WORCESTERSHIRE County Council has formally agreed to carry out a consultation into the future of St Mary’s Primary School in Longdon.

The village school has been threatened with closure by the county council because of falling pupil numbers, but the school’s governors have persuaded the county council to carry out a full public consultation before making a decision.

At a meeting of the county council’s cabinet on Thursday (December 16) it was agreed that a consultation into the future and potential closure of the school will take place during the Spring term.

Coun. Marcus Hart, responsible for education, said; “The county council has been asked to carry out this consultation by the school’s governing body to determine the future of the school. The main concern is that pupil numbers have fallen significantly and look set to continue to fall.”

He said the council was keen to reach the best possible conclusion for the local community and wanted as many people as possible to take part. He stressed that a number of options were still being explored, one of which is closing the school, and that no decision would be taken until the end of the consultation.

Parents and carers of children at the school, residents living in the area and other local schools will be involved.

The consultation runs from the start of the Spring term until February 11 and will focus on the following two options - federation with another partner school with the two governing bodies working together to benefit both schools and amalgamation, a way of reducing the number of school places by merging two schools.

Pupil numbers at the school have fallen from 72 in 2005 to 30 today. It has space for 105.

For now, the school will remain open, at least until the end of the summer term. Julie Wills, deputy head at Leigh and Bransford Primary School has been seconded to St Mary’s as acting head from January.