Villagers post a protest at closure threat

Written by Mandy Atkinson and published in Derbyshire Times on Thu 2nd Nov 2006

Education chiefs threatening to axe a village school have been flooded with 9,000 letters of protest - hand-delivered by furious parents determined to derail the plans.

Leaders of the Stoney Middleton Save Our School campaign rallied community-wide support to step up their fight against controversial proposals to shut their village primary school next year.

Thousands of letters - urging Derbyshire County Council to abandon the bid - were delivered to authority chiefs at Matlock's County Hall on Monday, ahead of a public meeting about the issue tomorrow.

Angry mum-of-two Dulcie Jones, who is also chairman of the school's Friends, Parents and Teachers Association, said: "The council was left in no doubt what residents of Stoney Middleton think of plans to close their village school, when we flooded them with our protest letters."

Cost-cutting

Members of households, businesses and community groups from across the village put pen to paper — and wrote letters to all Derbyshire county councillors — to back the campaign, which was launched after authority leaders announced cost-cutting plans to shut the school in July.

Beth Ely, a former headteacher of the school, added: "I've always known that the school had the support of the community, but I was just amazed at the response we had."

Authority leaders have defended the proposal, saying the school is half-empty and therefore costing £5,678 to educate each of its 21 pupils - more than double the average cost.

The plans have now been put out for public consultation and if no agreement can be reached, an independent party will be brought in to make a final ruling.

Cllr Alan Charles, county education chief, said: "We have received a number of letters about Stoney Middleton Primary and the points raised in them will be considered and included in a cabinet report which will be put together at the end of the consultation period."

Tonight's (Thursday) public meeting will start at 6.30pm at the school on High Street.