GOVERNORS of a school at the centre of a proposed merger with another to create the biggest primary school in the area, are objecting to the scheme.

Governors of Whinfield Junior School, in Darlington, are protesting at Darlington Borough Council's decision on Tuesday to amalgamate it with Whinfield Infants to create a 630-place primary school.

Lynne Thompson, chairwoman of the governors at the junior school, said the board felt the new school would be too big, that the amalgamation would be unfair to staff who would have to reapply for their jobs, and that they disagreed with the way the proposals had been handled.

She said the governors felt it was wrong that no parents were consulted before the council's cabinet approved the amalgamation.

"We want to see the interests of the whole school put first - that means pupils, parents and staff," she said.

"If these were two failing schools, then amalgamating them in a bid to drag them up from the mire would be acceptable, but they are not failing."

The council's proposals to amalgamate the schools arose after the junior school's former headteacher, David Ackroyd, moved to fill a vacancy as headteacher at North Road Primary School.

That gave Darlington council the opportunity to consider the amalgamation under its School Organisation Plan, which promotes primary schools as offering better educational opportunities, compared with separate infant and junior schools.

Under the merger proposals, the current headteacher at Whinfield Infant School, Sheila Williams, wife of Darlington council leader Councillor John Williams, could become the head of the borough's largest primary school.

The board of governors at the junior school has six weeks to submits its objections to the amalgamation, to trigger an independent review of the proposals by the school organisation committee.

This committee must unanimously approve the proposals for the amalgamation to go ahead, but if there is one vote against the merger, the schools adjudicator will make a final decision.