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16
Jun 2022
Last-ditch campaign to save Woodfield school in Bilton
A union official has offered to spearhead a campaign to save Woodfield Community Primary School from closure.
A four-week consultation on closing the school on December 31 ends on July 4.
Representatives from North Yorkshire County Council told a public meeting last night they had exhausted all options to keep it open.
There was widespread anger and disbelief among those attending at how a school with good facilities in a populated area had ended up in this position.
Gary McVeigh-Kaye, North Yorkshire district branch secretary of the National Education Union, said it was "disgusting and immoral" that the school faced closure because it couldn't find an academy sponsor. He added:
Ten staff could lose their jobs if the closure goes ahead.
Only about 20 people attended last night's meeting at the school. Many of those present said most parents regarded closure as a done deal orchestrated by the county council.
Morag Plummer, who has had links with the school since it opened 51 years ago, said the council had neglected a once-thriving school for seven years. She said:
Other parents made the same claim that the land would be used for housing but Andrew Dixon, the council's strategic planning manager for children and young people's services, said a decision on the site's future hadn't been made.
He added any such decision would be distinct from that of the school's future.
Andrew Dixon, speaking at last night's meeting.
Mr Dixon said the council's proposed merger of Woodfield and nearby Grove Road Community Primary School showed it wanted to retain the Woodfield site for education. The proposal, which Grove Road governors rejected, would have seen Woodfield become part of Grove Road.
Read more:
- Woodfield school closure 'an absolute disgrace', says union
- Bilton has 'sufficient primary places' if Woodfield school closes
Mr Dixon's presentation highlighted how Woodfield pupil numbers had fallen from 154 in 2018 to 37 this year.
He said 93% of primary aged children in the Woodfield catchment area who attended a council-run school went to other schools.
Woodfield, he added, faced a cumulative deficit of £229,000 in 2023/34, due to low pupil numbers.
He presented three options: the Woodfield catchment area could either be subsumed by Grove Road or Bilton Grange Primary School catchment areas, or it could be shared by the two schools.
Dave Poole, whose children and grandchildren attended Woodfield, said many parents had already taken their children out of the school due to scaremongering messages about its future,
James Poole said he had been unable to find another school willing to take on his child, who has special needs.
Retired teacher Diane Maguire, who lives in the area, said the school's facilities and vast outdoor space would be a huge loss to the community. She said:
Aytach Sadik, a grandparent, asked if families could buy the school, which was described as "an interesting proposal" by Amanda Wilkinson, the Conservative councillor for Morton-on-Swale and Appleton Wiske, who is also the council's executive member for education and learning skills.
Andrew Hart, a sub-postmaster in Bilton, said numerous new nearby housing developments would exacerbate the need for a school in future and the council should think ahead when making its decision, rather than look at past failings. Woodfield, he said, had been left to "rot on the vine".
But Mr Dixon said falling birth rates suggested local schools would be able to cope.
Amanda Newbold, assistant director for education and skills at the council, said nobody wanted the school to be in the position it was but the local education authority was obliged to work with Woodfield governors to find a way forward.
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