Parents battle to save school

SAVE our school! Campaign leader Nigel Pemberton, left, Paula Ogden-Pemberton and Mandy and Phil Austin

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PARENTS have launched a campaign to save Moorside’s only Catholic school.

They say that losing Our Lady’s Primary would leave a “massive hole” in the community.

And it is feared that the threat of closure will cause parents to panic and remove their children from the school.

Salford Diocese wants to create a new £1 million Catholic primary for East Oldham by closing Our Lady’s and remodelling Sacred Heart in Derker.

Both schools have reduced demand for places and have funding problems.

Sacred Heart has only half of its 210 places filled but has a larger site and its own school playing fields.

Meanwhile Our Lady’s has 8 per cent surplus places but can only fit 105 pupils into the building, has no school hall and is a restricted site.

Oldham Council has agreed to contribute £600,000 and the diocese will consult with parents at the end of January.

Around 50 people attended a meeting at Moorside Cricket Club to launch the campaign against closure.

They say that the nearest Catholic school is not within walking distance and have written to the Bishop of Salford, the Rt Rev Terence Brain, urging him to scrap the move.

Paula Ogden-Pemberton is one of four campaign leaders who read about the plans in the Oldham Chronicle.

Her son has been at Our Lady’s since September and she said: “Our children enjoy every minute they are at school thanks to the caring attitude and dedication of all the teachers.”

Mandy Austin, whose daughter also started at Our Lady’s this year, added: “Our children are well-balanced, extremely well educated and all look out for each other.”

The new school would be one-form entry with a nursery.

It would allow teachers to widen the curriculum, improve information technology, have new classrooms, a group room, and space for one-to-one tuition and cut down disruption from changes such as setting tables for school meals.

The proposals were first revealed in January last year and are part of plans to deal with excess places in Hodge Clough, Watersheddings and Derker.

A diocese spokesman said that the facilities at Our Lady’s were poor while Sacred Heart had a falling roll.

He added that the schools were only a mile apart.

Councillor Kay Knox, Oldham’s cabinet member for children, young people and families, said: “East Oldham councillors realise that some parents are not happy.

“However, this is a proposal from the Salford Diocese and negotiations are ongoing with them.

“I would urge all parties affected by these proposals to take part in the consultation process and express their views.”