Leigh School's Set for Merger

December 30, 2014 by Joanna Harrison

Leigh School's set for merger

The Council’s cabinet will be asked to approve the merger of Leigh North Street Junior School and Leigh Infant school into one primary school at a meeting on 6th January. If approved, a statutory notice would be published in time to allow the proposed new school to open in September 2015.  

The recommendation follows positive stakeholder consultation, where 37 of the 44 written responses were in favour of a merger, and unanimous support from the Governors of the Infant school and the Interim Executive Board (IEB) of the Junior School.  

The news also follows the recent announcement that Leigh North Street Junior School went from special measures to good in only three terms, led by the Executive Headteacher Pauline Lucas, who is also the Headteacher of Leigh Infant School.  

During that time, both the IEB of the Junior School and the Governing Body of the Infant School considered the futures of their schools and decided that a merged primary school would be best for the local community.  

Cllr Anne Jones, Executive Councillor for Children and Learning, says: “This is the right next step for both schools and will benefit the community that this school serves, and helping to secure sustained and on-going improvement from an already strong base.  

“Pauline Lucas was appointed to the Executive Headteacher role because of her excellent track record in leading and managing an outstanding school and her because she knows the children well and is so well placed to oversee the management of the pupil progress. She and her team have had excellent results at the Junior School and I am confident that they will successfully lead the newly merged school forward.”  

All existing staff will automatically transfer to the Primary school, and some minor remodelling to the building will need to take place to accommodate joint staff facilities.