Small schools will have to adapt to survive changes in funding

Members of North Yorkshire County Council have decided to consult on plans to close Richard Thornton’s Church of England Primary School in Burton in Lonsdale, which has only 12 pupils - all boys - on the roll.

Hirst Courtney and Temple Hirst Community Primary near Selby, where there are just three pupils, will close at Easter. There has been strong opposition in Burton on Lonsdale to the school closing and disappointment that local views have been ignored.

The school’s governors had proposed sharing a headteacher with another school and integrating the under-fives pre-school more closely with the school.

Parish council chairman Ian Thompson, who was among those to become a governor following an appeal last November, said campaigners asked for another 12 months to market the school more aggressively, and added: “We wanted to show potential parents the benefits we can offer. The children get superb personalised teaching.

“We have a full-time teacher and a headteacher who teaches part-time and 12 children - in private education you wouldn’t get a parent-pupil ratio like that.

“Ten years ago the community got together to buy a shop which has been run successfully as a voluntary staffed community shop. The community has demonstrated willingness to take action - maybe we didn’t realise how close to the tipping point the school was.”

Mr Thompson said he was concerned the school’s closure would mean the age profile in the village, already among the oldest in North Yorkshire would creep up.

“It will mean young families are more likely to move away and less likely to move into the village,” he said.

Changes to the Government’s funding formula means the most isolated schools are now better protected - but small schools in densely-populated areas less so.

Anton Hodge, the county council’s assistant director for strategic resources, said they and other councils had successfully fought changes to the funding formula that would have caused problems for rural schools.

They now have additional funding for schools in “sparse” areas. However, they could not give the funding to schools which were small, but not in sparse areas, for example urban areas.

North Yorkshire has among the highest number of primary schools in the country, and of the 319 nearly half have less than 90 pupils on the school roll. Seven have less than 20. Consultation is currently taking place on four school mergers and one going to the independent sector.

Mr Hodge said: “When schools get down to just 10 or 12 pupils, there are lots of questions to be asked. They would be looking at sharing a headteacher, amalgamating with another school or sharing costs with other schools.

“There will be a number of schools who will have to look at how they are organised - whether it is 20 or 30 or 40 we don’t know yet.

“Although the Government has made a decision it won’t take affect for three or four years so there is time to work with these schools.

“These schools will need to start looking and making decisions, but it is not as if they will be losing a lot of money this year or next year.”

County councillor Arthur Barker stressed there was no schools “hit list”, but said: “Small schools in areas which aren’t as sparsely populated will have to look at ways of doing things differently, cooperating with neighbouring schools and we hope to help schools do that. But I can’t guarantee there aren’t going to be any closures.”

The council said Richard Thornton needed at least 29 pupils to be financially viable. The school was predicting a budget deficit for 2014/15 of £30,0000. The school is due to close on August 31.