'Divisive move' Secular Society backs fight to stop school merger

A CAMPAIGN to stop the closure of a primary school in Bristol is gaining momentum, ahead of a public meeting next week to discuss the proposal.

- Tristan CORK

A protest by parents and children at Hotwells Primary School has been staged this week, and now the National Secular Society has joined the campaign, saying they support the parents in fighting the plan.

Broadcasting legend David Dimbleby, whose grandchildren went to Hotwells Primary, attended the protest, which saw children and parents unfurl banners and call for the academy trust which runs the school to think again about its closure.

Under a proposal from the Cathedral Trust, Hotwells will be merged with Cathedral Primary School a mile away in the city centre, with reception and infants classes taught at Hotwells, and key stage 2 junior children taught at Cathedral Primary. Cathedral Trust bosses said they have to act because they say Hotwells Primary is seeing falling numbers and will soon no longer be financially viable - something which parents at both schools dispute.

The National Secular Society said it is supporting the parents, some of whom sent their children to Hotwells because it wasn’t a CofE school. The takeover would mean pupils automatically moving to a Church of England school associated with Bristol Cathedral and the Diocese of Bristol.