Crowdfunder launched to help Yorkshire village primary school build new classroom

While many other schools in rural Yorkshire villages are at the risk of closure, plans have been approved to build a new permanent classroom at Great Ouseburn Community Primary School in Harrogate. The school on Main Street in the village was established in 1884 and currently caters for 96 pupils.

North Yorkshire County Council applied for planning permission to demolish an existing pre-fabricated classroom that was built in 2013 in order to replace it with a larger and permanent building. The current prefabricated classroom is 88 square metres whereas the new building will be more than twice the size at 177 square metres.

The council’s planning and regulatory functions planning committee met on Tuesday (Mar 28) in Northallerton and approved the application. The plans also include the removal of a tree, landscaping works and a new astroturf sports pitch.

This new unit will be made up of two teaching classrooms that will share cloakroom space and toilets between them with separate teaching storage rooms in each classroom. Each classroom will provide a minimum of 30 spaces for children.

A report presented to councillors ahead of the meeting said although there will a new sports pitch some grass areas used by children for play will be built upon.

It called this “unfortunate” but said the proposed development would improve the school teaching capabilities as well as cater to the current number of students attending the school. There were 20 letters of support and three objections. Councillors have asked for the new builds to be resited, solar panels to be added and for the removed tree to be replaced with three semi-mature trees.

Friends of Great Ouseburn School has launched a crowdfunder to raise £75,000 for the project.

It says NYCC will fund part of it with the school asked to pay the rest. Work is expected to take place during the summer holidays.

It says: “We are a small village school, but have grown in numbers to almost double the size that we were four years ago. It is brilliant to have a happy, thriving school, but the rapid increase has come with some issues. We have two classrooms that are too small for a full class and we have been trying to find a solution to this for a couple of years.

“The most vital part of this is the extension of existing classroom space and installation of toilets that will allow our nursery and reception age children to access their own toilets.”