MAJOR changes to the school system in and around Pershore could come into force in 2016 after proposals were announced by the high school that could see it take on an extra year group.

On Monday (December 17) Pershore High School began a consultation period to discuss changing the age of transfer to the school to Year 7 from September 2016.

The news has been met with anger by middle schools in the catchment area, who say it has created "shock waves" across the school community.

The consultation period will continue until February 13 and there will be a meeting of the governing body at Pershore High on February 25 when it will be decided if an application to accept the extra year should be submitted to the Department for Education.

Pershore High School headteacher Clive Corbett explained the motives behind the consultation.

"It's born out of the fact we have new GCSE exams coming up and with the increased content and rigour we need to do it over three years, Year 9 to 11," he said.

"We also think we need to put the basis underneath that over Years 7 and 8 as well to have the foundations in place for that educational change.

"I appreciate it will bring uncertainty. We felt strongly we needed to have an intelligent educational discussion and clearly we will take on comments.

"The middle schools major priority is the tests at the end of Year 6. They still work very well on the Year 7s but we feel we have more specialist teachers and facilities to make that more successful."

Nationally there is no precedent for a school led re-organisation and as an academy Pershore High is outside of local authority control.

The potential changes have not been welcomed by the three middle schools, Abbey Park in Pershore, St Nicholas C of E in Pinvin and St Barnabas in Drakes Broughton, with each remaining positive about the important bridge the three tier system offers.

Headteacher Lynn Evans from Abbey Park said it has caused "shock waves" and was a "serious threat to many schools that can not go unchallenged".

St Barnabas headteacher Paul Kilgallon said they would keep pupils at the heart of the discussion.

He said: "There is no doubt the removal of Year 7 pupils from our school would mean we would have to restructure significantly, and this would have implications for the first schools in our area too.

“We have no reason to think Pershore High School are concerned about our standards and believe middle schools and the three-tier approach provide an effective way to educate children."

Andrew Best, headteacher at St Nicholas added: "I have had first-hand personal experience of the potentially damaging effects of such restructuring, since I was an inspector of schools on the Isle of Wight, when schools there reorganised to the two-tier system.

"Even today only 17 percent of pupils attend a good or outstanding secondary school on the Isle of Wight. It is vital we take a considered approach in response to the proposed changes."

A meeting about the proposals will take place at Abbey Park Middle School on Monday, January 19, at 6.30pm.

There will also be consultation events at Pershore High School, on January 5 for staff, January 7 and 27 for Pershore High School parents from 6pm, January 13 and February 9 for stakeholders from 6pm and January 22 and February 4 with partner pyramid school parents from 6pm.