make a change.”
Coun Wayne Daley, deputy leader and cabinet member for children’s services at the council, said: “We will be working closely with all those involved in education in the west of the county, with staff, parents and the wider community to find a solution that will be in the best educational interests of all the children in the area.
“We have not made a decision on any school closures at all. We urge people to take part in the consultation I am keen to listen to any alternative ideas they may have.”