School near Boroughbridge with just one pupil set for closure

Senior councillors could approve the closure of Skelton Newby Hall Church of England Primary School at a meeting next week.

A report has been prepared for North Yorkshire Council’s Conservative executive that recommends the school is closed in August due to falling pupil numbers.

In February this year, just one pupil remained on roll at the school although they are educated at the nearby Sharow Church of England Primary School, which is federated with Skelton Newby Hall.

The school has suffered from dwindling numbers for several years and at the beginning of September 2021 there were only 15 pupils left, plus two children in its nursery, which is well below the capacity of 52 pupils.

According to the report, there were no first preference applications made to the school for September 2023 and no pupils were allocated to the school on the recent National Offer Day for primary schools.

With pupil numbers determining the school budget, the report says there “appears to be no reasonable prospect of recovery” for the school.

Founded in 1856 by Lady Mary Vyner, the former owner of Newby Hall, the school has maintained a close relationship with the estate.

The report said across the area there was potential for 188 additional pupils to join five nearby schools until 2027/28 and there was also potential to provide additional capacity at Boroughbridge Community Primary School.

It noted governors have introduced various initiatives to attract more children to the school, including nursery provision in September 2019. The move attracted some children although numbers have been small.

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The closure would extend the catchment area of Kirby Hill Church of England Primary School to include the area currently served by Skelton Newby Hall.

However, concerns were raised in a public consultation as the catchment area of Kirby Hill is in the Boroughbridge High catchment area whereas Skelton Newby Hall is in the Ripon Grammar School and Outwood Academy catchment area.

Skelton cum Newby Parish Council has submitted an action plan to save the school, developed by a group including several headteachers, to restore classes and also retain its position in the catchment for Ripon but this plan has been rejected in the report.

The consultation included reasons from people on why they think the school failed.

Some said becoming part of a federation had sealed its demise and others said it had not been given enough care by the church and the council. 

According to one person, a ‘requires improvement’ judgement from Ofsted in 2019 that led to an “exodus” of pupils from the school.

The meeting will take place next Tuesday at 10.30am in Northallerton and it will be streamed on the council’s YouTube page.

County council rejects claim it is watching on as small schools close

Senior county councillors have rejected accusations that the authority is failing to prevent classroom closures as it pushed forward moves to axe two village primaries.

A meeting of North Yorkshire County Council’s executive saw members express sympathy with those wanting to maintain Skelton Newby Hall, near Boroughbridge, and Hovingham, near York.

But they said extremely low school rolls had left them with few options.

The accusations levelled by Skelton Cum Newby Parish Council’s chairman Guy Critchlow follow those from numerous other community leaders, including Hovingham, as a succession of small rural schools across North Yorkshire have been closed in recent years.

They include Kell Bank Church of England Primary School near Masham.

Urging the council to consider alternatives to simply closing the school, Cllr Critchlow said the school was “viable and valuable to the surrounding areas” and the fact that pupil numbers had fallen to a single child was “not organically driven”.

He said a policy was developing “on the side of closing small schools”.

Cllr Critchlow said while Skelton Newby Hall school had been failed by its federation with Sharow school, while it had been run by the council it not been marketed appropriately to attract new pupils.

He added: 

“The community feel this was a consultation in name only. We are a canary in the mine for the very essence of rural communities in North Yorkshire and for the new North Yorkshire Council.”

The meeting heard despite parents of children attending Skelton school being advised to find places for their children elsewhere several months before a consultation to close it, neither the Sharow school or the county council had discussed the matter with the Skelton community.

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Cllr Nick Brown, a Conservative representing Wathvale and Bishop Monkton division, said: 

“I would like to think in future that whenever a school is in danger of closing, because of the pattern of warning signs from falling school numbers, then this information should be shared with North Yorkshire councillors and parish and town councils, much much earlier, so they can help with any ideas that would help prevent closure.”

However, the meeting heard “sharing early information” about school concerns on other occasions had seen parents vote with their feet.

‘Stark reality’

Cllr Janet Sanderson, executive member for children and families, said the council was frustrated with the small school closures situation and the restrictions of the closure process that had been handed down to it by government.

Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, executive member for education, said no applications had been received for pupils wanting to attend Hovingham as their first choice school from September, and that as a long-standing institution in the village near Malton it would be greatly missed.

She said North Yorkshire had about 50 schools and academies with fewer than 50 pupils, which was a sign of the council’s commitment to provide education in deeply rural communities.

Cllr Wilkinson said:

“The stark reality is that many of our schools, particularly those in rural areas, are seeing pupil numbers reduce year on year.

“Low numbers not only make the school unviable to keep running, but it is not always possible to provide children with a broad curriculum and high quality education.”