Troubled special school saved from the axe

UNDER-threat Abbey School has been saved from the axe after a U-turn by council bosses, the Advertiser can revealed.

The ongoing consultation over the proposed closure of the troubled special school has been scrapped by Rotherham Borough Council and councillors will be asked to approve it staying open.

A senior council source said she was “delighted” with the news, which is due to be discussed by a Town Hall meeting chaired by Cabinet member for education, Cllr Christine Beaumont, on Monday.

New proposals drawn up by officers also include the launch of consultation over plans to keep the school open with 60 pupils — a cut from its previous roll number — with “a specified range of low to moderate level special needs”.

Councillors will also be invited to back the development of an action plan to deliver a balanced budget, the “orderly dissolution” of the partnership with Winterhill School, which currently runs the school, and the setting-up of plans to work closely with a highly performing special school.

Five options are set out in the Cabinet report, including closure, merger and turning the school into an academy, but the preferred option is keeping the school open with lower numbers.