Park Farm Primary school and the Folkestone Academy have announced they could be merging.

Academy chiefs and governors from nearby Park Farm Primary have already been in negotiations about the merger which would cater for pupils from 4 to 18-years-old.

Chairman of governors at the Folkestone Academy, Roger De Haan welcomed the proposals which will affect up to 1,500 pupils if the plans go ahead.

A letter outlining the proposals was sent to parents this week.

A public consultation will be arranged within the next few months although any merger would not be finalised until September 2009.

Questions have already been asked how the proposed 'All Age Academy', which will have its own built in primary feeder school, will be able to educate secondary school pupils from Hawkinge.

This year, many Hawkinge primary school pupils going onto secondary education found that places at the Academy were oversubscribed and many were allocated places miles from their homes.

Before the new Academy was built, schoolchildren from Hawkinge would normally continue their education at the former Channel School.

However, it was expected that when the village had grown to a size which has subsequently been reached, Hawkinge would have its own Church of England secondary school sited on land near to the former officers' quarters.

This was shelved when the decision to flatten the failing Channel School and build the Academy was agreed. It was thought that pupils from the village would be educated at the new Academy.

Unfortunately, the Folkestone Academy has proved to be very popular and is over subscribed, meaning there are now more pupils wishing to attend the school from the immediate vicinity. This has left those from Hawkinge being allocated Brockhill Park School in Saltwood or the Astor College for the Arts in Dover.

The new feeder school could now mean Hawkinge pupils will have even less chance of attending the Folkestone Academy.