Last-minute plea over Shawbury schools plan

Fewer children would have their education "disrupted" in a Shropshire village if education bosses back governors' last-minute calls for a rethink of controversial merger plans, it was claimed today.

Governors at Shawbury St Mary's Primary School have called on Shropshire Council to carry out a full feasibility study into locating a single school for the village at their school site.

Under a planned county-wide education shake-up, the unitary council wants to create a single extended primary school in Shawbury at the site currently occupied by Shawbury Primary School.

Proposals to Shropshire Council's ruling cabinet would see St Mary's School relocate to the Shawbury primary site, which would be extended to cope with extra pupils.

The current St Mary's site, opposite RAF Shawbury, could then be sold off.

But governors at St Mary's today insisted education bosses should examine the merits of creating a single school on their site.

They said a recent Ofsted inspection judged theirs to be a "good school with outstanding features", while Shawbury Primary School was judged "satisfactory".

Governors also claimed the potential resale value of the Shawbury Primary site, which is in a residential area, would be more.

Jo Humphreys, chairman of governors at St Mary's, said the school also had facilities in safe walking distance like a forest school on a nature reserve and sports facilities at the airbase.

She said: "It is our belief that the current Shawbury Primary School site along with the adjacent local authority owned land, would offer a much more attractive proposition to a developer than St Mary's site which is currently only accessible over MoD property and is much less likely to receive planning permission.

"We therefore reiterate the request put forward at the public meeting that the local authority carries out an in depth feasibility study on the use of the St Mary's site for the single primary school in Shawbury, which would also have the benefit of fewer children's education being disrupted."

By Tom Johannsen