THREE new primary schools will be formed in the borough as part of a team of education experts’s plan to improve standards and bring together infant and junior schools.

The Echo reported last week a public consultation was under way over plans to merge Len Wastell Infant School and Pitsea Junior School, which already share a site in Pitsea High Road.

It has now emerged Kingswood Infant and Junior schools, both in Clay Hill Road, Basildon, are also to merge, as are Northlands Infant and Northlands Junior schools, in Winifred Road, Pitsea.

The mergers are backed by the Basildon Excellence Panel, a group of experts aiming to improve local education.

The panel believes children do better if they remain at the same school from the age of four until they leave at 11.

Panel member Patrick White, said: “Some governors want their schools to stay nice and small, but we think that is wrong.

“From the children’s perspective, it’s much better to get a primary education, because the transition from infant to junior school can disrupt their development.

“Children feel much more comfortable staying in the same school until they move up to secondary level.

“The problem is these amalgamations cannot happen until the headteacher at one of the schools leaves or retires, and the process can take a while, because we live in a democracy.”

The three mergers are all set to take place next September if Essex County Council agrees to them.

Luke Bulpett, headteacher of Kingswood Junior, has worked to improve his school’s Osted rating to “good” in its most recent inspection report.

He will take over the the new 420-place primary at the start of the next school year.

Sasha Furze, who is head of Len Wastell Infant School, is expected to take over the expanded Pitsea Junior School, which will have a total of 315 pupils.

Jane Young, who took over as head of Northlands Infant School in 2010, will become head of the new 525-place community primary school.