‘ Outstanding’ village school likely to close

A SCHOOL which has been rated as ‘ outstanding’ by Ofsted and is set to celebrate its 200th anniversary looks set to close, partly due to young families being priced out of the villages it serves.

Kell Bank Primary School, between Healey and Fearby, near Masham, has become the latest in a string of small, rural schools to ask North Yorkshire County Council to consult over its closure after seeing its roll fall from 45 pupils in 2013 to just six, despite winning Ofsted’s highest rating.

The move comes just two weeks after the council’s commission into rural issues heard about the increasing financial challenges of sustaining rural schools amid falling rolls, given that the national school funding formula is tied to pupil numbers.

There are 361 schools across North Yorkshire in rural settings and the council maintains the highest number of small schools in the country, with 51 schools with fewer than 50 pupils.

Acouncilreportintothepotential closure of Kell Bank Primary says it has capacity for up to 50 children, but there are only 11 primary aged children living in the catchment area. It says forecasts indicate pupil numbers would not recover in the longer term, may reduce still further and there was unlikely to be any significant new housing in Fearby and Healey as the settlements have not been designated for such development in the Local Plan.

Jeff Loveday, who chairs the school’s governing board, said the decision to ask that the council begins a consultation over its closure at the end of this academic year had been unanimous but been made with a “heavy heart”.

He said: “We have been faced with dwindling numbers at our school over the past few years as young families are finding it increasingly difficult to stay in our rural villages and with the ever increasing costs of suitable housing, the fact is there are very few young families remaining.”

In an attempt to arrest falling pupil numbers, the school has worked with the Federation of Snape Community and Thornton Watlass primary schools, sharing an executive headteacher, and the three schools have maximised opportunities to bring together pupils to share activities.

Mr Loveday added the whole school community had “given more than 100 per cent of their energy over the years into trying to keep the school viable, but there has now come a time when we have to admit that with six children at school, we cannot continue”.

Parish council chairman Brian Gregg said that although the school had survived previous moves to close it due to low pupil numbers, there were numerous other reasons why its future looked bleaker then before, such as the effect of school league tables and increasing bureaucracy.

He said settlements such as Fearby were becoming “retirement villages” for people with indexlinked pensions.

Coun Gregg added that the fourth generation of his family had been set to attend the school in the next couple of years, but they would now have to look elsewhere as the closure “looks inevitable”.

The fact is there are very few young families remaining. Jeff Loveday, who chairs Kell Bank Primary School’s governing board.