'Elation' as school merger plan dropped

Stacey Martin said the announcement was met with elation and relief

Plans to close two schools and move pupils have been scrapped.

Cheviot Learning Trust was considering merging Mickley and Broomley first schools, and Prudhoe Castle and Ovingham CE first schools, in Northumberland, in September 2026 due to financial reasons.

The trust has now confirmed it will not go ahead with the proposals after hearing "the strength of opinion and feeling".

Parents said they were elated and relieved the plans had been dropped.

"It was the last thing I was expecting to hear today," parent Stacey Martin said.

"It was a complete and utter shock, and elation and relief."

Michelle Gallon, whose seven-year-old child goes to Prudhoe Castle, said she "burst into tears" when she found out the proposals would not go ahead.

"We are all absolutely thrilled. It's a huge relief," she said.

Michelle Gallon said it had been an emotional month

Ms Gallon does not drive and uses a mobility scooter to take her daughter back and forth from school.

She previously told the BBC there was "no way" her scooter could get across the bridge to Ovingham and said she had been looking at moving.

"We thought it was a done deal," she added. "It's been a very emotional month."

Ben Cole, co-chair of the board of trustees at the trust, said: "Having listened to the strength of opinion and feeling from the whole school community we have decided to close the consultation - the proposal to merge the schools will not progress any further.

"Balancing pupil numbers with a falling birth rate remains part of a wider problem facing all schools and this needs to be addressed at a national as well as a local level."