Crisis meeting at Telford school

A crisis meeting was held by concerned parents at a Telford primary school following claims dozens of pupils have left over alleged bullying and falling standards.

Parents of pupils at Wombridge Primary School, in Oakengates, held a three-hour emergency meeting at the nearby Duke of York pub in the town at the end of last month.

They claim more than 40 pupils have been pulled from the school since September as a result of bullying, a lack of discipline, poor communication and falling standards.

Education bosses at Telford & Wrekin Council have confirmed 31 pupils have left since the start of the school year.

Headteacher Neil Satoor, who took over in September, admitted there had been "slightly higher" turnover of pupils and said the school had held two meetings with parents in the last six months.

"I am not in a position to speculate about the reasons why individual parents choose to take their children out of school," said Mr Satoor.

But Karen Peel, 40, of Oakengates, who attended the emergency meeting after taking her son out of the school, said: "Some of the things I heard at the meeting made me physically sick, there's just no discipline. My concern was the bullying.

Another parent, Lee Allen, 41, of Overdale, who also took his son out of the school, said: "We first had concerns about three months ago because of the standard of things like homework started to fall.

"Other things were happening like teachers would be off sick andt they wouldn't get a proper replacement every day."

Mr Satoor said it had been a challenging year for the school.