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25
Mar 2023
County council rejects claim it is watching on as small schools close
Senior county councillors have rejected accusations that the authority is failing to prevent classroom closures as it pushed forward moves to axe two village primaries.
A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive saw members express sympathy with those wanting to maintain Skelton Newby Hall, near Boroughbridge, and Hovingham, near York.
But they said extremely low school rolls had left them with few options.
The accusations levelled by Skelton Cum Newby Parish Council’s chairman Guy Critchlow follow those from numerous other community leaders, including Hovingham, as a succession of small rural schools across North Yorkshire have been closed in recent years.
They include Kell Bank Church of England Primary School near Masham.
Urging the council to consider alternatives to simply closing the school, Cllr Critchlow said the school was “viable and valuable to the surrounding areas” and the fact that pupil numbers had fallen to a single child was “not organically driven”.
He said a policy was developing “on the side of closing small schools”.
Cllr Critchlow said while Skelton Newby Hall school had been failed by its federation with Sharow school, while it had been run by the council it not been marketed appropriately to attract new pupils.
He added:
The meeting heard despite parents of children attending Skelton school being advised to find places for their children elsewhere several months before a consultation to close it, neither the Sharow school or the county council had discussed the matter with the Skelton community.
Read more:
- ‘Badly let down’ Woodfield school closure confirmed
- Baldersby school commemorative event to be held ahead of closure
- Call to turn Boroughbridge school facing closure into forest school
Cllr Nick Brown, a Conservative representing Wathvale and Bishop Monkton division, said:
However, the meeting heard “sharing early information” about school concerns on other occasions had seen parents vote with their feet.
'Stark reality'
Cllr Janet Sanderson, executive member for children and families, said the council was frustrated with the small school closures situation and the restrictions of the closure process that had been handed down to it by government.
Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, executive member for education, said no applications had been received for pupils wanting to attend Hovingham as their first choice school from September, and that as a long-standing institution in the village near Malton it would be greatly missed.
She said North Yorkshire had about 50 schools and academies with fewer than 50 pupils, which was a sign of the council’s commitment to provide education in deeply rural communities.
Cllr Wilkinson said:
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