Have your say on two-tier plans for schools in the Cranfield and Marston area

A consultation is to be held on proposal to switch to a two-tier schooling system.

Under the plans, council-maintained lower schools in Cranfield and Marston would become primaries from September 1 2025, which could also see the closure of the unattended Shelton Lower School.

The proposal would see Marston Moreteyne VC-Voluntary Controlled School (Church End), Marston Moreteyne VC-Voluntary Controlled School (Forest End), Thomas Johnson Lower School, and Houghton Conquest Lower School all change their age range, with some small expansion of places to Thomas Johnson and Houghton Conquest.

If these proposals are agreed, they would provide enough school places to meet local demand which could result in the closure of Shelton Lower School, which has had no pupils on roll for two years.

The Shelton Lower School site is currently occupied by Jigsaw, which is a vital service for vulnerable children from across Central Bedfordshire. Following a non-statutory consultation, most respondents were in favour of its continued use as an education provision.

Further details on the statutory notices with feedback invited via an online questionnaire are available until June 15, 2023.

A series of online webinars and in-person question-and-answer sessions during the statutory consultation are also being held.

The in-person events are drop-in sessions, with registration required for the online sessions, as follows:

> May 18 - Online question and answer webinar via Microsoft Teams, 6.45pm to 8pm

> May 23 - In-person event at Shelton Lower School, 3pm to 6pm

> May 25 - In-person event in the Marston Moreteyne Forest Centre, 3pm to 6pm

> May 31 - Online question and answer webinar via Microsoft Teams, 6.4pm to 8pm

> June 6 - In-person event in the Cranfield area (venue to be confirmed in due course on the Schools for the Future website), 3pm to 6pm.

Details of the events are published on the Schools for the Future website here .

A spokesman for Central Beds Council said: “Academies in the Cranfield and Marston area are also proposed to change to the two-tier model of education. but as we not the decision-maker, academies will undertake a parallel process and carry out their own consultation before submitting a business case for the changes to the Department for Education (DfE).”