AN infant school is submitting a proposal to the government to ask to extend its age range – despite concerns being raised by other schools.

Parkside GGI Academy teaches two to seven-year-olds, but it wants to expand to take junior pupils, aged up to 11.

The Barrow school – previously called Greengate Infant, Nursery and Pre-School – held a consultation about changing its age range and reducing its published admission number for school places from September 2017.

Parkside said it considered the idea after receiving letters, feedback and a 200 signature petition from parents-asking for a change in the age range.

The academy, in Greengate Street, has 63 per cent of its capacity filled in Reception class, so it wants to offer all-through primary education which it says some parents want. It also wants to prevent future staff redundancies if school numbers were under capacity.

During the consultation, which ended last month, Parkside said a primary school is in a “stronger position” to plan for both continuity and progression in learning the curriculum in a continuous and coherent way from the Foundation Stage through to Key Stage Two.

Parkside headteacher, Caroline Long-Hoggarth, said the school was submitting its business case to the Department for Education this week.

Mrs Long-Hoggarth said: “We had 105 responses in the consultation and the majority were all for it. There was a positive response from parents.”

Parkside staff discussed the plan at a meeting of Barrow Primary Schools Collaborative where more than 20 schools were represented.

Mrs Long-Hoggarth said nine responses from schools were received, with six of them raising concerns about the plan and the impact it would have on Greengate Junior School, which is also on Greengate Street.

Mrs Long-Hoggarth said: “We are presenting ourselves as an outstanding school. For us it makes sense to reduce our admission number and support families who are having to move pupils.”

She said the plan would allow them to continue the school’s good work with the pupils.

The head said extending the range has worked in Ulverston with Sir John Barrow Primary School and Church Walk School.

A Cumbria County Council spokesman said: “Proposals such as this, which have implications for the wider local education system, have to be considered very carefully.

“Our aim as a county council is to ensure the best possible educational opportunities for all children in an area. To that end we have worked with headteachers to create local alliances of schools where discussion and development can take place.

“Our view is that these proposals would be best discussed in detail through the local alliance.”

Sue Jackson, the headteacher of Greengate Junior School said the plan would have an impact on her school. Mrs Jackson said the junior school raised its concerns during the consultation.

The proposal is due to go before a DfE headteacher panel.

'Ethos and vision' wins backing from parents

PARKSIDE, part of the Inspired Learning Multi-Academy Trust, says the issues it faces include:

Difficulty planning for Key Stage Two places; parents want their children to benefit from the school’s ethos and vision until secondary school, they don’t want to take siblings to two different schools and they don’t want children moving to a different school

Parkside wants to extend the age range by one year group each year until 2020. It would move from two to one-form year groups

The school would change its PAN from 60 pupil places in each year group – now Reception, Year One and Year Two – to 30 places per year group

The reduced PAN means between eight and 12 children would need to find alternative places at neighbouring schools