Campaigners celebrate as school beats closure threat

Written by Angela Walsh and published in Derbyshire Times on Thu 17th May 2007

Victorious parents have saved one of the county's smallest schools by highlighting "very serious" concerns for children's safety.

Education chiefs wanted to close Stoney Middleton Primary in August because of falling pupil numbers and the cost of running the 18-pupil school.

The matter was referred to Government adjudicator June Brown after Derbyshire County Council was flooded with over 8,500 letters of objection and an 853-signature petition.

And on Monday she took the decision to keep the school open over concerns about youngsters walking along the 'dangerous' A623 to reach the alternative Curbar or Eyam schools.

She said: "Having seen the road and considered the evidence presented on its safety I would not, if I were a parent accompanied by a young child, wish to walk twice daily from Stoney Middleton to Curbar.''

The closure proposal was put forward by the county council because the school - with space for 47 pupils - had only 18 on its roll and officers predicted that this would fall to 15 students by 2010.

They also claimed that it cost £5,678 to educate each pupil there whereas the average in Derbyshire schools currently stands at £2,640.

Campaigning parent Dulcie Jones said: "It's great - everybody is very happy. We are small and the numbers are a bit low so we just did not know what to expect."

Cllr Alan Charles, the county council's schools chief, said: "We are obviously disappointed as we proposed the closure because we felt it was in the best interests of the children at the school - and other students in Derbyshire.

"It costs significantly more to educate children there and among our concerns was the fact that in such a small school environment pupils do not enjoy the breadth of curriculum learning experiences and social interaction that they deserve."