Closure-threat schools battle to stay viable as pupils move out

Both Sir Henry Cooper and Endeavour High are barely half-full and struggling to remain viable ahead of their forthcoming closure under an overhaul of secondary education in the city through the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme.

There are 584 pupils at Sir Henry Cooper, a 1,082-place school, and 685 at Endeavour, which has capacity for 1,200.

But although Cooper has been set a closing date of August 2012, the future for Endeavour is less certain.

It was built nine years ago at a cost of 15m and is due to be replaced by a new academy in West Hull, although a site has yet to be identified and there is no closing date for the existing school.

Hull's BSF team has been given assurances by the Department for Children, Schools and Families that it will meet the estimated 20m to 30m cost of the West Hull academy.

BSF project director David Martin said: "We are now at the very early stages of developing an outline business case that will need further approval."

Endeavour's problems are complex, more than one in five of its children speaking English as a second language.

It is in special measures for a second time and was built in the "wrong place", education officials have admitted.

A report to the council's Cabinet blamed sub-standard performance for the falling pupil rolls, which have plunged both schools into crisis.

It said: "At one end are a minority of schools delivering good outcomes for the majority of pupils, whilst at the other end are schools whose performance is well below expectation.

"This variation in performance has led to parental preferences shifting over time to those schools with a consistently satisfactory or good performance.

"This means that pupil numbers in many schools have become more volatile with some schools edging towards financial and curriculum non-viability and sustainability.

"It has also led to many parents choosing schools outside the local authority."

Most pupils at Sir Henry Cooper are expected to attend the 1,300-capacity Northern Academy when it opens in Princess Elizabeth playing fields in September 2012. Endeavour's pupils are expected to be split between that site and the West Hull academy.

Desire for a new West Hull school was identified through public consultation carried out by Gateway, which is leading a multi-million-pound urban regeneration project in the Newington and St Andrew's wards.

Although some of the better performing Hull schools are oversubscribed, weaker establishments are suffering from a "brain drain" to the East Riding.

Hull Council estimates between 1,500 and 2,000 Hull children are educated outside the city – a trend it is keen to reverse.

The head of learning, leisure and achievement at the council, Judith Harwood, said: "Those schools closest to the local authority border with the East Riding of Yorkshire have been affected the most historically by the exodus of pupils to East Riding of Yorkshire schools.

"They are taking action to address the loss of income and work collaboratively with other schools to ensure that a full curriculum entitlement can be delivered.

"Endeavour School has also been badly affected by a reduction in pupil numbers.

"The Building Schools for the Future programme aims to continue the improvement of all schools so that parents feel more confident about choosing a place in Hull for their children."