FELIXSTOWE'S “middle” schools today look safe despite the abolition of the three-tier education system across the county.There had been concern over whether there would be changes at the resort because it has infant, junior and high schools.

By Richard Cornwell

FELIXSTOWE'S “middle” schools today look safe despite the abolition of the three-tier education system across the county.

There had been concern over whether there would be changes at the resort because it has infant, junior and high schools.

But county council officials said this arrangement was not the same as middle schools in the rest of Suffolk - and was, in effect, a two-tier system except infants and juniors are in different buildings.

Felixstowe did originally have a middle school, but this was closed in the 1960s as the town expanded and became the county's guinea pig for the comprehensive system.

Parents elsewhere in the county have launched a campaign against the latest changes which will lead to the closures of the middle schools.

A county council spokesman said the difference between Felixstowe's schools and the middle schools was where the key-stages in education took place.

Felixstowe children start key-stage two at junior school and finish before high school, while middle school pupils move schools part-way through a key-stage level, causing many to suffer a major dip in their performance and achieve lower grades at GCSE level.

In Felixstowe, proposals have been put forward to create a new “super school” for 14s to 19s by closing Deben and Orwell high schools and building a new state-of-the-art complex. More progress on the proposal is expected over the next few months.