PARENTS of primary school children are furious their children will not be attending the school they thought they would.

The parents of students from Brackenbury Infant and Underhill Junior schools are concerned about proposed changes to the Portland Academy.

In a meeting parents were told the new school built at the Osprey Quay site would only accommodate youngsters from reception to Year Three.

Pupils aged seven years old and over will be attending school at the Southwell Business Park site four and a half miles away.

Brackenbury parents have launched a petition over the changes and are demanding a meeting with the academy bosses for the chance to voice their views.

The Aldridge Foundation is the lead sponsor of the Isle of Portland Aldridge Community Academy and is involved with other academies throughout the country.

It specialises in “social entrepreneurship” which encourages children to work as part of a community.

The Portland Academy was given the green light to open from the Secretary of State for Education in April this year as part of national efforts to improve schools and education.

It is set to open in September.

Parents are upset that they were not given the full information during the voting process and say they would not have voted for the school to become an academy if they been told about the split.

Kirsty Potter, of Portland, said: “The news has caused a stir especially to those parents who don’t drive.

“It is quite a long way away.”

There will be a free and supervised bus to transport pupils to the Southwell site and to each campus throughout the day, however many parents feel their children are too young to travel on a bus without their parents.

Mrs Potter, mother of twins due to attend the academy in September, said: “We feel really let down by the academy and the lack of communication. It feels like we’ve been put on a back burner.”

She added: “It’s really upsetting. No one knew, not even the teachers, which I think is even worse.

“They have said there are better facilities at Southwell but £8m has been spent on the Osprey Quay site so surely their facilities are good enough too.”

Other fears are that children going into Year Three this September will only be at the new school for one year before they are again uprooted to another school.

Lisa Hughes, of Portland, mother and member of the Parents and Teachers Association (PTA) said: “Some of the parents still didn’t know until I ask them to sign the petition.

“There have been no official letters informing parents.

“We were told last week at the school meeting but I don’t think the school itself had known for very long.”

Federation plan 'a year away'

THE head teacher of the Chesil Cove Federation schools has said the new proposals may not happen for another 12 months.

Darren Marklew said, as an educator, he wanted the best for the children of Portland.

He added: “There will be problems in the first few years while inhabiting new buildings, but we will accommodate all the children.”

The original plan was to move all children from Brackenbury and Underhill to the Chesil Cove Federation site at Osprey Quay.

The Southwell Business Park was intended to accommodate The Royal Manor Arts College students as well as pupils from Grove Infant School and Southwell Primary school.

Alan Brooks from the Aldridge Foundation confirmed that this move would in fact go ahead.

He said it was not the case that parents would lose the community feeling of the school drop-off.

He said: “There will be the same opportunities.

“Parents will be dropping their students off at the bus pick-up points and the school is making every effort for greater access to the teachers at the campus.”

The Southwell site will be able to accommodate some primary school children to ensure older and younger siblings can stay within the same school.