Dear Parents and Carers,

I am pleased to be able to inform you that the local authority has now approved the amalgamation of the two schools; below is the official press release. The two schools will continue to work independently until September, although as the Executive Head I am in a fortunate position to be able to facilitate closer working partnerships between the two schools.

Yours faithfully,

Mrs T Sammons

Merger of College Town school gets go-ahead

The amalgamation of College Town Infant and Junior schools was approved on Friday (16 February) after more than 70 per cent of respondents agreed with the plan to join the two schools to benefit pupils' education.

The council executive member of children for children, young people and learning, Cllr Gareth Barnard, agreed plans to create one primary school after carefully examining feedback from two consultations.

The initial consultation of parents saw 75 per cent of respondents (including parents and governors) agree to the amalgamation and the second formal consultation saw 71 per cent of people agree that College Town Infant School should be extended to become an all-through primary school.

The benefits of joining the schools to provide education for 3 to 11 year olds in one place, include:
- enabling better continuity of education and progression for pupils - specially children moving from Year 2 to Year 3;
- providing more stability for pupils and avoiding the needs for children to change schools at a young age;

- enhancing the safeguarding needs of all pupils;

- providing the chance to achieve higher educational outcomes;

- providing better opportunities to develop the curriculum;

- better use of teachers and non-teaching staff and increasing the range, experience and expertise of staff;

- providing better value for money by cutting down duplication of resources and staff.

The schools will continue to function separately until the new all-though school is ready - it is anticipated that it will be up and running from September 2018. Staff and parents will be kept up-to-date on the progress of the new school at regular intervals.

Cllr Gareth Barnard, executive member for children, young people and learning, said "I looked carefully at all the comments submitted as part of the consultation on the plans and agree with the majority of views that having one school for all primary years is the best option for children, parents and school staff.

"The majority of schools in Bracknell Forest are primary schools and so the new amalgamated school in College Town will follow the same successful model.

"It makes sense to have primary school aged children educated in one place as it has real benefits for the children and their attainment and education as well as reducing costs and retaining good staff."

The name of the new school will be announced over the coming months alongside other information on staffing, uniform, building work, the school's governors and admission details.