Petition aims to save town school

Parents are petitioning after the plans were revealed

A petition opposing plans to turn a school in Leicestershire into a sixth form-only college has been launched by parents of some pupils.

The county council is considering plans to alter Edward the Seventh School in Burton Road in Melton.

Dozens of parents along with pupils in their uniforms collected "hundreds of signatures" on Saturday in the town.

Leicestershire County Council said it was looking at options for the school in a meeting on Tuesday.

Petition organiser, Katy Dickinson, of Melton Mowbray, said the news came to them on Tuesday that the county council was thinking of closing the school.

'Thousand signatures'

"It was a shock to absolutely everybody, but we're not taking it lying down, we're going to do something about it.

"We want to stop it, that's the plan, we want them to give us a chance to show it's a different school, to prove it's a good school."

Ms Dickinson said the groups of parents had collected "probably close to a thousand signatures" in one day.

In a statement, the county council said: "The cabinet is being asked to consult on a range of options for King Edward VII at its meeting next week.

"The preferred option is that the school becomes a provider for post-16 education.

"Recently, Ofsted recognised the high quality of sixth form provision in King Edward VII School.

"This option would involve King Edward VII being housed in the brand new post-16 centre, which is under construction on the Burton Road campus."