Pupils in limbo after school announces closure of sixth form in Milton Keynes

Headmistress Hilary Marsden said the school is currently going through a restructure and can no longer run a sixth form in a "financially sustainable way."

And she meeting with Year 11 and 12 parents and students today to discuss transition arrangements and support.

She said: "We recognise that this will cause significant disruption to the plans of students in Year 11 and Year 12.

"To this end we have been meeting over the last 2 days with parents and our young people in Year 11 and 12 as a priority to identify options locally and within the group with a view to enabling students’ continuity of education within their chosen courses.

"Families affected by this decision are working closely with us to ensure that an effective transition can be managed and a ‘best fit’ can be secured for every young person.

"The staff at Webber continue to be fully committed to doing everything within our gift to support our young people."

The head added that the restructuring involves two main elements including the closure of the sixth form from September 2019 and the opening of a nursery to feed the school, with a target opening date of January 2020.

"This decision is unrelated to the quality of the learning The Webber. The levels of parental satisfaction and support amongst our parent body are high and the recent review of learning at the school was characterised by a mutual appreciation between staff and pupils," she said.

"We believe the right future for The Webber is one where we make it an exceptional school for children from nursery through to 16, enabling children to gain the highest outcomes at GCSE, and we look forward to working with the Webber community and wider community to that end."

More to follow.