Petitioners Against Worthing School Changes Get Support From West Sussex MP

A Worthing MP plans to speak to West Sussex County Council about what he called a ‘very poor and last-minute’ consultation into proposed school changes.

Tim Loughton (Con, East Worthing & Shoreham) added his voice to more than 1,000 who have signed a petition opposing plans to merge Springfield Infants, Lyndhurst Infants and Chesswood Juniors into an all-through primary school using the Chesswood and Springfield sites.

The proposals were put forward by the council as part of its plans to phase out 953 primary school places across Worthing and Durrington from September 2024.

The council reported that some 1,500 places – around 17 per cent of the area’s total – were not being used and launched a consultation at the end of November.

While Mr Loughton said he understood the rationale for merging Chesswood and Lyndhurst ‘where there are significant shortfalls on the school roll’, he could not see the logic of including Springfield.

He said:

“Springfield is a flourishing and oversubscribed school consistently highly rated by Ofsted and with a very stable staff and strong leadership.

“The school thrives on its ‘smallness’ and its ethos would be lost as part of a three way merger which is why I cannot see the logic of including Springfield in these proposed changes.

“If it ain’t broke don’t fix it.”

Mr Loughton joined a group of parents, teachers and governors in Worthing town centre just before Christmas where they sang carols and demonstrated against the council’s proposals.

He said:

“I am very concerned at the very poor and last-minute consultation about this proposal of which I was not made aware by West Sussex until after the latest consultation had gone live.”

He added that he had held a Zoom call with Springfield’s headteacher and governors and would be taking up the matter with the county council.

Meanwhile, Labour councillors have asked for an extension to the consultation, which ends on January 20.

Dawn Smith, who represents Broadwater, said members had expected the consultation to start in October.

She added:

“This is extremely poor timing and shows a lack of care and attention toward school headteachers and their teams, as Christmas is one of the busiest times of year for staff and parents.”

A spokesman for the Save Springfield campaign said the support from both Mr Loughton and the councillors validated the view that the school should not be included in any merger.

She added:

“We return again to the fact that doing so does not address the purpose of the consultation – reducing surplus places – and risks the stability of our school, which is currently prospering.”

A council spokesman said the consultation was about ‘supporting all primary schools in Worthing and Durrington by creating the best educational environment possible for local children’. 

They added:

“By creating one school under one governing body, the same high academic expectations would be set for every child across both sites.

“It would also ensure that families of children who attend the Springfield site would automatically have a place at the Chesswood site when they enter Year 3, something not guaranteed under the current arrangements.

“Under this plan, the Springfield site would continue to take 60 pupils each year as it does currently, meaning no significant changes to teaching are anticipated.

“At the request of Springfield, we are also consulting on an option for the school to remain a stand-alone infant school to give every opportunity for views to be made on both options.”

To take part in the consultation, log on to yourvoice.westsussex.gov.uk .