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28
Oct 2021
Parents vow to fight closure of 'fantastic' Woodfield primary school
A group of parents has vowed to fight plans to close Woodfield Community Primary School in Bilton.
North Yorkshire County Council said this week the school would 'technically close' in September under plans to merge it with Grove Road Community Primary School.
Woodfield has been unable to find an academy willing to take it on since it was rated inadequate by Ofsted in January last year.
A joint statement signed by the headteachers and chairs of governors at both schools hailed the move as "an exciting opportunity to enhance our educational offer".
But several parents were shocked and angered by the news when they met the Stray Ferret yesterday.
They said Woodfield had made tremendous progress since it was rated inadequate — a view supported by an Ofsted monitoring visit in June, which said 'leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures'.
Kerry Bartle, who has had six children at the school over 23 years, said the proposed merger was a "devastating blow" to families that had stuck with the school and worked hard to improve it when others had left.
The number of pupils has roughly halved to 56 in recent years due to the poor Ofsted and a rapid turnover of headteachers. But Ms Bartle said it had improved significantly in the last 18 months, despite covid, and closure was being rushed into disturbingly quickly. She added:
'They will build on it'
Mike Fryer, a grandparent, thinks the council is using merger as a stepping stone towards closing the large Woodfield site and using it for housing.
There are also fears the Woodfield site will provide early years education and a nursery for Grove Road, forcing some families with more than one child to have to drop off and collect from both schools.
Louise Newport said she would look for another school altogether if this happened. She said:
Read more:
- Two Harrogate primary schools plan to merge
- Woodfield school taking 'effective action' to improve, says Ofsted
- Demolition of Bilton's Woodfield House set to begin in January
Naomi Tomlinson, who has two children at Woodfield, also said she would look for another school, adding:
The parents also questioned whether such swift action would be taken to close a school in a better-off part of Harrogate.
The council's response
The Stray Ferret put a series of questions to North Yorkshire County Council, including whether it could reassure parents that no children would have to move from either site.
We received the following response from Amanda Newbold, assistant director for education and skills, said:
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