Lifeline revealed for Shropshire primary school facing closure

Shropshire Council earmarked Buildwas Primary School for closure after the government's education watchdog Ofsted put it into special measures following an inspection.

The council also said that falling pupil numbers meant the school, near Ironbridge, was no longer viable.

But parents and staff have refused to let their school go quietly. More than 100 people, including governors, Telford MP Lucy Allan and Shrewsbury MP Daniel Kawczynski, crammed into Buildwas Village Hall last night as part of a six-week consultation over the school's future.

The meeting saw pupils hand to council officials a 700-signature petition calling for their school to be saved.

And Shropshire Council officers revealed that the school could possibly stay open if it became a sponsored academy – which would involve it being taken under the wing of a top performing school.

Mr Kawczynski said that was the route he hoped the school would take.

"I'm working very hard with the chairman of governors to see if we can get the support to go through the academy process," he said. "That would mean them having support from another school."

Karen Bradshaw, Shropshire Council's director of children's services, told the meeting: "When the school was placed in special measures at that stage no potential sponsors had come forward for it to become a sponsored academy.

"What we will do is run two separate processes: The current consultation and the sponsored academy route in parallel.

"When the school was placed in special measures there was no permanent leadership in place. Our efforts to try and secure an effective partnership have so far has been unsuccessful.

"When schools in Shropshire are vulnerable we encourage them to work with other schools, whether it's through a federation or other forms."

Buildwas had been told by Ofsted inspectors it required improvement and was then placed in special measures, which the council said forced it to take action.

The meeting also heard 90 pupils were on the books in 2013 but that number had dropped to 82 in 2014, 71 in January and then 52 at the start of the current term.

Nigel Bowen, chairman of the school's governors, blamed Buildwas' failure and drop in numbers on Shropshire Council.

He accused the authority of failing to help the school on numerous occasions during its time of need.

He said: "The numbers dropped when we had leadership problems, but we lost 18 pupils when the possible closure was announced.

"The local authority has caused this. It should have helped us when we had leadership issues. We met with the authority in June to express our concerns about the falling numbers and we were told they would go up.

"During the autumn term I was ringing up every week to get some support for our acting headteacher and to prepare for the Ofsted inspection.

"The reply I had was that we had to wait for the headteacher to come back." Mr Bowen said he had started the process of getting a new permanent headteacher back in February but said Shropshire Council had refused because "the council did not think the school would attract a good candidate".

"I want the public to be aware that this is what has put us in this situation," he added.

Parent Kieron Gray, 37, from Horsehay, has two children, six-year-old Coby and four-year-old Esme, who attend Buildwas.

He said it would be a huge shame it the school closed and any plans his family had on moving to the area were being put on hold during the ongoing uncertainty.

"A lot of people will be sad if this school closed," he said.

"There are much worse schools out there and we're all hopeful of keeping it open."

The six-week consultation will end on October 28 when cabinet will make its recommendation. If council decides the school should close, a further six-week consultation will take with a final decision no later than December 9.