Vera author backs campaign against school merger

Vera novelist Ann Cleeves has thrown her weight behind the campaign

Thousands of people - including a best-selling author - have backed a campaign to save a school from closing, as more than £7,000 has been raised to fund a possible legal challenge.

Langley First School in Whitley Bay is one of six first and primary schools facing the possibility of closures and mergers in North Tyneside due to falling birth rates.

More than 4,000 people have signed a petition calling for it to stay open, with local novelist and creator of Vera, Ann Cleeves OBE, voicing her support and calling the school "special".

North Tyneside Council's director of children's services Julie Firth said change was "essential to ensure our school system remains sustainable".

The Labour-led council has proposed Langley First School closes and merges with the nearby Appletree Gardens First School.

The plans are subject to an initial six-week public consultation, followed by a further consultation later in the year.

A final decision is scheduled to be made in January.

Langley First School would merge with Appletree Gardens under proposed plans

The money the campaign has raised online will go towards covering the costs of a possible legal challenge against North Tyneside Council to challenge the school's closure.

If the case did not proceed, all funds would be donated to support the school's children, the campaign group said.

'Joy of reading'

In a video for the campaign, Cleeves said: "What is special about this school is that on a training day the headteacher took all the teachers into a local independent bookshop and asked them to choose a book to read to their class.

"Something that would fire their imaginations and get them hooked on books.

"If we want the best for our kids, and we want them to do well, we want them to experience the joy of reading and that's why Langley school is so special and why we should try and keep it open."

The move comes amid tumbling birth rates, both regionally and nationally, which equate to 300 fewer births a year in the area since 2018/19.

While Langley and Appletree are currently operating with a financial surplus, both schools are predicted to enter deficits by 2026 and 2028 respectively.

A second petition has been launched to try to save Hazlewood Primary School from a merger

Katie Rochester, who has two children at the school and co-chairs the Friends of Langley PTA, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service closing schools "needs to be the last resort".

"We stand together to protect our children's education," she said.

"We stand together to protect our community."

Meanwhile, a petition to save another North Tyneside school from a merger has surpassed more than 1,000 signatures.

Under the proposal, Hazlewood Community Primary School, in Wideopen, would merge with Greenfield Primary School after it was predicted the number of vacant places was expected to rise to an "unacceptable level" of 25% in the coming years.

Hazlewood has also been blighted with weak and brittle concrete, and the council estimated it would cost at least £7m to build a new school.

Its proximity to Greenfield would also impact the Department for Education's decision to fund a new one, the council said.

In an earlier statement, Ms Firth said: "We deeply value the strong connections our communities have with their schools, and we recognise how unsettling this process will be for pupils, families, and staff.

"Despite efforts to address falling pupil numbers, we are now at a point where change is essential to ensure our school system remains sustainable."