Inspectors: too many Shropshire primary schools 'only satisfactory'

TOO MANY primary schools in Shropshire offer just a "satisfactory" education and are failing to improve, school inspectors say.

Ofsted says improvements in primary schools have "stalled" with too few schools continuing to make progress.

The inspectors' verdict was revealed by David Taylor, Shropshire Council's director of children and young people's services, at a school's closure meeting last night.

It came as the education boss also apologised to parents at the under-threat Stiperstones CE Primary School, near Shrewsbury, after admitting a consultation document contained a number of mistakes.

Mr Taylor accepted the council had wrongly stated Stiperstones was 3.7 miles from Bishop's Castle when it was, in fact, about 10 miles away.

He also said they had made an error in calculating the number of pupils attending the school who live outside its catchment area - claiming it was 30.8 per cent of the school population when it was 17.2 per cent. The data has since been amended.

But Mr Taylor insisted the errors would not have altered the school's inclusion in the proposed closure programme and rejected calls to start consultation again.

He spoke at the latest public meeting last night as the authority continues its consultation over plans to close nine schools.

He told more than 150 people at Snailbeach Village Hall the proposals were not just a cost-cutting measure and weredesigned to improve standards at schools.

He said: "The quality of education overall in Shropshire is good but we are getting a stalling of progress.

"I have a letter from Ofsted which says there are too many schools that are "satisfactory" and too many are not making progress.

"We have got to make best use of all our resources to get the best outcome for all learners in Shropshire."

But campaigners said they did not understand why their school was being targeted.

The school currently has a "good" inspection report and parents claimed that a number of young families were moving into the area.

Parent Dave Jackson urged Mr Taylor to remove Stiperstones from the closure hit-list.

He said: "As a community we are not asking you to eat humble pie but we just want you to remove Stiperstones from the threat of closure and allow it to continue to thrive in the community it belongs."

By Russell Roberts