More than 400 people have signed a petition to stop a proposed merger of Witham’s secondary schools.

An 40-strong action group, named Witham Against Merging Academies (WAMA), created the petition against the proposal to merge New Rickstones Academy and Maltings Academy into a new superschool, which hundreds of parents and pupils have signed in a matter of days.

Group member Samantha McNamara, a mum-of-three, of Greenwell Road, Witham, has been overwhelmed by the response.

She said: “We have had a huge response and most people I have talked to are dead against it.

“My daughter Jasmine, who goes to Maltings, has took it into school and had students sign it and we have had parents of kids at Holy Family and Howbridge."

See this week's Witham Times for the full story.