School closure 'a bolt from the blue', say Ifton Heath parents

Angry parents claimed they had been given no reasons why a Shropshire primary school should close and vowed it should "not be sacrificed" to save a secondary if plans to shake up education in a village go-ahead.

The proposal to close Ifton Heath Primary School in St Martins near Oswestry and relocate the children to a school for three to 16 year olds at Rhyn Park School is part of plans put forward by Shropshire Council.

But at a meeting last night at the primary school parents said the proposals had come out of the blue to them.

Parent Neil Thompson said: "We have a good school with no worries over numbers. This proposal came as a complete bombshell."

David Taylor, who is the director of children's services at the unitary council, said the proposal for an all-through school came from a meeting in St Martins and he said the consultation was to gauge public reaction.

He stressed that if the proposal went ahead the staff at Ifton Heath would all be re-employed at the new school with no redundancies.

He told last night's meeting Rhyn Park Secondary School had 216 unfilled places despite a good Ofsted report.

But several parents said that any problems at Rhyn Park should not affect Ifton Heath primary.

And parish councillor Neil Graham told the meeting he wanted to see both schools in the village do well, but he did not know why the primary was being put forward for closure.

He said: "We have heard no reasons why this school should close.

"It should not be sacrificed to put a sticking plaster on Rhyn Park or the rest of Shropshire.

"Breaking this school will not mend Rhyn Park.

"I want to see both schools thrive but this proposal is splitting the village and pitting people against each other."

Mother of three Gill Williams said she did not want to see children as young as three years old on the same site as older teenagers.

Other parents pointed out that the primary school was in the residential area of St Martins with lots of people walking their children to school.

The secondary school was a mile away where there was much more traffic, the meeting was told.

Parents maintained that many would drive their children to school.

An informal vote of those at the meeting showed no one was in favour of the all-through school.

Campaigners against the closure have posted letters of objection through letterboxes in the village and are urging people to fill them in.

"If they leave them outside their front doors we will pick them up on Wednesday," a spokesman said.

By Sue Austin