THERE are currently a lot of changes to the education system, with massive shake-ups in all ages from primary right through to university level.

Some schools are looking to become Academies while others will stay within local authority control. And some were set to benefit from the Building Schools for the Future programme before it was scrapped.

Now the council has announced a U-turn on plans to improve schools in North Kirklees, it says due to funding cuts.

The North Kirklees schools’ saga is long-running and parents have taken on the authority to forge ahead with plans to open their own school.

Initially Birkenshaw Middle School would have been closed with the extension of the two First schools in the area – Birkenshaw CE First and Nursery and East Bierley CE – to make room for the older children from the middle school.

Now Birkenshaw First and Nursery School will be re-located to Birkenshaw Middle School – the site where parents want to build, potentially blocking their own plans.

The council’s senior manager of school organisation says they are concerned about the level of uncertainty that parents feel.

The new proposals need to go before the Cabinet and then to public consultation, something many parents in North Kirklees are already familiar with.

Whatever happens, the changes to the education of children has already prompted lots of opposition. It’s not quite going back to square one, but it’s a chance for everyone to get round the table and sort the saga out.