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.
