Parents of children attending Charles Read Academy in Corby Glen are to set up a working group opposed to the closure of the school.
Trudy Brothwell, CEO of West Grantham Academies Trust, met parents at the school last night to spell out the proposals to close the school in 2014 and move all pupils and staff to St Hugh’s in Grantham.
Steph Fleury, a parent with a daughter at Charles Read and another due to start in September, has organised a petition against the proposed closure and is organising the working party which will put together alternative proposals to try and keep the school open.
Mrs Fleury, who lives in Burton Coggles, said: “There is a lot of frustration among parents. It would cause a lot of problems moving the children from a rural community to the town where the environment is much bigger.
“There is the big factor of knowing where your children are in the rural community which they know so well and then moving them to the town where they will be very wary and even frightened.
“This will break up some very solid friendships. There are children from Market Deeping at the school who cannot travel to Grantham.
“The best scenario is that the school stays open and nothing changes and the school carries on slowly improving. The teaching staff are fantastic and the spirit at the school is warm and friendly and it is very supportive of the students and parents. Closure will have a really bad effect on the community and surrounding villages.”
In league tables recently published, 38 per cent of Charles Read pupils achieved five A*-C grades but Mrs Brothwell said there was no link between the proposed closure and attainment at the school. She told the Journal that the decision was, in part, due to Government funding changes which allocate money per pupil. Lincolnshire County Council has opposed the closure saying the move made little sense.
Anybody wishing to sign the petition can come into the Journal office on High Street. There are also petitions to sign in Corby Glen at the primary school, the Fighting Cocks pub, the surgery, the Co-op and Pauline’s store. It is also in the South Witham village store and is being distributed around Colsterworth.