PUPILS at the Five Lanes VC Primary School in Potterne will move schools to the Worton site from September, after Wiltshire Council agreed today (Tuesday) to close part of the split site school because of falling numbers of children.

Both parents, teachers and Governors were in agreement that the site in Potterne, which has no green playing field and includes just one class, should close and the two sites be amalgamated.

Five Lanes School was rated Good by Ofsted in 2014 and 2018, but since 2014 the school dropped from five classes to just three and governors say the split site set up has become unsustainable.

Cabinet member for children Cllr Laura Mayes: “The chair of governors came to us to say they were concerned about their numbers dropping and that it was no longer viable to have two sites open and asked to amalgamate into one.”

The school’s current budget is £400,000 but last year it fell into a £176,000 deficit, set to continue increasing in future years if the two sites remained.

Chair of Governors Philip Sunderland said: “The school is successful, we want this to continue and we believe that on one site there is far more opportunity to do so.

“The children want to be together on one site, they want to play with the big children and share the playing field together, they like being in classrooms together.

"At the moment there is a dividing element.”

Potterne councillor Anna Cuthbert added: “Both my children had their primary schooling at the school. The quality of teaching and learning children receive is excellent but the split does cause an awful lot of difficulty.

“It is sad that we will be losing that particular site but actually it’s a really positive thing for the children coming to the village.

"They receive outstanding care outstanding learning and teaching we are really proud of.

"Shops, pubs, post offices are all in the position that if we don't use them, we lose them and we could lose this school if we don't adapt.

"The main issue is that there's nowhere for children to play, there's no grass and there is nothing where they can have sports."

The school will continue until the end of Summer term and will begin from September on the one site. The decision was made unanimously by Wiltshire Council cabinet meeting on Tuesday (April 30).