A FINAL bid to save Great Alne Primary School from closure has failed.
Members of Warwickshire County Council recently voted to close the village school at the end of this academic year.
Education chiefs had proposed the closure due to a significant reduction in pupils joining over the last five years – from 102 in January 2021 to 13 in January 2026.
A WCC spokesman said the school had become “financially unviable” and with no projected increase in numbers and a growing budget deficit, the school would not be able to sustain its “financial and educational responsibilities”.
But WCC’s Liberal Democrat councillors called in the decision, triggering a pause on the closure and forcing a review by the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee.
The Lib Dem group challenged the closure on the grounds of a number of specific failures in the way the decision was reached. This included the closure process itself encouraging parents to move their children to other schools, therefore increasing the decline in pupil numbers, parents being incorrectly told by the council they could not name Great Alne as a Reception choice for September 2026, and, in light of plans for 6,762 new homes being proposed for the area under the South Warwickshire Local Plan, Lib Dem councillors argued the decision should have been postponed until future demand for primary school places in the area could be properly assessed.
But their objections were voted down by a margin of five to four, when the council’s Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee met this week.
They agreed the decline in pupil numbers and impact on financial viability was too much to ignore.
Coun John Waine said: “No one who values community spirit wishes to see a local school close, especially those in a traditional village setting.
“However, we live in strained times economically and financially speaking and we can’t ignore economic reality.”
