Woodfield Community Primary School and nearby Grove Road Community Primary School look set to amalgamate next year.

Under plans to be discussed by councillors next week, Woodfield would be effectively swallowed up by the bigger Grove Road, which would operate as a split-site 280-pupil school.

The Woodfield site would initially operate as a nursery for children from both schools while Grove Road would cater for all children from reception to year six.

Then from September 2023, all nursery children and reception pupils would be based at the current Woodfield site, which would eventually accommodate all key stage 1 pupils. All key stage 2 children would be based at the current Grove Road site.

North Yorkshire County Council revealed plans last month to merge the two schools. A meeting on Tuesday next week will see councillors asked to approve putting the wheels in motion.

If approved, a six-week consultation will start on December 2 and a final decision taken on April 19.

The council says amalgamation is necessary because Woodfield has been unable to find an academy willing to take it on since it was rated inadequate by Ofsted in January last year.

But some parents have vowed to fight the move because they feel the school has made significant progress — 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’.

Read more:

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Some parents with more than one child have also expressed concern about having to drop off and collect from both schools, which are 0.6 miles apart.

A report to councillors says:

“The intention is to have a walking bus, across the iron bridge to the back of the Woodfield playing field, that enables parents to drop their child at either school and then children who need to will be able to walk safely to the other site accompanied by school staff.

“We will look at the timings of the school day to ensure that parents who choose to drop off or collect children from both sites are able to do so.

“Grove Road school also have wrap around care provision that will continue to be available from 7:30am to 5:30pm. Other opportunities, including clubs, will be looked at closely across both sites.”

80 fewer primary school places

The report also says that if the proposals go ahead, there would be 350 primary school places available across the two sites compared with the current 280 at Grove Road and 150 at Woodfield — an overall reduction of 80 places.

However, Woodfield only currently has 49 pupils, compared with 92 in January 2019.

The report adds that forecasts suggested “there would appear to be sufficient primary places available in the local area” and cites as evidence declining birth rates in Harrogate district, from 1,425 in 2016/17 to 1,308 in 2018/19.

It says the financial position of schools is “dependent on both pupil numbers and the level of staffing”

Woodfield, it adds, has projected in-year budget deficits of £119,000 in the financial year 2021/22, £103,300 in 2022/23 and £128,400 in 2023/24, and a forecast cumulative budget deficit of £98,000 in 2021/22, £201,400 in 2022/23 and £329,900 in 2023/24.

Grove Road, by contrast, is predicted to make surpluses in the corresponding years.

The report says any deficit on the Woodfield school budget “would be absorbed by the county council”.

It adds:

“A separate HR consultation process for staff and their professional associations will commence in the spring term and the governing
bodies will most likely propose an internal transfer of staff from Woodfield to Grove Road, following Transfer of Undertakings (Protection of Employment) (TUPE) principles.”

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 and her son, Tyler

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:

“No child should be worried like ours are now as to what is going to happen to them next.

“My son is in year 4 and has mobility issues. He would struggle at the Grove site

“Woodfield is such an amazing community. We can’t fault the school as it is today.”

‘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.

“Within two years they will close it down and build on it. This has been on the cards since the start. They have made the school unviable, and since when should schools be all about money?”

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:

“My son is autistic and his summer holiday will be horrendous if he has to move. Woodfield school has done so much for the children.

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:

“Ask any kids and they will say it is a fantastic school. As far as we were aware it was doing well so this is a real shock.”

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:

“Woodfield Primary School became eligible for intervention by the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) having been judged inadequate by Ofsted at inspection in January 2020. Subsequently the school was issued with a Directive Academy Order but the RSC was unable to secure an academy trust to sponsor the school due to viability concerns.

“We have supported the school through the provision of successful temporary leadership since the inspection. The latest Ofsted monitoring report of Woodfield in July states that “leaders and managers are taking effective action towards the removal of special measures” and it is important to recognise the efforts of all those who have been involved in this improvement journey.

“However, the current arrangements can only be temporary and the absence of an academy sponsor means the school faces an uncertain future. Therefore, work began earlier this year to assess how education provision within the Woodfield community could be preserved.

“The current proposals have been developed by members of the school governing bodies and our officers. The two governing bodies carefully considered the proposals before half term, and both agreed to ask us to start a consultation.

