PARENTS, grandparents and members of the Woodrow community have reacted with fury over Worcestershire County Council's decision to close Dingleside Middle School.

The decision came following a damning Ofsted report which placed the school in Special Measures, but some parents have suggested that the county council just used the report as an excuse to shut it.

Peter Purnell, who has a daughter at the school, said: "They were just waiting for the report to come so they could close this school.

"When we attended a meeting about the school's future, Colin Weeden, the county council's head of raising achievement and access to learning, admitted that there had been management problems at the school for years.

"If you had a business that was doing badly because of management then you would do something to rectify that at the earliest stage. The county council didn't, it sat back and waited and used this Ofsted report as an excuse."

Ruby Smith, whose grandchildren attend the school, said: "Closing down this school will cause a huge safety issue. Currently 90 per cent of pupils at Dingleside can walk safely to the school on their own.

"If it closes, parents in Woodrow will have to get younger children to Woodrow First school then worry about getting older kids to one of the further away middle schools.

"We know Dingleside has smaller numbers than other Redditch middle schools but it has just one feeder school, the others have at least two or three. We may have less kids but many of them have come from other schools because they weren't happy there.

"We've been delighted with the care, attention and help given to them at Dingleside."

One grandparent feels so strongly about the closure that she is appealing to companies for their help in keeping it open.

Stacey Ager said: "Dingleside is a fantastic school and the new headteacher Mr Cape has worked wonders with our children.

"I'm going to fight to keep it open. I'm appealing to community businesses and asking them to help us turn it into a privately-funded school. It is possible and we have to do all we can to save this school."

County councillor Barry Gandy said: "The problem with Dingleside was that many parents previously voted with their feet and the school subsequently doesn't have enough students to provide a viable curriculum. Even if the Ofsted report had been good, the school would still not be viable with such low pupil numbers."

Mr Gandy said the options of which schools pupils from Dingleside would now go to would be looked at.

He said he believed the best option, which would still allow pupils from Woodrow to take part in after-school activities when Dingleside closes, would be for them to attend Woodfield Middle School, which is in walking distance of Woodrow estate.