Yorkshire primary school closure decision imminent as doors due to close end of March

The executive of North Yorkshire County Council (NYCC) are set to decide whether to push ahead with plans to end funding to Hovingham CE VC School in the Howardian Hills Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The school currently has no remaining pupils, and last year NYCC said it would consider halting plans to shut it down if parents in the area chose it as their child’s preferred school for this coming September.

But council documents reveal only two families have requested a place at the school, one as a third choice preference and one as a fifth.

Most children living in Hovingham will become part of the catchment area for Slingsby Community Primary School, while children living in the wider catchment area for the school, including in the villages of Stonegrave, Scackleton and Coulton will now be in the catchment areas for other local primary schools, St Hilda’s and Terrington.

Hovingham School was last rated as ‘Good’ by Ofsted in 2017, but pupil numbers dwindled to just seven in May 2022 – with all those transferring to other schools over the summer holidays.

NYCC received one objection to the finalised plans to close the school’s doors at the end of March.

It read: “North Yorkshire used to be proud of the fine education it provided for its young people through its small schools.

"Unfortunately this no longer seems to be the case.

"The proposal to close the school at Hovingham seems to me to be failing our young people and the community in which they live.”

The decision to cease funding for the school will be made by the executive on Tuesday.