New council chief's bid to sort out school

Jun 9 2011 By Lawrence Poole, Buckinghamshire Examiner

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BUCKS County Council's new education chief hopes to move closer to resolving a Little Chalfont school's future in the next two weeks.

Mike Appleyard took over from Steven Adams in a cabinet shake-up last month.

After months of anxiety for parents and pupils - during which a public consultation about the closure of Bell Lane Combined School was held - Mr Adams has confirmed it will stay open and will be granted academy status in January 2012.

A sponsor is now being sought, which will give the school more freedom from council control.

Mr Appleyard said: "We want to look at a solution rather than a stop-gap. At some point in the next two weeks we will be holding meetings with parents to discuss the options.

"In terms of the area it's a case of protecting the capacity of our schools.

"With the birth rate rising we need to ensure we can provide capacity every year.

"Whatever happens the parents will be the first to know; we're working through the options. When we've got an idea where we're going, I'll speak to them personally."

Joanne Massey, who has three children at the school and recently became a parent governor, said: "It's great news that he is going to sit down and talk about the future as we need more information.

"I met with a governor last week to discuss the situation further and I've joined the board so I can keep my ear to the ground and stay well-informed with what's going on."

The primary school has been in special measures since May 2009 but did receive a satisfactory progress report on its last Ofsted monitoring visit in March.

Earlier this year, parents fought hard to keep the school open, organising a protest march and a Facebook campaign.

Ms Massey said: "I'm absolutely over the moon the school is staying open as I feared the worst.

"After attending the meeting about closure in January, I honestly didn't think Bell Lane had a future, so I'm delighted and we'll see where we go from here."