Residents and business owners in Wideopen have expressed relief and joy following the rejection of plans to close Hazlewood Community Primary School. The Office of the Schools Adjudicator published its decision yesterday, blocking North Tyneside Council's controversial proposal to shut Hazlewood and merge it with nearby Greenfields Community Primary School.
Community Voices Support
Margaret Moody, 75, whose family runs the Village Bakery on Canterbury Ways, said: “I am pleased about it. Families were very stressed.” Moody, who had grandchildren attend the school, praised the “relationship” between teachers, families, and pupils, adding: “In my experience, it deserves to stay around.”
Anne Fereday, 71, a grandparent of twin granddaughters, said: “It has a great reputation that school. It’ll be the school for my grandkids, it’s so lucky, and I will be the one taking them back and forth. I have only lived in the area for 18 months, but I have been told it has a great reputation, and people were very upset about it closing.” She emphasised: “Education is so important.”
Ex-Pupil and Business Owner Reactions
Gill Smith, 62, an ex-pupil who attended the school when it was under a different name, said: “That is brilliant news, it is part of the community, and there are many new houses, it would have been wrong to have lost it. It is not a viable thing that the community is expanding so much.”
Barber Huseyin Egilmez, 44, from Best Turkish barbers, said: “That is good because my little customers have been upset, and the families were worrying. There are no spaces around there, and they would have to travel elsewhere. It would have affected my business and all the families. I am so happy it is going to stay open for them, it’s great, and the families were so worried.”
Amber Johnson, 21, who works at Tan House Solarium, said: “Well, it is less stress for the families, when you’re around here, you can tell. If they did close it, everyone would have to go further and drive. It’s good from a business point of view, we have got lots coming in from the school run, we have the regulars on the morning when they drop their kids off, they come here.”
Council Response
Rebecca Wall, director of children, young people and learning at North Tyneside Council, said: “We appreciate that this has been a sensitive and difficult process for the Hazlewood school community. While the adjudicator did not approve the proposal, his letter does say that Hazlewood’s current buildings should not be used indefinitely, and that in the absence of a source of capital funding, Hazlewood should close. He adds that Greenfields has capacity to accommodate displaced pupils and that future legislation will give the Authority a route to bring forward a new proposal to merge the two schools. We will continue to support and communicate with the school’s leadership while we review the adjudicator’s letter and consider next steps. We are not able to comment further at this stage.”
