(1)The managers of a public elementary school not provided by the local education authority, if they wish to close the school, shall give eighteen months' notice to the local education authority of their intention to close the school, and a notice under this provision shall not be withdrawn except with the consent of the local education authority.
(2)If the managers of a school who have given such a notice are unable or unwilling to carry on the school up to the expiration of the period specified in the notice, the school house shall be put at the disposal of the local education authority, if the authority so desire, for the whole or any part of the period, free of charge, for the purposes of a school provided by them, but subject to an obligation on the part of the authority to keep the school house in repair and to pay any outgoings in respect thereof, and to allow the use of the school house and the school furniture by the persons who were the managers of the school to the like extent and subject to the like conditions as if the school had continued to be carried on by those managers.
The use by the authority of the school house during such period for the purposes of a school provided by them shall not be deemed, for the purposes of section eight of the Education Act, 1902, to constitute the provision of a new school.