You may have read recently about Northumberland County Council’s attempts to force a merger between Haydon Bridge High School and our local High School – Queen Elizabeth (QEHS) in Hexham. Their proposal was to move 400+ pupils from Haydon Bridge to Hexham this September into an already crowded school and then to build a new larger school to be ready in 2020. This is wrong for so many reasons:-

• The infrastructure at QEHS could not cope with another 400+ pupils and the disruption caused would surely have an adverse effect on the 1200+ pupils already there.
• Governors, pupils and parent at both schools were not consulted.
• Most parents in Haydon Bridge do not want their children to go to school in Hexham.

Fortunately the Secretary of State for Education has blocked this knee-jerk proposal. QEHS does need bigger and better facilities and HBHS needs change too but this all needs to be done in a carefully planned and consultative way.