Historic rural school in North Yorkshire with no pupils 'not yet out of the woods'

North Yorkshire’s most senior education officer told a meeting of the county council’s children and young people’s scrutiny committee that Ryedale Learning Trust’s ambition to make Hovingham Primary School one of its associate members from January meant it was “by no means out of the woods”.

The warning comes days before the council’s consultation over the proposed closure of the school amid fresh optimism that a sufficient number of parents will sign up to have their children to start or restart in Hovingham in September next year, with an open morning being run by the trust and school for prospective families on Monday.

The meeting heard the council’s children’s and young people’s service director Stuart Carlton state while the authority’s executive was due to decide if the school has a future on January 24, the reality was that it had no pupils at present.

He said: “Therefore it won’t be funded through the schools block and Department for Education going forward, so that’s a huge concern. I am deeply worried about that.

“It’s encouraging that Ryedale trust are working with the school. I am a little worried that raises expectations.”

Mr Carlton highlighted that the trust could not decide which schools joined it and that the regional schools commissioner would need convincing that the school at Hovingham had a viable future.

He said: “We know that all consultations around schools are very emotional and very difficult. This is a school funding decision and we can’t fund a school that doesn’t have pupils in it.”

He confirmed if parents put Hovingham as their first choice school, and the school was subsequently closed, it would not impact on their child attending their second choice school.

Councillors heard a number of Hovingham residents and parents felt they had established a case for the school to remain open, partly due to potential enrolments at the attached nursery.

A trust spokesman added: “We believe that through listening to the community and providing high-quality provision, Hovingham CE School will again be a school of choice in the local and wider community.”

However, the committee was told one of the main issues facing the school was a lack of “transition funding” to keep it open until September, before education officers highlighted that schools received only funding for having pupils and the council could not step outside that rule.

Mr Carlton said: “This is not our only small school across the county and if we set a precedent for one we will open gates for other things and funding and I don’t know how much that would cost us as a council.”