ANGRY parents have slammed an Oldbury school’s decision to suspend its sixth form for the next academic year as “disgraceful”.

Year 11 pupils at Perryfields High School and Sixth Form were given a letter following an assembly on Monday (March 5) telling them their secured post-16 places for this September will no longer be provided for.

Signed by headteacher Ian Barton, the letter – which has been seen by the News – said the decision has “not been taken lightly” and was made with the “best interests of the whole school community”.

The letter blamed the small size of the sixth form for the suspension, and that the school was unable to offer the breadth of subjects to “prepare students for a full range of pathways in the future”.

Halesowen News:

The school said it does plan to relaunch its post-16 provision in 2019-2020 and provision will still be made available in 2018-2019 for current year 12 pupils heading into their final year.

The letter added: “Our priority is now to give our current year 11 students the best information and guidance about local provision at post-16 to best suit their needs and aspirations.

“We understand that this may be a disappointing decision for some of our students, parents and staff. However we hope that you understand that we have made an informed decision and that our commitment is to achieving the best outcomes for all of our students.”

Richard Greening, of Rowley Regis, whose son was due to attend Perryfields Sixth Form from September, has criticised the school for the timing of the decision due to nearby schools no longer accepting applications for this autumn.

He told the News: “Most of the sixth form schools in the area have a cut-off date for external applications which has now passed.

“Now while the decision may not be a legal issue for the school, ethically and morally it is.

“The children involved are in the middle of revising for their GCSE exams so the timing of this decision is unbelievably poor and wrong.

“I think the whole thing is disgusting and the school has offered no reassurances that we will be able to get our son into another sixth form.

“We had a meeting with the deputy head on Tuesday where we were asked why we didn’t have a backup. Why would we need a backup when my son was already accepted for a place at Perryfields?

“If the school did not wish to provide sixth form they should have not offered it in the first place and to remove it so late in the day after other options are closed is disgraceful.”

The News has contacted the school but is yet to receive a response from Mr Barton.