THE future of two schools in York will be decided in the next few months, after a wide-reaching consultation was given the go-ahead.

Staff, parents and governors at Carr Infant and Junior Schools, in Acomb, will now be asked their views on proposals to merge the two schools on the larger junior school site and sell the smaller school site.

An alternative proposal is to continue to operate the schools as they currently are and recruit a new head teacher when Gordon Rusk retires from Carr Junior School.

Both schools have unfilled places, with a 24 per cent shortfall at Carr Infant and a 30 per cent shortfall at the junior school. The suggested capacity for a new primary school would be 420 places, with provision made for expansion if needed. Council chiefs say a new school would bring savings of £100,000 a year. The consultation was given the go-ahead on Tuesday at a meeting of the executive member for education, Coun Carol Runciman, and her advisory panel.

Council officers have now started to plan the consultation and, following their reports, a decision will be made in September.

Officer Kevin Hall, who wrote a report for the meeting this week, said: "We will be meeting with the staff, parents and governing bodies over the next few months and we will report back to the executive in September.

"Depending on the result of the consultation, a decision will be made then.

"We will be holding meetings in the schools and writing to all parents to let them know the details of the proposals."

Mr Rusk, who is to leave in August, said the possible plans for the school were nothing to be worried about.

He said: "The consultation is just beginning. We are right at the early stages.

"If it does come to amalgamation, the two schools will become a primary school for five to 11-year-olds, which is identical to many other schools in the city.

"A good number of parents at the infant school also have children at the junior school so that would make the transfer of parents and children easier if amalgamation did happen - and that depends on the outcome of the consultation."

Coun Runciman said: "We had a very careful look at the map and the numbers because we have to make sure there's enough room for everybody. We also talked about community use of the building. The strongest possibility is that the junior school is redeveloped because it's a bigger site and the classrooms would be brought up to standard. It will all go out to consultation before a decision is made."

Updated: 10:35 Thursday, May 19, 2005