Manley Village School could be set to close as Cheshire West and Chester Council propose its amalgamation with Alvanley Primary School.

Under this Council plan, Manley Village School, which is already federated with Alvanley, would be 'discontinued' in September 2021, but teaching would still take place across both sites.

Manley Village School currently admits up to nine pupils per cohort, while Alvanley allows for 10. If the amalgamation goes ahead, there would be a planned admission of 15 pupils per cohort.

Cheshire West and Chester are inviting residents to have their say on this proposal via a public consultation.

In the supporting document to the online survey, the Council said: "Despite amalgamating budgets and introducing the teaching of a cohort of children drawn from both schools on a single site, the governing body has identified that in future years it will be unable to meet its responsibility to operate the two schools within the available budget.

"The governing body has concluded the most efficient way of using its available resources would be to combine the teaching of all age groups; with Foundation (Reception) and Key Stage One (Infant) children being taught on one site and Key Stage Two (Junior) children being taught on the other site.

"Further savings could be made through rationalisation of the purchase of services currently made by both schools.

"The current approach to combining some year groups drawn from both schools does not allow parents to make decisions based upon certainty about how and where their children will be educated and can cause confusion in the school admission process.

"An amalgamated school would provide transparency and certainty about future arrangement of teaching and learning and would remove potential confusion and ambiguity from the admissions process. The amalgamated school will have a single catchment area.

"The governing body and the Local Authority have concluded that this proposal offers the best prospect for maintaining the delivery of high-quality primary education in the villages of Manley and Alvanley.

Manley Parish Council also deemed the amalgamation to be a 'good idea', as long as "the identity of Manley School [is] preserved and controls on its possible closure in the long term are not circumvented."

The two schools were federated under a combined headship and governing body in 2006, after the then Cheshire County Council suggested merging and perhaps closing both sites.

If you wish to make your views heard on this matter, you can complete the Council survey here. The consultation closes on 8th November 2020.