Under the massive Building Schools for the Future programme, the school is to merge with Lowton Junior and Infants and Golborne High on a new state of the art site currently occupied by Lowton Civic Hall.

But protesters – who are holding an open meeting at Leigh Miners Welfare at 7pm this evening (Thursday) – point out that Gilded Hollins is one of Wigan's highest performing primary schools and is "ideally" located "right in the heart" of the community it serves.

They are also incredulous that more than £100,000 was recently spent on extensions to the St Helens Road based school.
Group members are hoping to gather plenty of support when they produce a petition for signing in Leigh town centre this Saturday.
Supporters can also protest by emailing savegildedhollins@hotmail.com
And the wigan.gov.uk website contains proposals and consultation response forms.

The Save our School campaigners, comprising a large group of parents, say they are concerned about the catchment area for the new school and how residents of Lowton and Pennington will be affected.

A spokesman said: "We are urging parents, grandparents and residents to get behind the campaign to stop the closure because this is about the break-up of our community school and future choice about primary schooling in the Pennington and Lowton area.
"We see the consultation process as a sham. Last month we received a booklet and that was the first that we had heard about the proposed closure.
"We were given six weeks, which run out next Friday, to get our representations in but we have been given no information on how or when Gilded Hollins was selected to be closed so how can we comment and make valid representations?"
They are now seeking a meeting with Leigh MP Andy Burnham.


A council spokesman said: "It's really important to remember that we're asking parents and residents for their views on early, high level proposals – so that if and when the council works up more detailed plans all their views can be considered.
"The admission criteria for both the new secondary and primary school are currently scheduled for publication in January 2010, pending a cabinet decision that it wants to proceed with the proposals.


"A further six week period of consultation will then be held before a final decision is made in March 2010.
"The idea that the consultation is a sham is simply not the case – we're actually following guidance from the Secretary of State and good practice on consultation."

"We've offered drop-in sessions to parents and residents at the schools affected by the proposals and over 100 individual appointments were available at each of them.
"As far as new development is concerned, it would be completely wrong to deny on-going school investment to existing pupils and staff, particularly as the council is only consulting on proposals at this stage and a final decision is almost a year away, with a new building not planned to open until 2012.

"With these proposals we're seeking to achieve benefits to children's education for many years to come, providing a high spec, modern and safe environment for learning geared towards each child's needs – and that makes the transition towards secondary school transfer much easier. With the extra community and leisure facilities on site it will be a major investment in the communities of Lowton and Golborne."



Meanwhile angry parents, pupils and teachers will take to the streets this weekend in a protest against the proposed closure of Hesketh Fletcher High School.
Falling rolls have been blamed for the potential closure of the Atherton school much to the dismay of its supporters.

A spokesman for the Hesketh Fletcher Committee, set up to try and save the school, said: "We are worried about the immediate future because parents may stop sending their children to the school because they don't want their education to be disrupted if it does end up closing."
Consultation
The Hamilton Street school is currently under a consultation period imposed by the Local Education Authority, which is due to end on June 26.

Those who can't make the march can visit a Facebook group "Save Hesketh Fletcher" that people can join.
Anyone who would like to join in the protest should meet at Atherton Parish Church at 11.30am this Saturday.