'We must learn from fate of Coseley School'
Lessons must be learned from the 'problem after problem' seen at Coseley School, the leader of Dudley Council Conservatives has said.
Coouncillor Patrick Harley has called for a scrutiny board to be set up following the decision to close the school.
Councillor Harley said it was important to assess what went wrong at the school in Henne Drive where there has been falling pupil numbers, poor exam results and financial difficulties.
It comes as a decision was made to close the school by August 2017 at the council's cabinet meeting last week.
Councillor Harley said: "I think what is important is where we go from here.
"There are clearly things that have been wrong with Coseley School for many years.
"After being put in special measures in 2013 it seems that problem after problem occurred.
"The thing is that there are other schools in this borough that are in similar situations so I think to set up a scrutiny board to look at how did it go into special measures, why did it not recover and how to get a school back on the site as soon as possible would be good thing to do."
The school will now undergo a phased closure over the next 12 months. More than 250 people responded to a consultation over the closure, which ran from January to April.
Eighty four per cent of people did not support the closure despite the low pupil numbers, poor exam results and financial difficulties.
Former religious studies teacher of 30 years at the school, Martin Duffield, said: "The decision to close the school is absolutely awful. Ultimately something should have been done when the school went into special measures, as why was it left so long before action was taken?"
The school is currently judged by Ofsted as 'requiring improvement'. Last year pupils at the school achieved 31 per cent five A* to C GCSEs, including English and maths, placing it in the bottom 10 per cent of schools in the country.
Leisure facilities on the site are expected to remain open to the public following the closure.
Councillor Ian Cooper, cabinet member for children's services said the decision of closure was 'putting the needs of pupils first' as they couldn't allow the school to 'slip further down in terms of pupils numbers and the financial difficulties it is in'.
