Worthing infant school's Love Actually-style video opposes amalgamation plans

More than 800 people have also signed a petition supporting Springfield Infant School in its fight to keep its autonomy.

The battle started after West Sussex County Council announced its plans to cut 953 primary school places across the borough, which it said were surplus.

The plans included merging Springfield, Lyndhurst Infants and Chesswood Juniors into an all-through primary school using the Chesswood and Springfield sites.

But the message from Springfield has been a firm ‘no, actually’.

Richard O’Callaghan, chair of the governors , said: “Springfield does not have surplus spaces, so including us in a school merge will not affect the key issue that this consultation is trying to address.

“We worry that a merge would threaten the excellent teaching, celebrated SEND provision and unique ethos of our school, as decisions and resources are pooled and potentially concentrated on supporting the newly merged site.

“To date, we have not been provided with a solid justification from [the council] for disrupting three schools, rather than just two.

“As such, we would like the ‘one school, two sites’ option taken off the table.”

He was supported by parent/governor Sara Montgomery, who said: “Springfield is a special place that offers a nurturing, ‘small school’ environment for young children starting their formal education journey.

“We are keen to retain the ability to quickly and independently make decisions that are entirely in the best interests of the 4 to 7-year-old children that attend Springfield.

“We have a strong history of collaboration with Chesswood to support the transition between schools.

“We really can’t see the need for any of this to change and think that it is important to offer parents of pre-school age children a choice of school environments.”

As well as launching their No Actually video, the school community has organised a public sing-along in South Street square – outside HSBC for Thursday (December 22) at 11.30am.

Nigel Jupp, cabinet member for learning & skills, can also expect his mailbox to be rather full as a fair few letter are set to be penned opposing the plans.

A council spokesman said: “We are supporting all primary schools in Worthing and Durrington with proposals to reduce 900 of the 1,500 currently unfilled places.

“The proposal to merge Springfield Infant School, Lyndhurst Infant School and Chesswood Junior School into one ‘all-through’ primary school would reduce 330 of these unfilled places.

“It would also create 20 new places for children with special educational needs and disabilities across both sites, from the current eight to 28 to meet a growing need.

“By creating one school under one governing body, the same high academic expectations would be set for every child across all years.

“This will also ensure that families of children who attend the Springfield site would automatically have a place at the Chesswood site when they enter Year 3, something not guaranteed should Springfield remain a stand-alone infant school.

“Under this plan, the Springfield site would continue to take 60 pupils each year as does currently, meaning no significant changes to teaching are anticipated.

“All of our proposals have been created following lengthy discussion with all school leaders and are supported by the governing bodies at Lyndhurst and Chesswood.”

A consultation into the proposals ends on January 20.

Anyone wishing to take part can do so via yourvoice.westsussex.gov.uk/worthing-primary-provision-review

You can watch the school’s full video online at https://vimeo.com/782579553