“Families, staff, and other members of the local community will have opportunities to consider the detail of the proposals during the consultation period.

“The proposed amalgamation would be achieved through the technical closure of Woodfield School, and the enlargement of Grove Road CP School through future use of the Woodfield site.

“This would provide an exciting opportunity to enhance the facilities of Grove Road School, organising sustainable education across both sites aiming for the best possible provision for all pupils, and importantly ensuring that the Woodfield site continues to be used for education of the wider community.

“The governing bodies and our officers believe that these proposals would be the best way of achieving their joint aims of improving local education provision at this time.”

Senior North Yorkshire county councillors have urged Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi to reconsider a decision to close a Harrogate district primary school.

North Yorkshire County Council’s executive has agreed to appeal to Mr Zahawi to give Baldersby St James Primary School, between Ripon and Thirsk, a 12-month stay of execution just three years after it became an academy and five years after the authority spent £400,000 of taxpayers’ money creating new classrooms.

A meeting of the council’s executive heard the Hope Sentamu Learning Trust had successfully applied to close the school next August. Councillors were told if the closure goes ahead the school would become the first academy in the county to close.

A spokesman for the trust said low pupil numbers “show no prospect of improving for many years ahead”, with predictions for demand for school places showing a steady decline until 2031/32.

The trust has said the reason for its decision was that the school currently had 22 pupils in two classes, one for key stage one and the other for key stage two. Some year groups have just one student

Helen Winn, chief executive of the trust, has said potential options, including speaking to other local multi-academy trusts, had been examined, but none were practically viable.

She said: 

“Due to the low intake at Baldersby St James, it has proved impossible to deliver the broad, balanced curriculum the children deserve.”

Read more:

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The announcement comes just months after the North Yorkshire Rural Commission called for action to halt rural school closures, highlighting that children who attend small rural schools achieve better educational outcomes than urban children.

The meeting was told only nine children from the school’s catchment area were attending Baldersby St James, and numerous parents had taken their children elsewhere for many years, so the prospect of closure was “a consequence of parental choice”.

Parents campaign to save school

However, some parents and residents are battling the move, saying the school is a crucial community asset and that the decision was made behind closed doors before the school’s viability could be publicly examined.

Senior councillors said they felt it would be “very premature” to close the school given the exhaustive lengths the authority had recently gone to in an attempt to keep village schools open.

They highlighted how the school’s financial situation remained unclear as it was an academy, and said a lot of consultation should be undertaken before the doors of the grade II listed Victorian building close for a final time.

They agreed the closure should be delayed for 12 months to enable a credible business plan to be established.

The authority’s leader, Cllr Carl Les, said it seemed “perverse” that the council was being asked to endorse the closure of a school that it would not have considered for closure as it was already maintaining village schools with fewer pupils.

Cllr Patrick Mulligan, the council’s education executive member, said the council was powerless to stop the closure as the decision would ultimately be made by the Schools Commissioner and Mr Zahawi.

He said there were sufficient school places in the area for Baldersby St James pupils to go elsewhere should the school close.

Pupils and staff at Kell Bank Primary School near Masham will bid farewell to their school for good with a walk, hand in hand, around the playground.

Today is the last day of term and as North Yorkshire County Council has issued a closure notice for August 31, the 200-year-old school will not reopen.

Over the past few months, the school has been celebrating its history and local impact, culminating in a memory exhibition last week and a ceremony to plant a tree and dedicate a bench yesterday.

The ceremony began with a leaver’s service at St Paul’s Church in Healey before the students, staff and parents walked down to Fearby Village Green.

Beatrice and Rev. David Cleese cut the ribbon to dedicate the bench and tree

An oak tree and bench, dedicated to the school, is now in place. Youngest pupil Beatrice cut the ribbon with Rev. David Cleese, a long-standing governor.

The memory exhibition included items spanning the past 100 years as well as photographs and entries from previous headteachers’ diaries.

School governor Laurie Hoyes, who helped organise the three-day event, said they welcomed around 200 people in total.

Mr Hoyes said:

“Children, parents, staff and governors will be saddened when today comes to a close, but we are pleased we had the opportunity to give thanks for the 200 years Kell Bank School has educated the children of our community.”

