THE merger of a Loughton junior and infants school looks set to go ahead after the proposal was given the green light by an independent inspector.

Plans to merge Staples Road Junior School with the neighbouring Staples Road Infants School have been drawn up by the schools' governing bodies and Essex County Council.

A new primary school will be formed from the merger with a single head and set of governors.

The amalgamation was prompted, in part, by the impending retirement of both infant school head Anne Davison and her junior school colleague Melvyn Cardy, who are both due to step down at the end of this term.

The proposals led to the resignation of Ken Faulkner, a governor and former head of the PTA at the infants school who fears the merger would reduce the overall standard of education.

But a spokesman for the Office of the Schools Adjudicator said: “A single united leadership will enable the quality of education to improve, and all members of the school community to receive a better service.”

The schools are due to merge in time for the start of the autumn term in 2011.