Quality, quality, quality...

Combs Infant School is acknowledged as one of the best in the country and a credit to Derbyshire.


The 2006 OfSTED report (National Inspectors) said that: “Combs is an outstanding School ... the school provides outstanding value for money and enjoys great levels of support and confidence from parents and the community.....”

Yet Derbyshire County Council want to close it, despite the high demand from parents and the fact that the numbers attending this year are above the maximum allowed for the school. WHY?

They say it costs too much to run even though the costs are normal for a rural school and the saving achieved by closing it down is a paltry £53,175 a year.

They say that 15 children are from out of their defined local area even though all but one of the pupils live within 2 miles of the school - many walk to school on a daily basis.

They say that pupils go on to Chapel Primary when they finish at Combs so it doesn’t matter if they start there 2 years earlier. Only four from the same family have gone on to Chapel from Combs in the last 10 years (and that was for a specific set of family circumstances). In fact, most of the pupils go on to study in Cheshire and closure will only increase the number of pupils Derbyshire will have to pay for in a neighbouring authority.

The school uses the Methodist Chapel and the Village Hall in partnership with the Village Hall Trust. If the school closes then both the Trust and the Church would have a massive problem sustaining themselves given this major loss of income.

The school, which has been there for 126 years will cease to exist and we believe the problems for the Church and the Village hall will become desperate.