A BOTLEY primary school and nursery will merge despite protests from teachers and parents, it has been agreed.

Elms Road Nursery will close at the end of August, with the building and staff transferring to neighbouring Botley Primary School ahead of the new academic year.

Oxfordshire County Council’s cabinet agreed the move on Tuesday.

There had been “significant tension” and “long-standing difficulties in coordination” between the two and attempts to reach an agreement between them had failed, a council report said.

Parents and staff at the 68-year-old nursery opposed the move, which would see headteacher Alison Brockliss’s role come to an end.

She told The Oxford Mail: “The parents have been very supportive of us, and are feeling very flat, but we must now look forwards to a new future in a new setting.

“The decision has been made by the county council, and now we must try our best to make it work.”

Mrs Brockliss, who led the nursery to an ‘outstanding’ rating by education inspectorate Ofsted last year, said she now expected her contract to end in August.

She said she does not know if she will be offered another job.

The primary school backed the merger, saying too much time had been spent on trying to get the schools to co-operate on early years education.

Chairman of governors Annette Ahern told the council a lack of accountability from the separation was a “a major stumbling block” for the primary, taking up too much time for head Alison Marsh.

In a letter to councillors, she said: “Governors believe they have explored every avenue open to them both formally and informally which would allow both schools to continue operating independently.”

She added: “It is our belief that we cannot move on without the merger going ahead.

“The transition will be complex and sometimes difficult but long term gains will vastly outweigh very short term issues.”

But Elms Road governors argued Botley was best served by an independent nursery.

Chairman Anne Winter told councillors: “The fact remains that a school rated ‘satisfactory’ by Ofsted will be taking over the running of a school rated ‘outstanding’.

“We find it hard to see how the quality of education and care can be improved beyond this grading through this merger.”

The merged schools will receive £64,000 less funding than they would as separate institutions.

But even without the proposed merger, Elms Road Nursery would have lost £32,000, 15 per cent of its funding, from Government cuts.

A County Hall report said: “It is unlikely that the nursery alone could make savings of such a size without reductions in provision which could impact quality.”

Yet the cuts would amount to only nine per cent of the budget for the combined schools, it said.