Opinion

While it may make economic sense - there are only 54 pupils in a school with a capacity for 140 and there are surplus places in other Malvern schools - Worcestershire County Council's decision does not take into account the circumstances of families living in Poolbrook.

While there may be surplus places, very few of these will be in schools within walking distance. For many, the reality will be putting children as young as four in taxis, which may well be taking them to rural schools outside of Malvern.

Many of the families affected do not have their own transport - 45 of the pupils either walk or cycle to school. Also, there is no guarantee that children from the same family will be found places in the same school.

In many cases, these are children who will need extra support through their education. One of the reasons the school struggled with results is because it had so many pupils with learning difficulties of one sort or another. How are they going to cope with this upheaval?

Having put in place a new acting-head, who had taken measures to act on the issues raised in April's critical Ofsted report, the county council has not been prepared to give the new regime any opportunity to turn the school round.

Fifty-four pupils would be more than enough to keep open a village school and Poolbrook is an area which needs its school every bit as much as an isolated village, perhaps more so.

It is hard to see how this was a decision taken with the best interests of the children of Poolbrook in mind, either now or in the future.