THREE Darlington cabinet members are on the temporary governing body which will appoint the headteacher of the newly-merged Whinfield Primary School.

Councillors Bill Dixon, Stephen Harker and Nick Wallis join existing governor Coun Tom Nutt on the recommendation of the director of education, Geoff Pennington.

They will join 14 other governors - six parents, four staff and four community representatives.

Monday's lifelong learning scrutiny committee heard that the temporary body's single most important task would be to appoint the headteacher of the amalgamated school.

A change of Government regulations meant an existing head, if suitable, could be appointed without advertising the post.

One of the candidates could be Sheila Williams, who is headteacher of the infants' school and wife of council leader, John Williams.

David Walker, assistant director of education, said there would be increased support for both schools in the run-up to the merger from a group of ex-primary headteachers, who would also help the new head.

There would be monthly meetings to monitor progress starting as soon as possible.

Other schools in the town which had been through the amalgamation process would share their experiences with the new head.

"Each school is different but there will be things they can learn from each other," he added. "We need to keep an eye on Whinfield and the other schools as well to ensure they are developing in the way they should.

"We will be looking very closely at parental feedback, for instance. This is a policy over time, not a quick fix."

Referring to Whinfield, he admitted: "This was a difficult amalgamation."

Most of the objections came from the junior school, while the infants' school was happy with the process.

"We have been going through an amalgamation at Harrowgate Hill with no representations from anyone at all," he pointed out.

Coun Roderick Francis, Mayor of Darlington, said there was a public perception that decisions had already been taken, despite consultation with parents.

Coun Tony Richmond, Conservative leader, said: "The danger is that people might start to think consultation is great, as long as you come up with the result they want: if you don't they think they have been ignored."

Coun Liz Hart commented: "I think the two schools were undoubtedly different. At Harrowgate Hill, two schools are going together into a new school which both sets of staff have worked to design.

"Both sets of governors and parents were involved all the time and I think that made it so much easier.

"At Whinfield you have two separate schools already there, so it is completely different."

Whinfield was also going to have bigger pupil numbers.

Coun Stephen Harker agreed: "We can have the perfect process for one school - and not another. That is where the difficulty lies. You have to bear in mind no two schools are alike."