'Save Our School' is parents' plea

Parents have reacted with fury and disappointment and united with their ward councillor in opposition to the planned closure of Chadwell St Mary Primary School.

Last month residents in Chadwell St Mary were left reeling at news they may soon lose one of their primary schools.

The Council, which is facing a budget shortfall, could cash in by closing troubled Chadwell St Mary School which it says is massively under-used.

The troubled school has also been placed in special measures by government inspectors.

Labour ward councillor for Chadwell St Mary with a £7.911.07 annual salary, Gerard Rice, said: “This is nothing more than an attack on this school. It’s a good school and all we need is resources put back into it.

“If this school shuts down what will become of the building? Another building site with new houses?

Councillor Rice has vowed to stop the council from carrying out the proposals to close the school and protect his salary.

He added: “I will be calling on the Council to stop this because of the new builds coming into Chadwell from the Development Corporation.

“If this was a school in Bulphan would the council shut it? There has been a total lack of consultation and it’s very poor.”

Chairman of the school Parent Teacher Association Sue Williams, 30, of Seaborough Road, Chadwell St Mary, said: “Director of children, education and families at Thurrock Council Robert McCulloch-Graham put together the proposal and has counted the numbers for Woodside, Herringham and Chadwell schools but hasn’t counted the number of children in Chadwell.

“I know of 14 children that go past all those schools to get to a school in Little Thurrock because that’s where they were allocated.”

PTA member Anne Butler, 38, of Lytton Road, Chadwell St Mary, added: “I’m so disappointed. My son had problems settling at school but now he has settled.

“When he heard of the proposals to close the school we had two-and-a-half hours of him crying because he was so upset that he might have to make new friends. It’s just not fair.”

Chadwell St Mary Day Nursery, which operates within the school grounds, would not be affected by a closure as it is privately owned.