South Gloucestershire schools could merge

Two South Gloucestershire schools could merge to create a new primary school in Frampton Cotterell.

Brockeridge Infant and Highcroft Junior schools are on separate sites less than a quarter of a mile apart.

Pupil numbers are dropping and Highcroft has been without a permanent head teacher for the past year.

With South Gloucestershire Council having a policy of reviewing paired infant and junior schools in the event of a headship vacancy and a fall or projected fall in pupil numbers, it is now about to decide whether to start a consultation process on the future of the schools.

A report by Therese Gillespie, the council's director for children and young people, said that if the number of pupils continued to fall, nearly a third of places at the schools would be vacant by September 2011.

If a merger does go through, it would be carried out at the start of the new school year in September 2010, creating a 210-place all-through primary school.

Currently there are a combined total of 235 pupils in the schools, despite there being 315 places.

Ms Gillespie said: "The declining number of pupils reflects a lower birth rate and consequently smaller numbers of children coming forward to primary education.

"This is a national as well as a local issue.

"This situation has a number of difficult consequences. School accommodation is under-used and scarce resources are being used to sustain surplus accommodation."

She added: "School budgets depend largely on the number of children in the school and will therefore reduce.

"Smaller budgets may also lead to difficult decisions about how many staff can be employed and how many teaching groups can be maintained.

"These difficulties are increased when, as in the case of Brockeridge and Highcroft, joint numbers are falling to the point where they represent only enough to sustain one school."

She said if a merger went ahead, it would be up to the new governors and head teacher to look at how best to use the accommodation available. But all pupils would automatically transfer to the new school unless their parents wished otherwise. It is also expected that most staff would have the chance to transfer to the new school.

A decision on whether to start a consultation process is likely to be taken on Friday and, if it gets underway, a series of meetings will then be held in November for school staff and governors, parents and the public.