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Apr 2022

Last Updated: 08/04/2022

Education

Woodfield leaders 'listening to parents' before deciding school's future

by Vicky Carr

| 08 Apr, 2022

Woodfield School opened its doors for parents to ask questions today after a planned merger with nearby Grove Road school fell through.

Woodfield Community Primary School, Harrogate.

Parents at a Harrogate primary school facing an uncertain future have spent the day meeting with governors and the headteacher.

Woodfield Community Primary School opened its doors for parents to ask questions after a planned merger with Grove Road Community Primary School fell through.

The proposal had been put forward after Woodfield was placed in special measures by Ofsted two years ago. Governors had been unable to find a multi-academy trust to join, as required by Ofsted, and an announcement was made yesterday that the planned merger had also fallen through.

Cllr Paul Haslam, who has been a governor at the school since early 2019, told the Stray Ferret:

“It is bitterly disappointing. The school has got the best teaching it has had for many years.

“The calibre of the teaching and learning of the children can’t be faulted, in my opinion.

“I believe it’s more to do with Grove Road feeling they don’t have the resources in order to accomplish what the amalgamation set out to do, rather than anything else. We’ve all got the children’s interests at heart.

“We’re listening to parents rather than telling them what to do. It’s about having an ear.

“Let’s get through this stage and understand what this stage is; listening to parents and their concerns will help us formulate what we do in the future.

“We will come to a conclusion based on what parents tell us and what all parties believe is right.”

Cllr Haslam said the governors had written to all parents about amalgamation being dropped before the news was announced publicly.

“We view this as a very urgent situation that needs to be dealt with as quickly as possible. We will be doing everything we can in order to expedite and get information for people.

“We’re challenged with the Easter holidays – the governors were 200% behind the fact we had to offer to sit with the parents today.

“We didn’t want them to go away worrying about this. Obviously, they will worry, but we are giving them an opportunity to talk about this.”

Future of Woodfield school uncertain as Grove Road merger dropped

County council 'would give Woodfield school more time to improve if it could'

After the merger proposal was initially announced, North Yorkshire County Council and leaders from both schools held two online public meetings in January for parents to ask questions.

Asked what would happen if the planned amalgamation fell through, Andrew Dixon, strategic planning manager for NYCC, said they “would have to consult on a school closure”.

However, Cllr Haslam said today that he wanted to reassure parents:

“Until further notice, the school continues to operate exactly as it is. That’s the legal obligation of NYCC – we have to operate the school as is.

“The first and most important thing is that the children are the centre and the core of everything that we as governors do. That’s our utmost consideration at all times.”

Woodfield was rated 'Inadequate' by Ofsted in March 2020, but monitoring visits by inspectors have since found that improvements are being made.

They particularly praised the efforts made by the school’s new leaders and governors to identify the work needed to improve and how they can be evaluated.

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Woodfield leaders 'listening to parents' before deciding school's future

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