CRADLEY Primary headteacher Dawn Hyett believes that while her own school will escape the education review relatively unscathed, others would suffer great disruption if mergers were to take place.

Under Herefordshire Council's shock proposals, aimed to streamline capacity due to falling pupil numbers, Cradley's capacity would be reduced from 140 to 105 come September 2009.

The school moved from a 150-year-old building into a £1.5m state-of-the-art facility near the Buryfields estate four years ago, and has enjoyed outstanding results since, now being rated the seventh best primary school in the county.

However with 107 pupils currently enrolled at the school, Rev Hyett said prospective pupils were the only ones that could suffer from the changes.

"It will make very little difference to how we operate now, it is just a question of whether people are going to be able to make the choice to send their pupils here because of that reduced capacity," she said.

Rev Hyett said both parents and governors would be consulted before the school made its response to Herefordshire Council's consultation.

"There are so many things that we need to consider before we make a response. but our parents and children can rest assured that we will continue to function normally both during these proposals and after," she said. "I do have a huge concern for my colleagues, who potentially are going to lose their jobs, and I have great concern for the disruption to the children's education."