Keskowethyans directors first discussed school closures in January 2016

Parents at St Martin-in-Meneage School are already fighting to keep their school open, with the board that runs it due to make a final decision over its future on Monday.

Closing it was first proposed publicly by the board of the Keskowethyans Multi-Academy Trust back in May, when it began a public consultation, stating that closure was "the only realistic option" due to falling pupil numbers compounded by staff resignations.

However, minutes from a directors' meeting show that the idea of shutting a school was first raised as far back as January 2016 - and was not limited to one.

A spokesperson for the trust has strongly denied any thoughts of a second closure proposal, telling the Packet: "The board is most emphatically not considering closing any other school and any suggestion to the contrary is scaremongering and unhelpful to everybody in the community."

The fear, raised to the Packet by a parent from another of the schools in the academy trust, stems from a report put together by Mark Lees, who at the time was working for the Learning Institute offering school improvement advice, and who suggested that Keskowethyans close two schools within the following two years, moving to one single academy from September 2018.

The trust is responsible for five schools on the peninsula: Coverack, Grade Ruan, Manaccan, St Keverne and St Martin.

According to the minutes of the meeting, members acknowledged that "from the outset of converting to an academy the aim was to the keep the schools in the communities, but at the time we knew it would probably only buy us a couple of years."

It goes on to state that, despite this, one member "emphatically" made the point that Keskowethyans did not want to be the first to close a school in Cornwall and members present agreed that there "was no will to close any schools at this stage."

With the current closure proposal for St Martin School now on the table, however, it has raised fears of a second school closure proposal being revisited.

The minutes of the 2016 meeting show the directors were advised by the Rev Simon Cade, who was the Truro Diocesan director of education, who told the board that the "financial reality of cash flow and reserves indicates there is a point where you will stop being a going concern. There will be a point where you are unsustainable in the current model."

Rev Cade went on to tell the directors that "just joining a bigger MAT won’t solve this problem" and pointed to "really significant fundamental issues that wouldn’t be solved," giving "tiny year groups in small schools" as an example.

Last week the directors announced that St Martin School will remain open in September, regardless of what decision is taken on its future, as it was now too late for parents to make alternative arrangements - although it was not stated how long it would remain open for.

Directors had met four days after the end of the closure consultation, but subsequently announced that no resolution would be reached for another two weeks.

A letter sent to parents by the chair of the board, Pam Miller, read: "Following the board meeting, I am writing to advise you that it was resolved to defer the decision on the proposal to close the school for a further two weeks in order to conduct a full and thorough consideration of all consultation responses.

"This decision arose from the volume of responses received and the need for more time to study and consider them in full.

"In view of the close proximity of the summer holidays and with due respect to the position parents are in, the board acknowledges that the tight timescales involved warrant that the school will open in the autumn term."

A protest group made up of parents and residents met last Thursday to work on a plan to present to the school before Monday, as well as look at organising smaller fundraising events in the near future and a larger fundraising event in September, with a view to restarting the village pre-school.

The group has set up a petition to save the school at www.change.org/p/st-martin-in-meneage-school-must-be-saved-for-pupils-and-the-local-community.

Members have raised fears that having no St Martin representatives on the directors board put the school at a disadvantage, but Mrs Miller said the board was filled according to skills rather than geography.

There have also been questions raised over Department for Education instructions for academies wanting to make "significant changes" - which state that "In all cases, proposals for amalgamation or merger with another academy…the academy trust must propose to close one (or more) school…" - and whether this was actually a reason behind the St Martin proposal, the board having openly stated it was considered a merger with another academy trust.

However, a board spokesperson said in fact the wording was a "technicality" and did not involving physically closing a school for business, just its "books."