School due for closure is saved

Parents were united in opposing the closure

An award winning school on South Shields, which was threatened with closure, has been saved.

South Tyneside Council has jannounced that Temple Park Infants will stay open.

The council had planned to close it, because of falling pupil numbers.

This sparked a massive campaign by parents, staff, and pupils to keep it open, and resulted in several marches on the town hall.

The school had already been awarded becaon status by the government as one of the country's best schools.

Temple Park's head Cheryl Porter said she was "delighted".

Beacon school

Education officials had said closure was needed to reduce the number of surplus places in the borough - an estimated 2,000 empty school places will exist in South Tyneside within five years.

Temple Park Infants School is situated in the constituency of Schools Standards Minister David Miliband, who had refused to comment publicly on the plans.

In November a 2,500-signature petition was handed into Downing Street by parents of pupils at Temple Park Infants.

Beacon schools are given extra cash in return for sharing best practice with other schools.

The aim is to improve pupil performance and to close the gap between the best and worst performing schools in England.