Parents of pupils at East Crompton St George’s Primary School in Shaw, Oldham, say they are “devastated and furious” after being told the school will close in August 2027 because of falling pupil numbers.
The school, which has 79 pupils, is part of Cranmer Education Trust. Families had heard rumours about its future and launched a petition calling for “absolute transparency” from the Trust. They received no response until Thursday, when a letter announced the closure at the end of the academic year.
Government decision and reasons for closure
The letter states that the decision was made by the Secretary of State for Education and is happening because there are not enough children coming through the school. It is signed by Cranmer Education Trust CEO Julie Hollis.
“The reason St George’s is closing is that pupil numbers have dropped so far that the school will not be able to provide the quality of education that the children need or deserve,” the letter says. “Currently every class is mixed age, which is educationally manageable and has some benefits. But next year, the school would have to put 3 and possibly 4 age groups together, and at that point, the quality of what the school can provide will be so diluted that however hard the staff work, the children will not get what they need.”
Parents claim more families had wanted to send their children to the school in recent years but were given places elsewhere, and that new houses being built in the area will increase pupil numbers. The Trust says the decline in birth rate is “happening much faster than new houses are bringing in new families” and that “even if a dozen more children joined from the new estate, this would not change the situation”.
Listening period and parent reaction
Mrs Hollis added: “St George’s is certainly not the only school in the Royton and Shaw district to have a lot of excess capacity, but it has been hit the hardest, despite the high-quality provision the school provides.”
Following a process set out by the Department for Education, a four-week “listening period” will open from November 16 to December 11. The Trust says this will give it chance to inform everyone of the reasons for the closure and for people to “submit their views about how the transition process can be best managed”, but the letter makes clear that “it is not a consultation: the decision to close is substantive and final”.
Mum Kaylie Wright, who has a five-year-old in Year 1 and a nine-year-old in Year 5 at the school, said: “Parents are devastated and furious. Calling this a 'listening period' after telling families the closure is already a done deal without a single public consultation is an insult to our community.
“St George’s is a 'Good' rated lifeline for local children with an attached nursery full of youngsters needing Reception places this September, yet parents have come forward to say they were placed at their second-choice school over the years instead of their first choice here, despite empty spaces, while new housing is being built right on our doorstep.
“You cannot starve a school of pupils and then close it for being empty. We are calling on our MP, Oldham Council, and the Secretary of State to pause this immediately and investigate.”
Pupil numbers and next steps
The school’s 79 pupils are currently organised into four mixed-age classes, but pupil numbers are uneven across the year groups. While Year 5 has more than 20 pupils, Years 2, 3, 4 and 6 each have fewer than half a class of children and Reception just two. The Trust says falling pupil numbers reduce funding and would result in combining more year groups into larger mixed-age classes.
Kaylie, who set up the Save Our School petition, says there are no places in the area for her Year 5 daughter, who is due to sit her SATs next year, and says there are a lot of SEND children at the school who are settled and will struggle with the disruption.
The Trust says it will hold individual meetings in school for all parents, starting from Monday, November 16, with the admissions officer from the local authority “to consider all the options based on what is important to parents”. It says there are “good options available” and ideally it would like children to stay at the school until the end of the academic year “and have a proper, planned and supported transition, leaving together with happy memories”.
Parents are challenging many of the points made in the Trust’s letter and have requested an urgent meeting with the DfE, Oldham Council and Manchester Diocese, which owns the school building and most of the land. A spokesperson for Oldham Council said: “Cranmer Trust is the admissions authority for East Crompton St George’s CE primary academy and is responsible for decisions on provision. Oldham Council admissions team works with Cranmer and other trusts to help families access school and academy places.”
