A primary school in the Moss Side district of Manchester has been recommended for closure after the city’s chief education officer branded it “no longer rescuable”.
Princess school is the third Manchester primary targeted for closure because of low educational standards.
Roy Jobson, Manchester’s CEO, said: “We are proposing to close the school on educational grounds, not because it is an inner-city primary, not because of surplus places and not because it has a large budget deficit.”
Mr Jobson said teachers and heads were recognising that doing something about the ineffectual and incompetent elements in the profession would enhance the reputations of the vast majority.
Princess primary is considered the worst of the three schools earmarked for closure. It was largely rebuilt four years ago following a fire, but that incident and a poor Ofsted report, combined with major regeneration in the area, has seen pupil numbers plummet. There are now 145 on roll in a school designed for 480.
Neil Hoskison, the school’s associate head, admitted it was not financially viable. He said that the school has some difficult pupils and has not permanently excluded anyone in his time there, while it has taken excluded pupils from elsewhere.
