Head gives poor marks to closure proposals

North Yorkshire County Council's executive has agreed to press ahead with proposals which would shut Ingleton Middle School (IMS) and Settle Middle School, moving away from three-tier arrangements, from September 2012.

The local authority will publish proposals and statutory notices on December 16, allowing a further six weeks for residents to lodge their views ahead of a final decision being made on February 22.

Mary Parker, headteacher of IMS, said: "The North Craven Review, from the onset, implied that we were looking forward to create an education system fit for the 21st century – how can a retrograde step to a two-tier system fulfil this requirement?

"The documentation published has ignored the overwhelming support which was expressed in favour of the three-tier system. We are still concerned that the solution recommended by the local authority will not address the problems faced by small schools in the area.

"I request that the executive members reconsider the IMS proposal, that they are not influenced by a minority at the expense of the young people in North Craven. I ask the executive members to have the courage to support a system which is different and is surely the way forward in the 21st century, a system which has been adopted and proven to be successful in many other countries throughout the world."

Current school arrangements in North Craven involve children transferring twice, from primary to middle school at age 10 and then to Settle College at age 13.

Under the new system children would remain at primary school until the age of 11 and then transfer to a single school based on the current Settle Middle and Settle College sites which would serve -11 to 18-year-olds.