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    30

    Jun 2022

    Last Updated: 30/06/2022
    Education
    Education

    Opposition councillors call for Woodfield school to be saved

    by Calvin Robinson

    | 30 Jun, 2022
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    Opposition councillors on Harrogate Borough Council are set to call for Woodfield Community Primary School to be saved from closure.

    woodfieldschool-2
    Woodfield Community Primary School in Harrogate, which is at risk of closure.

    Opposition councillors on Harrogate Borough Council are set to call for Woodfield Community Primary School to be saved from closure.

    A four-week consultation on a proposal to close the school on December 31 ends on July 4.

    Some parents and unions have called for the school to remain open. But North Yorkshire County Council, which is the local education authority, has said it has exhausted all options to keep the school open.

    At a borough council meeting next week, Liberal Democrat councillors Pat Marsh and Philip Broadbank are due to submit a motion requesting that the authority supports keeping the school open.

    Cllr Broadbank said there was concern over the future of the school and what could potentially happen to the site on Woodfield Road in Bilton.

    He said:

    “I just worry what will happen to the site.
    “It is a big building. I think they have to look at going through the options.”


    School closure is 'immoral'


    The school was rated inadequate by Ofsted in 2020 and placed into special measures.

    The rating meant the school had to become a sponsored academy, but it failed to find a backer.

    A proposed merger with Grove Road Community Primary School fell through this year, prompting the county council to open a consultation on closing the school in the next academic year.



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    Gary McVeigh-Kaye, secretary of the North Yorkshire branch of the National Education Union, is also campaigning to save the school and has called for the consultation to be extended.

    He said:

    “Woodfield school has been through some traumatic times over the past decade and the school needs support, not criticism from Ofsted.
    “Woodfield is a genuine community school, at the heart of the community and serving generations of families whose children have attended the school. To force the closure of this valuable community asset is immoral.”


    Woodfield school meeting

    A public meeting over the future of the school was held earlier this month.



    Mr McVeigh-Kaye said he had secured meetings with local politicians, including Harrogate and Knaresborough Conservative MP Andrew Jones about extending the consultation.

    A poorly attended public meeting this month saw people express anger at how a school with good facilities, in a densely populated area of Harrogate, could end up in this position.

    But, Adam Dixon, the county council’s strategic planning manager for children and young people, pointed to how Woodfield pupil numbers had fallen from 154 in 2018 to 37 this year.

    Woodfield, he added, faced a cumulative deficit of £229,000 in 2023/34, due to low pupil numbers.

    The consultation over the future of the school closes on July 4. You can have your say here.