Shropshire Council still wants to close Stiperstones School

Yesterday Shropshire Council announced the results of its consultation over its proposals to close village schools in the county. It still intends to close Stiperstones School.

According to the Shropshire Star:

Faye Moore, lead member of the Stiperstones School steering committee, said the community had been left “absolutely gutted” with today’s council report.

She said: “We have all worked so hard to save the school. The council is not looking at the bigger picture and the effect this will have on the community.

“The standard of eduction here is very high and proven by the Ofsted report. I just can’t understand the decision.”

So it is over to the Hereford diocese of the Church of England. It may yet bear out a recent observation by Simon Jenkins:

As neighbourhood facilities such as the post office, the shop, the pub, the surgery, the police house, the branch library and the village school disappear, it is ironic that the one ubiquitous beacon of local community in a secular society is one that has stood since the middle ages, the church steeple.