School saved from the axe

A Burntwood school was today saved from closure and will remain open as a one-form entry primary school.

Staffordshire County Council's cabinet voted unanimously to keep Boney Hay Primary School and is now looking at locating a nursery on the site, as long as it does not threaten existing patterns of education in the town.

The school was earmarked for closure but a task group's latest report, released just days ago, called for it to be kept open.

Councillor Carol Dean, who had originally recommended the closure, said the working group's recommendations had changed her mind. She described the school as a "much-needed asset to the community".

Parent Julie Wilson, secretary of Boney Hay Home and School Association, was among a dozen parents to attend the meeting.

She said: "We are thrilled and delighted that the school is to stay open.

"It is going to require a lot of hard work for the school and the council to make it a viable site."

Councillor Eric Drinkwater said it was 99.9 per cent certain that an existing nursery that was not currently at another school site would move to Boney Hay .

Despite a strong campaign to save the school, it was still facing the axe after August 2008 due to falling numbers.