PARENTS told that their children have been accepted for a school earmarked for closure this autumn claim they will be forced to waste time and money.

Dozens of parents in the Allendale area of south Northumberland received letters at the weekend telling them their offspring would be starting at Allendale Middle School for the September term this year.

But a county council decision is set to be taken to shut down the school and reorganise the education structure in the Haydon Bridge Partnership.

The letter, from the county’s schools admission team corporate director Hilary Wheeler, caused immediate consternation when it dropped through letterboxes on Saturday.

By last night it was being said that the letter was a formality – though it would be an expensive formality for parents having to buy uniforms and school transport passport photographs.

Colin Horncastle, county councillor for the area, said: “It is far more likely that the school will close, but because the final decision is to be made in April, in theory there is a slight possibility that something might still happen that the school stays open.

“If the school was operating under normal conditions, it would need to get numbers for the September term.

“The school is still going through this process because it is not officially 100% sure that it will close – but this is really no more than a formality.”

However, Allendale parent Clare Shield, who received a letter saying her nine-year-old son Joe had been accepted to start at the middle school in September, said: “It’s an expensive formality for us all.

“We have to get passport photos ready and buy school uniforms and accept by a deadline of March 15 – but then we could be getting told weeks later that the school is closing.

“Everybody is saying, ‘Am I going to spend all this money on uniforms and photos and then be told we don’t need them?’”

Coun Horncastle is now investigating whether parents will be entitled to a refund for any wasted expenditure.

Meanwhile, Allendale parish councillor Marc Hydleman, who also fought against the school’s closure following an adverse Ofsted report last year, is urging parents not to ignore the council admission letters.

In a Facebook debate, he warned: “If you do not accept, then they will say that nobody wanted to accept their place, so the only option is to close.

“But if you accept, you should also make clear that any expense you go to should be refunded by Northumberland County Council (NCC) if they then decide that the school is closing and so the place is not available.

“Perhaps all the parents who have been sent a letter of acceptance should write a single letter to say that they all want to accept the place and that you will send in the appropriate photos, etc, as soon as NCC confirm the school is to stay open.

“If you all sign this it will show that you want your children to go to Allendale Middle School.”

Mr Hydleman told The Journal: “If they are closing the school, why have they gone to the expense of offering places to a school that they do not intend to keep open? Surely they could have waited until they had completed the process.”

The development came three days after Ofsted inspectors paid another visit to the school, which is said to be rapidly improving following last year’s bad report which triggered the closure process.

Mrs Shield said: “I understand it was a very good report from last week’s visit, and that the school is making very good progress.

“If they would allow the school another 18 months, I’m sure it would be able to come out of special measures.

“But they are giving it only until this year, and that is not long enough.”