Wigan Council have issued a statement explaining why they issued a closure notice on a primary school ‘under financial pressure’ with ‘falling pupil numbers’. The ‘difficult’ decision regarding Our Lady’s Immaculate Catholic Primary School was made by the cabinet last week.
This came after a period of consultation which saw strong opposition from 234 people, with only five in support of closure. There will now be a further period of consultation following the notice where families can have their say, the council have said.
Projections made by the council suggest the school would be in £574,186 of debt by 2024/25 and school numbers would be cut by a half in the same period.
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Cath Pealing, assistant director for education at Wigan Council, said: “The recommendation to close a school is always a difficult one and we know how much our schools mean to our communities, families and our children.
“All local authorities have a statutory duty to monitor sufficiency of school places, and this involves balancing having enough places with having too many places. Our projections show that there continues to be an oversupply of places in this area and that this is expected to continue.
“As school budgets are primarily based on the number of pupils on roll, an oversupply can have a negative impact on the viability of all schools in an area and on educational standards. We have now entered into a further period of statutory consultation where all stakeholders are invited to share their views.
“After this period of consultation closes, a future Cabinet meeting will take place to consider all of the responses received and make a final decision on the proposal. We know that this will be upsetting for families and want to reassure them that we are carrying out appropriate consultations so that everyone can have their say.”
With the number of students falling, the amount of government funding the Downall Green Road site gets would reduce. After being labelled ‘inadequate’ by an Ofsted inspection back in April, the Department for Education issued an academy order - which would see the school run directly by the government and not Wigan Council.
The school itself was concerned this decision would ‘leave families without a Catholic primary school in the North Ashton community’. The nearest Catholic primary schools would be St Oswald’s Catholic Primary School or St Wilfrid’s Catholic Primary.
St Oswald’s is 1.8 miles away from OLI; an eight minute drive but a 35 minute walk. St Wilfrid’s is two miles away from OLI; a seven minute drive but a 38 minute walk.
This comes after the news earlier this year that Abram Bryn Gates Primary School, just down the road from OLI, was shut by Wigan Council.
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