Statutory notice for the proposed closure of Little Marlow Church of England School

Overview

It is with deep regret that the Federated Governing Board of Holy Trinity and Little Marlow Church of England (CE) Schools, with the support of Oxford Diocesan Board of Education (ODBE) and the Council, is publishing a statutory notice to close Little Marlow CE School.

Notice is given in accordance with section 15 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006 and The School Organisation (Establishment and Discontinuance of schools) Regulations 2013 that Buckinghamshire Council intends to discontinue the following maintained community school with effect from 31 August 2026:  

Little Marlow Church of England School, School Lane, Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire, SL7 3SA

The Federated Governing Board of Holy Trinity and Little Marlow CE Schools, together with the ODBE and the Council, has considered the responses to the recent consultation on the future of Little Marlow CE School. The consultation ended on 22 January 2026. As it did not provide any viable options to support the school remaining open, we are publishing this statutory proposal for closure.

The main factors leading to the closure proposal are:

• low current and projected pupil numbers and a surplus of places in the local area
• low proportion of pupils attending from the Little Marlow community 
• increasing deficit budget situation means that the school is not financially viable and makes curriculum planning and delivery challenging 
• safeguarding concerns due to low pupil and staff numbers 
  • with very few pupils on roll and the projected further fall for next academic year it would be essential to combine classes even further, this would leave a dramatically reduced number of staff which could create safeguarding risks; low staffing levels make it difficult to maintain essential safeguarding standards 

This Notice is an extract of the full proposal. A copy of the full proposal is available to download below. Alternatively you can request a copy via email LittleMarlowCEConsultation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk or by post: The School Commissioning Team, Buckinghamshire Council, 1st Floor, Walton Street Office, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP20 1UZ.

Within four weeks of the date of publication of this notice, any person may submit a representation.

Related documents

Before you submit any representations, please have a look at the following documents:

• Statutory notice for the proposed closure of Little Marlow Church of England School (PDF 0.11MB)
• Statutory proposal for the closure of Little Marlow Church of England School (PDF 0.31MB)

How to make a representation

You can submit a representation in the following ways:

• Complete the online survey using the link at the end of the page
• Complete, and return, a printed version of the survey (PDF 0.24MB)
• Email us at LittleMarlowCEConsultation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk
• Write to us at The School Commissioning Team, Buckinghamshire Council, 1st Floor, Walton Street Office, Aylesbury, Bucks, HP20 1UZ

If you have any questions about this activity, please email us at LittleMarlowCEConsultation@buckinghamshire.gov.uk

Please tell us your views by 11:59pm on Thursday 26 March 2026.

What happens next

The Federated Governing Board of Holy Trinity and Little Marlow CE Schools, together with the Council and the ODBE, will consider all the responses we receive.

The Leader of Buckinghamshire Council, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Education and Children's Services, will take the decision on the final outcome within 2 months of the end of the representation period.

If the decision is taken to close the school, it is proposed that this would take effect on 31 August 2026.

Privacy

We will use the information you provide here only for this activity. We will store the information securely in line with data protection laws and will not share or publish any personal details. Survey responses will be analysed using Microsoft products including Copilot, Excel and Word. For more information about data and privacy, please see our Privacy Policy.

If you have questions about data and privacy, please email us on dataprotection@buckinghamshire.gov.uk. Or write to our Data Protection Officer at Buckinghamshire Council, The Gateway, Gatehouse Road, Aylesbury, HP19 8FF.