Past and present pupils trying out the new bench on Fearby Green.

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The six remaining pupils will be moved to different schools; the two Year 6s are going to secondary schools in Ripon and Bedale.

For the younger children’s ease and wellbeing their parents chose similar small, rural schools; two are going to Thornton Watlass Primary School and the other two are moving house so will be attending schools elsewhere in the district.

Kell Bank Primary School, near Masham, will close its doors for good on Friday after the county council issued a closure notice.

The school only has six pupils and with two of those set to move on to secondary school in September, North Yorkshire County Council decided it was no longer sustainable.

In 2020 Ofsted rated the school as Outstanding, but a report said its dwindling numbers meant it would likely have fallen into deficit in the coming years.

The school can accommodate up to 50 pupils but after dropping from 15 in September 2019 to six the county council opened a consultation.

At the time, Stuart Carlton, director of children’s services at the council, said the proposal was being done with a “heavy heart”.

One of the images from last week’s exhibition: the Kell Bank class of 1928

The 200-year-old school has educated thousands of children. Governors and staff wanted to celebrate this history and arranged an exhibition of memories last week from past and current pupils.

More celebrations are planned to mark its final week, including an open day on Thursday July 22, followed by a tree planting and bench dedication ceremony that afternoon.

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In a Facebook post, the school thanked all those who have worked with it over the years. It said:

“Kell Bank has played such an important role in our community and so many will cherish their memories of their schooldays at Kell Bank.”

The last day of term before the summer holiday is Friday July 23.

Two of the remaining pupils will be going to Thornton Watless Primary School whilst the other two move to schools towards Ripon after moving house for the 2021/2022 school year.

Staff at Kell Bank Primary School in Masham are committed to going ahead with a memory exhibition to celebrate the school’s history, before it closes for good next month.

Governors and teachers wanted to bid farewell to the 200-year-old school, which will shut its doors on August 31, but coronavirus has meant the celebration has been delayed.

The exhibition will now be held from July 15 to 17 at Fearby Village Hall, just outside Masham, and will include photographs, old diary entries and poetry books some dating as far back as 1900.

A one-off ‘newspaper’ has been created to combine reports and images shared by past and current staff and pupils, such as 96-year-old Ivy l’Anson, pictured below as a pupil.

On July 22 – the day before the children break up for the summer – the school will host an open day, as well as a tree planting and the dedication of a bench on Fearby village green.

Ivy I’Anson is now 96 years old and has shared her memories of Kell Bank School in a one-off ‘newspaper’ created by staff

With only six remaining pupils, Kell Bank School was handed a permanent closure notice by North Yorkshire County Council.

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Laurie Hoyes, a school governor, said:

“The restrictions have set us back slightly but we are still really pleased with the exhibition we have put together.

“We’ve put together a ‘Kell Bank Times’, which people can pick up from the community centre or school. It’s 12 pages of memories including Ivy who’s 96 and our oldest living pupil. She’s shared her treasured memories with us.”

The organisers hope the exhibition and other events will help to highlight the school’s role in local people’s lives.

Formal moves have begun to close a primary school in the Harrogate district that has just six pupils.

Kell Bank Church of England Primary School, Healey, near Masham, can accommodate up to 50 pupils aged four to 11.

The number of pupils fell to 15 in September 2019 and is now six, five of whom are girls.

North Yorkshire County Council has now given the go-ahead for publication of a closure notice with a view to the school closing on August 31.

Stuart Carlton, director of children’s services at the council, said the proposal was being done with a “heavy heart”. He added:

“We know the value of village schools but such low numbers cannot financially sustain a school and can have a negative impact on the social and educational interests of children remaining.”

A council consultation on the closure proposal runs until March 5.

Read more:

• Masham councillor awarded for ‘raising a smile’ at town market
• Kell Bank primary school near Masham set to close

Mr Carlton said responses so far “appear to indicate an acceptance of the situation here given only six pupils remain on roll”.

He added the council welcomed any further views before a final decision is made.

The remaining six pupils will have to transfer to other schools.

According to the council, seven other primary schools within reasonable travelling distance have places available.

Anyone who wishes to view the closure proposals or make a representation can visit the council’s consultations page here.