EXECUTIVE headteacher Diana Morton has spoken for the first time about the future of Radcliffe Riverside High School.

Speaking exclusively to the Radcliffe Times, she welcomed proposals to form a partnership with Derby High School.

But she had ‘serious concerns’ about plans to close Radcliffe Riverside to new students in 2010, leaving Radcliffe without a school until a new one is built.

Bury Council is currently holding a consultation on the future of education in the borough to tackle the problem of falling rolls.

It is a particular problem for Radcliffe Riverside, where the reduced number of pupils means that the upper school campus in Abden Street will be closed in September and all children moved to the site in Spring Lane.

The consultation includes two options for Radcliffe Riverside — either close the school and build a new Derby on the former East Lancashire Paper Mill site, or amalgamate them to create a new school on the site.

The new school is scheduled to open in 2013 and would be funded using money from the Government’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Mrs Morton said she already works with a number of different partners and would be happy to consider working with the Derby.

She said: “We work with lots of different partners, like Bury College, Holy Cross College, and Alliance Learning, so a partnership with Derby would build on that. Schools are quite individual and I don’t know a lot about the Derby, but I am hoping to find out more as the plans progress.

“The staff here have already been through an amalgamation and know how to make it a success. There are still a lot of questions to be answered though about how the partnership will work.”

Mrs Morton said she was concerned that children would have to go to schools outside the town for three years.

Under plans to close the school and relocate Derby, Radcliffe Riverside would stop admitting new pupils in 2010. Pupils already on the roll would remain at the school and work collaboratively with the Derby.

Mrs Morton said: “I have serious concerns that the choice to send children to school in Radcliffe will be removed. Parents of pupils at Radcliffe primary schools will be forced to send their children elsewhere, whether it’s Derby or Philips or another school. A large number of our pupils live within walking distance, but they will not be able to walk to these other schools. It will have a big effect on families.”

She also expressed her disappointment that the school’s proposed opening date had been pushed back even further.

Mrs Morton said: “I think everyone in Radcliffe should be disappointed that it has been delayed to 2013. The students have been promised this school for years and they still can’t see it being built.

“A new school would make the community believe that people are prepared to invest in them.”

Mrs Morton launched a campaign at the prizegiving night last week calling for Radcliffe Riverside to remain open until the new school is built.

She asked people to sign a petition against the closure being considered for 2010.

Speaking to staff, students and parents at the prizegiving night, Mrs Morton said: “In the interim period it is vital that we work together in partnership, but we must fight to ensure that Radcliffe has a school within the town which meets the needs of all the community.

“Never before has the school needed your support so much and I would ask everyone here tonight to commit themselves to the future of Radcliffe Riverside. Students, staff and parents need your commitment.

“We must ensure that the students of our community can look forward to the same opportunities as those here tonight and that Radcliffe Riverside School continues to exist at the heart of the town’s community.”