Pershore education planning area review 2024

Pershore education planning area review 2024

Why do we need to review the Pershore education planning area?

Changes to schools in the Pershore education planning area over several years have led to uncertainty and concerns about the sustainability of some schools across the education planning area.

In September 2019 three first schools in the Pershore area were approved to change to primary schools by the Regional Schools Commissioner along with Pershore High School to create an option of a two-tier system of education for families.

The creation of additional places in years 5, 6 and 7 because of the approved changes resulted in an ongoing level of surplus in these year groups - forecast to be 40% in September 2024 and projected to rise further in the future.  This creates significant difficulty for schools in delivering the Key Stage 3 (Year 7, ages 10 to 11) curriculum.

Over the last five years, we have seen parents in the Pershore area choosing a Primary and Secondary (two-tier system) education in their school admissions applications, with an increasing percentage choosing to remain at already converted primary schools and a number choosing to transfer from first to primary schools during Key Stages 1 and 2. This creates a risk to ensuring clear and quality education journeys for pupils.

Ultimately, this transition is being proposed because we want to ensure that:

  • every child has a clear and transparent education journey
  • schools are supported to deliver good education outcomes in a stable and known education system
  • schools are able to deliver a full curriculum and remain sustainable and financially viable

From 2020 to 2021, Worcestershire Children First facilitated engagement with education stakeholders including all schools in the pyramid, Multi-Academy Trusts, the Department for Education’s Regions Group and the Dioceses to find agreed solutions to manage this risk within the education planning area.

In July 2021 all of the schools’ governing bodies and Multi-Academy Trusts confirmed their agreement / intentions to consult on the proposed change to a two-tier Education Planning area, to seek changes of age range (where necessary) and, for the Middle Schools, to amalgamate with the First Schools.

A consultation was held during October and November 2021 which received a total of 270 responses with 78% agreeing and 16% disagreeing on the proposal to convert to a single two-tier system. A further 6% neither agreed nor disagreed.

In April 2022, The Council’s Cabinet agreed a commitment to support a collective change of age range to align schools in the Pershore education planning area to a single two-tier (primary and secondary) system of education, subject to confirmation of the funding necessary to expand Pershore High School Year 7 places. For more information please see agenda and minutes.

Agenda for Cabinet on Thursday, 21st April, 2022, 10.00 am - Worcestershire County Council (moderngov.co.uk)

Public Consultation Engagement 2 September to 29 September 2024

A co-ordinated consultation exercise was held during September, whereby each of the schools proposing a change as part of the area review sought feedback from all parties who may be affected by those changes. 

The reason for the refreshed consultation (see above for the 2021 consultation) was to ensure that all current interested parties had an opportunity to provide feedback on the changes now being proposed. The funding required to expand Pershore High School, which is essential for the proposed changes to proceed, was secured in June 2023, so all of the other proposals can now go ahead if agreed. 

Three years on from the first consultation, there will be parties who will now be affected by the changes that wouldn’t have been previously, and their views are important to schools.

The consultation provided stakeholders with an opportunity to share their views about what is important about the age ranges of schools and transitions from one school to the next. The schools involved are keen to receive responses from all stakeholder groups, including parent carers, school staff, pupils, governing boards, local residents, other local schools and any other interested parties about the changes proposed for each school. 

The consultation closed at noon on Sunday 29 September 2024.

Pershore Education Area Review - Context Proposals Timeline Consultation information (PDF)

Individual school proposals

To learn more about the individual school proposals, please visit each school’s website where you can access a copy of their consultation document.

  • Abbey Park First & Nursery School and Abbey Park Middle School
  • Crowle CE First School
  • Defford Cum Besford CE School
  • Fladbury First School and Pre School
  • Pershore High School
  • Pinvin CE Academy
  • St Barnabas CE First and Middle School
  • Upton Snodsbury C of E First School
  • Diocese of Worcester Multi Academy Trust – for Crowle CE First, Pinvin CE Academy and St Barnabas CE First & Middle Schools.

Education journey tracker

This Excel spreadsheet shows a child’s future education journey if the proposed changes are approved, based on the child’s current school and year group. 

If you are unable to open this spreadsheet and would like a copy of the journey information, please email pershorereview@worcestershire.gov.uk 

Please provide:

  1. the name of the current school, and
  2. the child’s year group (Reception, Year 1, Year 5 etc.) in the academic year 2024/25

Note: We don’t need a name or address, or any other personal details.

What happens next?

  • stage one: establishing the need for change - completed June 2021
  • stage two: agreement from Governing Bodies and Multi-Academy Trusts to consult on proposal - completed September 2021
  • stage three: consultation on proposals - closed 26 November 2021
  • stage four: seek DfE funding to support the proposals - completed April 2024
  • stage five: refreshed consultation on proposals closes noon 29 September 2024
  • stage six: submission of formal proposals during October to December 2024
  • stage seven: final decisions due by end of December 2024
  • stage eight: If changes are approved, begin work to facilitate implementation of proposals from January 2025
  • stage nine: all first schools become primary schools and retain year 5 pupils in September 2025
  • stage ten: Pershore High, intake of pupils from year 7 in September 2027

Have your say

We really want to hear the views of parents, carers, pupils and residents on these proposed changes to schools in the Pershore area.

Consultation response form

To request a paper or electronic copy of the consultation response form, please contact your school office or email pershorereview@worcestershire.gov.uk

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