MP calls for rethink on school closure plans

East Riding Council has begun a six-week review of its plans to close Dunswell, Gembling, and Langtoft primary schools, after the proposals were endorsed by its cabinet on Tuesday.

The council is blaming their possible demise on changes to the way the Government funds schools - claiming the East Riding is the third-worst funded local authority in the country - but parents at all three schools are campaigning to save them.

And now Haltemprice and Howden Conservative MP David Davis has urged the authority to reconsider its plans for Dunswell, backing proposals for it to convert to an academy and become a partner school of Swanland Primary School Academy.

These plans are also supported by the Swanland school’s governors.

Mr Davis said: “The plan to close Dunswell Primary School is regrettable. The better alternative would be for the school to become part of a Swanland multi-academy trust.

“This proposal is currently being reviewed by the Department for Education, and would have my full support.”

The council says Gembling and Langtoft are no longer financially viable, and that there is a real risk Dunswell will become so when Hull Council opens a new primary school in nearby Kingswood.

Only 26 pupils are on the roll at Gembling, and of these only five are from the local catchment area.

At Langtoft, there are just 16 pupils on the roll, meaning it is costing £14,475 per pupil each year, compared to the authority average of £3,737 per pupil.

The council proposes to close Gembling and Langtoft in July, with Gembling pupils switching to North Frodingham Primary, and their counterparts at Langtoft transferring to Kilham Primary.

No more pupils would be enrolled at Dunswell and the site would become part of Woodmansey Primary School until numbers were sufficiently small to close the Dunswell site.

Coun Julie Abraham, portfolio holder for children, young people and local authority schools, said there was “no mistaking the strength of feeling” from parents, who are “very united in this one common cause”, and that even council officers were reluctant to pursue the closures.

But she said “modern times bring modern problems”, adding: “As portfolio holder for children, young people and schools, it is necessary for me to have a view of the bigger picture and to ensure that, as far as we are able, we do our very best for all of our 45,000 children.”

A final decision on the schools’ future will be taken by the cabinet on June 25.