Education Hundreds oppose plan to merge two city primary schools

HUNDREDS of parents and local residents say they oppose the plan to close one of Bristol's smallest primary schools and merge it with a bigger one a mile away.

- Tristan CORK

More than 260 people have so far signed a petition against the 'amalgamation' of Hotwells Primary School with Cathedral Primary School, and say the consultation exercise being undertaken by school bosses is flawed, and the merger will have 'severe negative impacts' on children and families.

The plan unveiled earlier this month is to close Hotwells Primary School as a standalone school and see it effectively taken over by Cathedral Primary School, which will then run as a split-site school with the infants school based at the Hotwells site, and junior pupils based at the Cathedral school a mile to the east, near Brandon Hill.

A series of consultation drop-in meetings have been held, with one scheduled for Cathedral Primary parents today, but already opposition is building among parents to the plan.

Many parents at both schools say they are opposing the plan because it will mean a two-mile round trip along the main A4 Hotwell Road for Key Stage 2 pupils - aged seven to 11 years old - from Hotwells, and the same round trip in a different direction for Foundation and Key Stage 1 pupils, aged four to seven, who live around Cathedral School.

For parents with two or more children in the two different age groups, it will mean their children have to attend different sites.