At a meeting of the Leader Decisions, Surrey County Council, Councillor Tim Oliver OBE, Leader of the Council, made the difficult decision to close St Mary's Church of England Infant School in Shackleford at the end of the summer term in July 2025, and to transfer its remaining pupils to Puttenham Church of England Infant School or another preferred school from September 2025. This decision was made due to falling pupil numbers and financial pressures that were affecting the school's ability to provide a high-quality education.

Closure of St Mary's Church of England Infant School

Councillor Tim Oliver made the decision to issue the statutory notices to close St Mary's Church of England Infant School, with an amendment to the original recommendation to allow pupils to transfer to Puttenham Church of England Infant School or another preferred school from September 2025. The original recommendation stated that pupils would transfer only to Puttenham Church of England Infant School.

Councillor Tim Oliver said that he understood that there were parents who valued the school and its culture, but that with only five or six pupils remaining, the school was not sustainable.

I'm going to just slightly amend the recommendation, though. That is in the published papers and the recommendation is that it is recommended that the leader of the council determines the statutory notices to agree the proposal to close St Mary's Church of England Infant School and transfer its pupils pupils to Putnam Church of England Infant School. And I'm going to insert in there or an alternative preferred school from September 25 on the basis that I gather most of the pupils will go to Putnam. But but if they don't want to do that and they've got an alternative offer, then they may choose to go elsewhere.

The decision followed a consultation that ran from 25 April to 23 May 2025, and a representation period that ran from 3 June to 1 July 2025. The consultation received 115 responses, with 66% of respondents disagreeing with the proposal to close the school. The representation period received 10 representations, with 70% of respondents disagreeing with the proposal. A detailed consultation analysis and representation period analysis were included in the reports pack for the meeting.

The reasons for the proposed closure were outlined in the supplementary agenda and reports pack for the meeting:

• Falling pupil numbers: The number of children starting school in reception classes in Surrey has fallen by 12.5% from 2016 to 2024, which is equivalent to 56 fewer classes.
• Financial pressures: Schools receive funding from central government based on the number of pupils they have. The fall in pupil numbers has resulted in a higher number of surplus primary school places, and schools with a high number of vacant places have less money for staff, resources, and equipment.
• Sustainability: St Mary's Church of England Infant School has been facing challenges due to the decrease in funding, which is beginning to affect its ability to fully support its pupils. The school is no longer sustainable with such low pupil numbers.

Sarah Jeffrey, Service Manager, Education Place Planning, explained that school leaders, the council, and the Diocese of Guildford had been working together for a number of years to try to secure the school's future. In September 2023, the school entered into a federation with St James' Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School in Elstead, which allowed the school to operate under one governing body and share leadership and business resources. However, this had not solved the problem as the number of children on roll continued to fall.

Ms Jeffrey said that at the time of the discussions earlier in the year, only 1% of the children attending the school actually lived in the village itself, and that the majority of the school's rolls were being sustained by children coming in from further afield. She added that as the number of vacancies in primary schools had increased, parents had a higher rate of getting their children into their preferred school, and that there was no longer the same influx into schools from further afield.

Ms Jeffrey also noted that the number of children enrolled at St Mary's Church of England Infant School had continued to fall during the consultation period, and that there would only be five or six children on roll in the school in September 2025, not counting the current year two cohort.

The Equality Impact Assessment (EIA) for the proposal acknowledged that the closure of St Mary's Church of England Infant School would have a negative impact on pupils and staff, but stated that Surrey County Council had explored all other possible options for keeping the school open. The EIA concluded that the school did not remain viable or sustainable in its current form.