Parents look set to lose their campaign to save a closure-threatened primary school in inner-city Bristol. The city council’s cabinet is expected to shut award-winning St Barnabas Primary School in Montpelier from the end of August when they meet on February 7, despite a petition signed by almost 1,700 people calling for it to stay open.
It follows a steady drop in pupil numbers and a request from governors to carry out a consultation about its future. Distraught parents are worried there will not be places for all youngsters to attend other local schools and some with SEND children fear they will struggle to find a suitable mainstream alternative.
Bristol City Council’s cabinet forward plan says members will be asked at their February meeting “to seek approval for the closure of St Barnabas CofE Primary School with effect from August 31, 2023”. The small school, which opened 150 years ago, is one of the few remaining local authority-run schools in the area after several new multi-academy trusts (MATs) were built nearby.
Read more: St Barnabas Primary School threatened with closure after 150 years
Only 70 pupils are enrolled there despite it having capacity for more than 200, and the declining numbers means less funding and classes combining year groups. Suggestions to convert the school into a specialist provision or joining a MAT have been deemed unviable.
Parents say the opening of two new local primary schools in 2012 and 2015 meant there was an overprovision of pupil places in the area, which caused a “dramatic” reduction in children attending St Barnabas. The school won a prestigious national covid response award two years ago, beating off competition from Eton College, after it provided every child with a laptop to continue learning from home.
The council has said it will ensure local school places for all families if it closes. A spokesperson said last month: “Following a steady decline in pupil numbers, the school’s governing body decided, with the support from council officers, to carry out a formal process to consult parents, carers, and other stakeholders about its future.
“No decisions have been made and parent and carer feedback is vital to ensure school leaders and council officers can make appropriate recommendations.” That consultation closed on December 16 and the results will be considered by cabinet next month along with an expected recommendation from officers to shut the school.
Read next:
Only days left to have your say on closure-threatened Montpelier school
The inner city Bristol school that beat Eton College to win prestigious covid response award
Government orders Bristol City Council to fix SEND parents crisis
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