DULVERTON parents will have the chance to have their say on their children's education as the council opened a consultation on potential changes to the age range at two schools in the town.

Following a significant fall in numbers there are currently less than 20 pupils in Year 7 and 8 at Dulverton Middle School, and Somerset County Council are consulting on whether the age range should change from 9-13 to 7-11 instead.

The current lack of pupils in Key Stage 3 means there is insufficient funding to provide good quality education to the youngsters, and there are fears that such small peer groups, dynamics within the classroom will suffer.

In December, the Exmoor Federation agreed to change All Saints First School in Dulverton to an infant school with an age range of 3-7, provided the Middle School agreed to become a junior school.

A spokesman for Somerset County Council said: "The objective of this change is to ensure the school is financially and educationally sound. In addition, by attending alternative secondary provision it is more likely that children will receive a broad curriculum offer taught by specialist curriculum staff."

The changes would likely have some impact on a number of other schools in the area.

Exford Church of England First School may see the progression of its pupils affected. Normally Exford students progress to Dulverton Middle and then on to West Somerset College and the council have proposed to provide free school transport to Minehead Middle as well as the new junior school in order to support parents preferences.

This in turn may lead to Minehead Middle receiving higher numbers of Year 5 admissions, while some may choose to send their children for two years in Year 7.

Kingsmead School in Wiveliscombe extended its catchment area for 2015 to include pupils across The Exmoor Federation area and is likely to see its admission level will increase, although it has already expanded to accommodate another form of entry. As a result, West Somerset College could also see a slight fall in admissions.

A spokesman for Somerset County Council said: "These changes may result in staff redundancy and redeployment costs to Somerset County Council or from the school’s budget. However, it would have been necessary to consider redundancies anyway as a result of the very low number of pupils in the school’s secondary phase, as this will reduce the school’s budget."

SCC has pledged £25,000 toward retraining of staff affected by the changes.

To fill in the questionnaire, go to: www.somersetconsults.org.uk/consult.ti/dulverton_middle_school/consultationHome. The deadline is Friday, February 26.