Fresh move to close Shrewsbury's Wakeman School

SHROPSHIRE EDUCATION chiefs today made a fresh recommendation for a county secondary school to close, despite it celebrating record-breaking GCSE results.

The Wakeman School in Shrewsbury will shut its doors for the last time in August 2013 if the recommendation is approved by Shropshire councillors meeting next week.

David Taylor, director of people's services at the council, is asking the authority's cabinet to agree to close the school following a lengthy consultation process.

Mr Taylor today said the school was unsustainable and claimed its falling pupil numbers in the past decade could see it produce a deficit of as much as £640,000 in the next academic year.

He said it was irrelevant the school had celebrated its best ever GCSE results as the reason for its closure had never been about academic performance.

Mr Taylor said: "The reasons for the closure of the Wakeman is sustainability. We believe the Wakeman is not a sustainable school."

Karen Moore, headteacher at the school, said the recommendation disregarded the views of 8,000 people who signed a petition against the plans.

She said: "I find it unbelievable that the local authority can still feel that this is a sensible decision. It is complacent in the extreme for the authority to feel it can afford to close an Ofsted judged good school."

The six-week statutory consultation period of representations follows consultation which has taken place on an unprecedented scale to look at the future of education in the county.

The cabinet meeting at which the final decision will be taken is being held next Wednesday.

It is the second time the school has faced closure after education bosses were forced to launch a new period of consultation after admitting a blunder.

Councillor Aggie Caesar-Homden, cabinet member for schools, said: "We understand that this is a challenging time for pupils, parents, staff and wider school community affected by the proposals.

"We, as a cabinet, have another very difficult decision to make.

"However, we have not arrived at this stage without careful consideration of all the issues and options," she added.

By Russell Roberts