A major shake-up at Woodside Middle School is set to take place in September.

Pupils currently in Year 6 and 7 will move to Mark Rutherford Upper School at the start of the next schol year. The current Year 5 students will remain at Woodside with a fresh intake of nine-year-old children.

The changes have been announced after Woodside Middle School, which is in Church Lane, was placed in special measures by Ofsted in November 2009.

Parents were informed of the changes at a meeting last Wednesday night.

Under the new set-up Woodside governors will remain responsible for Woodside pupils, wherever they are tasught. Steve Peacy, headteacher at Mark Rutherford Upper School, will be responsible for pupils taught at the Mark Rutherford site, and Jill Peck, headteacher at Putnoe Loewer School, will be responsible for the Woodside site.

Councillor David Sawyer, portfolio holder for children's services at Bedford Borough Council, said: "The council, together with the schools and governors are doing everything they can to make this a successful transition.

"The meeting was very successful as it managed to answer parents' questions."



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