Fighting fund launched in drive to save school

PARENTS and carers are battling to save a “thriving” Tyneside primary school over fears it will close.

- EMILY GRAY

> Parents and children at Hazelwood Community Primary School in Wideopen

And now more than £2,000 has been raised to fund a possible legal challenge over North Tyneside Council’s proposals to shut Hazlewood Community Primary School in Wideopen and merge it with Greenfields Primary School.

The primary school is one of seven facing either closure or merger.

Sarah Stokoe, mother to nine-year-old special educational needs pupil Jacob Fearon, set up the GoFundMe campaign page and said money will go towards legal fees for staff with jobs at risk.

At the time of writing, £2,025 had been raised with Sarah adding: “We're getting a lot of support.”

She added that parents “no longer believe it is classed as a merger but a closure of Hazlewood.” She said:

“It was confirmed in the council meeting it will not be North Tyneside who decides but the governing bodies. Now the school’s governing body for Hazlewood disappears when the school goes. Therefore Greenfields Community Primary School governing body decides which members of staff get the jobs. That's their school, this is ours, but naturally they are going to favour their own members of staff.