Eleventh Hour Reprieve for Embattled Local School

Child with their hand up in a lesson

The Office of schools adjudicators, rejected Rochdale Local education authorities plans for the closure of St John's C of E Primary School, Thornham Lane.

The Schools Adjudicator published her decision today on the Rochdale Council’s linked proposals to close St John's C of E Primary School and to enlarge Middleton Parish C of E School. The Adjudicator's decision to reject both proposals, means that St John's will remain open and Middleton Parish will not now be extended.

Reverend Christopher Fallone, Vicar of St John's Thornham, and Chair of governors at St John's Primary school said: "We are absolutely delighted. This is a great vindication of what we have been trying to say to the LEA. We are very relieved. We have invested a lot of time, emotion into this. It is absolutely wonderful".

The council in a statement said: "Whilst this is not the decision the Council wanted, we hope now that we can work with St John's staff and governors to ensure their transition to Voluntary Aided status in September is a success".

In a Joint statement from Middleton Parish C of E School Mrs Brenda M Rogerson, Headteacher and Rev. Nick Feist, Chair of Governors said "June Brown did a brilliant job as adjudicator and balanced all the facts before her with a great deal of clarity. We are thrilled for St John's that their hard fought campaign has been successful. For us at Parish we are very happy that the past 18 months is now behind us, it has been a very difficult period for us too, a time when our school community has been under an intense spotlight. We will be very happy to refocus and continue to build on what has been recognised by others in this process, as our 'successful popular school'".

This decision comes after St John's two-year battle to avert closure. The Councils proposals were the culmination consultation process that looked at how primary schools across the Borough are organised. Their now failed proposals to close St John's C of E Primary School and to enlarge Middleton Parish C of E School were as a response to this process. The issue was finally referred to the adjudicator after a key meeting on 29 January where the School Organisation Committee (SOC) was unable to reach a unanimous decision on the council's proposals over the future of the two schools. The SOC is made up of five groups: elected members of the local authority, schools (such as governors and head teachers), the Learning & Skills Council (which oversees education for 16 to 19-year-olds), and the Roman Catholic, and Church of England Dioceses.

In her review of the evidence presented by all sides, the adjudicator June Brown concluded that she did not find the LEA's argument for the closure of St John's School and expansion of Middleton Parish as being likely to lead to improved levels of attainment sufficiently convincing to support the proposals. The decision of the Adjudicator to reject the proposals follows meetings held with representatives of the schools, the Council, the Manchester Church of England Diocese and a public meeting with interested parties. The Adjudicator saw copies of all letters of objection sent to the Council during their consultation process, as well as a booklet, 'The Case Against Closure' produced by supporters of St John's CE Primary School.

The Office of the School Adjudicator was established to make decisions on school organisation proposals where local School Organisation Committees are unable to reach a unanimous decision. Adjudicators are independent of the Council and the Department for Education & Skills.

In response to the threat of closure, St John's made a bid to have Voluntary Aided status which an Adjudicator approved last autumn and will come into effect in September 2004. In England and Wales there are four main types of maintained school: Community, Voluntary Controlled, Voluntary Aided and Foundation. St John's is currently a Voluntary Controlled Church of England School, which means it has strong links with the Church of England and the Manchester Diocese, but the Council continues to decide on its admission policy and remains responsible for the school buildings. On 1 September 2004, St John's school will become Voluntary Aided. This means that Manchester Church of England Diocese will have a greater control over how the school is run and will take over a greater proportion of its funding and the school's governing body will become responsible for setting its admissions policy. When the school becomes Voluntary Aided in September, responsibility for the buildings will transfer from the Council to the school's Governing Body and the Manchester Church of England Diocese. Rochdale Online have learned that Saint John’s governors have already begun discussions with the diocese on the building of a school hall.

Terry Piggott, Executive Director for Education, Children, Schools and Families, said: "Whilst this is not the decision that we wanted, we will, of course, respect what the Adjudicator has said. The Adjudicator is independent of the Council, and I have always said that we were happy to live with whatever decision was made. I hope now that we can put the last few months behind us, and concentrate on helping St John's make the transition to aided status. The Manchester Diocese will have responsibility for the buildings from September, and we hope they can identify some funds to make the building improvements that the school needs."