The governors of three village schools which aim to become a new federation have a launched a consultation on the issue.

Mundesley Infant, Mundesley Junior and Bacton Primary School are set to join forces in September after all three heads retire.

Under the plan there would be one governing body and a single executive headteacher though all schools would have their own budgets.

The consultation, due to end on May 1, outlines the benefits of forming a federation.

They include; access to specialist teacher expertise, a greater range of resources and the chance to take part in shared events between the schools.

The consultation document, which has also gone to local councillors, also says it will help develop the relationships between the villages.

Annie Edwards, chairman of governors at Bacton Primary School, said: 'It is not often that you would get all three heads at a school retiring at the same time so we saw this as an opportunity.

'The biggest fear that parents have is that the schools will lose their individual identities, which is not the case.'

Mrs Edwards said the federation would allow sharing resources, ideas and teaching practices.

The post of executive headteacher for the new federation has been advertised on Norfolk County Council's recruitment website. Interviews have been taking place this week.

Consultation responses will be reported back to each of the governing bodies, who will then vote separately on whether to become a federation.

The schools have arranged a series of informal drop-in sessions for people to find out more and ask relevant questions of the governing bodies of each school.

The sessions on Wednesday April 15 are 8am at Mundesley Infant School, 3.30pm at Bacton Primary School and 6pm at Mundesley Junior School.

Bacton Primary, which has 54 pupils, was judged as requiring improvement after an Ofsted inspection in May 2013.

Mundesley Infants, which has 94 pupils was judged good in all areas in January 2015 after its previous inspection had deemed it as requiring improvement.

Mundesley Junior, with 138 pupils, was also deemed good in all areas in May 2012.