Families fight to save school with 'low pupil numbers' from closure

It was announced that Southfield Primary Academy will close its doors in July 2024.

More than 1,300 people have signed a petition to try to save a school that is set to close next year.

Pupils at Southfield Primary Academy in Brackley, Northamptonshire, found out earlier this month that their school would shut in July 2024, due to a lack of new applicants.

Families claimed their children were "left in tears" by the decision and gathered local MPs, councillors, and trustees to campaign against the closure.

A Department for Education spokesperson said it was not financially viable to keep the school open.

Parents raised concerns about how the closure would affect children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and feared they could get "lost in the system".

Kim Haynes, who has a child at the school, added: "An ideal solution might be to combine a smaller school and SEND provision for the area."

Dame Andrea Leadsom, MP for South Northamptonshire, wrote a letter to the secretary of state for education and said “a medium to long-term projection of pupil numbers had not been considered".

She said she was “profoundly moved” by the “heartfelt testimonials” of parents, carers and staff.

Thousands of new homes planned

Councillor Fiona Baker, cabinet member for children and education, told a Brackley Town Council meeting that different options to "save the school" were discussed, which included increasing the Send department, but none had been taken up.

Christopher Watt, chair of trustees for Southfield said: "The bottom line is since January 2022 the Department of Education (DoE) had put in an immense amount of additional funding just to keep the school open.

"In an ideal world, we would have redevelop the site, but actually, it’s financially unviable.”

Brackley is a growing town and 12,000 new homes were planned for the area. This could mean that more school places are needed in the future.

A DoE spokesperson said: “We have agreed with the trust board to the closure of Southfield Primary School due to the financial viability of the school because of low pupil numbers.

“We are working closely with the trust and local authority to ensure suitable school places are found for pupils from September 2024 and there is minimal disruption to pupils’ education.”