Small schools at risk from funding crisis
Closures predicted with all in deficit
A FUNDING crisis gripping schools across rural Yorkshire has led to grave fears that countryside communities will witness a succession of closures as financial deficits spiral and pupil numbers dramatically reduce.
In the past six months, four small schools in North Yorkshire have closed and two more are under consideration. Now, as documents seen by The
Yorkshire Post reveal, every school in the area with pupil numbers between 20 and 30 is to start the coming academic year in financial deficit. And, as parents’ fears are raised over the impact on rural communities, the area’s director of children’s services admitted he cannot rule out further closures.
“The education system is facing challenges,” said Pete Dwyer of North Yorkshire County Council, adding that efforts had been made to maintain local provision, supporting partnerships and lobbying for better funding.
“We are seeing a position across the country where there are significant restructures, schools are dipping into reserves for the first time. That is particularly acute in smaller schools.” The financial position of a school isn’t the key driver for closure, he insisted. With falling pupil numbers, parents’ and teachers’ confidence is affected, with the impact being that some schools are struggling to attract the best-quality staff.
Schools are facing budget pressures of up to eight per cent, he added, while hoped-for changes to the funding formula will not “come to the rescue” as it would still be comparatively small sums.
“We are not saying that small schools aren’t viable – there are some that are brilliant,” he added.
“The focus is on the quality of teaching that can be provided. It would be remiss of us to allow the quality of children’s education to wither on the vine.”
The documents seen by this newspaper show the average deficit faced by the small schools affected in North Yorkshire is £18,500, based on budgets for the year ahead. Parents at three schools in the Upper Dales, Bainbridge, Askrigg and West Burton, have now been told an informal discussion over addressing their “concerning” financial position is to begin in the autumn.
Across this area there are seven smaller schools, many of them with pupil numbers in the mid to late teens and 20s, and county councillor John Blackie said he believed all should be retained.
“Young families are voting with their feet to leave and they are not being replaced,” he said. “With any closure, they are confining children of just four or five years old to travel up to an hour to get to a primary school.
“Communities have said that austerity in this shape and form is destroying the very fabric of society.
“I accept the pupil numbers are quite low. But they are the heart of these very rural communities, and we lose them at our peril.”
AN ANCIENT settlement once ruled by rival monastic orders, Horton-in-Ribblesdale’s rich history has for centuries revolved around its tiny village school.
Established with an endowment in 1725, it was to grow over time and has earned its affections in the hearts of the generations of families schooled here.
Now, amidst a year of turmoil which has seen the teaching staff walk out en masse and pupil numbers fall to just 12, it is under threat of closure for good. And it is not just the village, say campaigners, but the entirety of the Yorkshire Dales which is to bear the brunt of the resulting fallout.
“It’s exhausting fighting this,” said chair of governors Nicky Rhodes. “We are doing this out of love for where we live, but it’s such an emotional rollercoaster.
“If we lose the school, we lose a huge part of what we’ve built our community around. The whole landscape is changing.
“The impact of small school closures will be felt across the Yorkshire Dales. How are we going to attract young families in? Who’s going to look after the elderly? If our schools are taken away, the incentive for families to live here is taken away. We’re going to end up with only second home owners.”
The governors’ battle to save the school has been well documented. Prompted a year ago by the retirement of one teacher and the relocation of another, parents were told the school was to go into informal consultation. They rallied, pushing for more time to find a new headteacher and stave off a formal consultation. When the teachers walked out at Christmas, they brought in new ones, hiring a headteacher. But it seemed almost inevitable, and the final steps were started in January when a formal consultation began.
“People were crying,” said Mrs Rhodes. “Children from generations of the same family had been going to the school. It’s very much the heart of this community.
“There has been such a lot of passion and anger and feelings of betrayal. But it feels like closure was always on the horizon.”
The whole community rallied, with hundreds of letters sent from residents, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority, Craven Council, the National Association of Small Schools.
At its executive in February, North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) agreed to shut the school. It is now in appeal, and with an adjudicators to make a decision in coming weeks. If it goes against the parents’ wishes, they could take it to judicial review.
“They claim the children’s education is suffering,” said Mrs Rhodes. “I don’t see how it’s better to stick a child on a bus for half an hour or an hour to get to school every day.”
On the other side of North Yorkshire is Ingleby Arncliffe. A rural community with an ageing population, it too is preparing to lose its village school. And while parish leaders are resigned to what could be coming, and believe it to be best for their children’s education, they say more must be done to enable young families to thrive.
“There’s a real sadness about it,” said Clive Walley, parish council chairman, who is pushing for more affordable homes to be built. “When you walk through the village, and see the children laughing and playing in the schoolyard, it’s lovely.
“But we have to be realistic. What we are concerned about is providing children – of any parish – with the best educational opportunities.”
Ingleby Arncliffe Primary has 10 pupils. Nearby Swainby and Potto has nine. The council has forecast a financial deficit across the two schools of £56,900, rising to £257,000 in 2019/20. A consultation closed on June 9 and parents are waiting for the results.
“The consultation was inevitable,” said Mr Walley. “Irrespective of the financial situation, the children were not going to get the best education.”
The number of children in Ingleby Arncliffe has halved in the past decade, while 60 per cent of residents are now aged over 60. Soaring house prices and a lack of affordable housing are putting young families off the area, Mr Walley says, with average homes costing 10 times the average salary. “People have seen their children go to these village schools,” he said. “They love their schools and what it means to the village. At the first consultation event there were hundreds of people, all recounting stories of how invaluable the school is. But the population is getting older, there’s less children in the village. And we can’t wave a magic wand.”
The impact of closures will be felt across the Yorkshire Dales. Nicky Rhodes, chair of governors at Horton-in-Ribblesdale Primary School.