A school which has been earmarked for closure has been given a reprieve after education bosses admitted they did not take into consideration a proposal made by a governing body.

Eastern Daily Press: Norfolk County Council assistant director of children services Gordon Boyd. Photo: Steve AdamsNorfolk County Council assistant director of children services Gordon Boyd. Photo: Steve Adams (Image: Archant)

Norfolk County Council is set to review its decision to close Mileham Primary School.

The move comes after council officials revealed they did not take on board a proposal made by the 28-pupil school's governors to keep the historic institution open for a year to enable it to turn around its fortunes.

As reported, the county council says the school is under performing.

But governors argue that the village primary has a disproportionate number of pupils with special educational needs for national statistics to be factored in.

Gordon Boyd, Norfolk County Council's assistant director for children's services, said: 'Although there was lengthy consultation, an email sent to the council by governors, during the consultation period, was unfortunately not received and was therefore not considered when the interim director made her decision to close the school.

'We want to make sure that it remains appropriate and fair to implement the decision on the future of the school and want to ensure we have listened to the views of all those concerned, which is why we have decided to carry out this review.'

A decision is expected to be made by the end of next week.

Garry Sinclair, chairman of governors at Mileham Primary, welcomed the review – but said that it should be made by an independent body.

'It should be made independently, away from the council, as the whole process has been flawed from the start,' he added.

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