Headteachers are expecting to learn later this month whether their school will be reviewed under the new primary school policy.
It is vital not to raise the prospect of potential closure of any individual school unnecessarily. One of the best small primary schools in the area lost nearly 20% of its pupils in the last weeks of last term as parents fretted about possible closure of the school and getting places for their children at the next best school for them.
I shall campaign and lobby for individual schools if and when a closure is proposed.
But the funding issue at the heart of the problem is not a local decision, it is made nationally, which is why I have also focussed my efforts at those responsible in Government.
I have secured a meeting with Schools Minister Jim Knight MP on 28th January, to which I have invited other Shropshire MPs and county education chiefs. The Minister has agreed to review the funding allocation for education budgets for the next decade, which we shall impress upon him is urgently needed to avoid school closures.
I have also held talks with Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove MP to see what scope there would be for schools to be kept going under an incoming Conservative government. He has confirmed to me that Conservative policy for schools would allow parent power to keep open or re-open primary schools, if there is sufficent support for the school in the surrounding area.
This gives me more hope that our good primary schools are worth fighting for.
