Troubled school could be closed in two years

A PUBLIC meeting is being held over plans to accelerate the closure of a troubled Hull secondary school.

The authorities have said David Lister School, in Rustenberg Street, should be shut “as soon as possible”.

Councillors agreed last year to start consultation over bringing its closure forward from 2015 to 2012. Residents and parents are invited to voice their concerns at a meeting from 7.15pm at the school.

The school, one of three Hull secondaries on the Government’s special measures “blacklist”, recruited less than half its admission limit at the start of the school year last September.

It will be taking its last intake of year seven pupils this year.

In a statement, Hull Council said: “As plans for the council's Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme have progressed, it has become increasingly clear that it would not be in the best interests of pupils or staff to keep the school open until 2015.

“By 2012 the BSF programme will mean that there will be additional capacity in other schools in the east of the city to accommodate the pupils who would have attended David Lister, and the opportunity for pupils to access a wider range of educational opportunities better suited to their long-term needs and sustained improvement.”

Most of the David Lister pupils will be going to Archbishop Sentamu Academy, but they will also have a choice of going to Andrew Marvell Business and Enterprise College, Kingswood College of Arts, Malet Lambert, or Winifred Holtby Technical College.

A final decision will be taken by the Lib Dem Cabinet on March 1.

Until then people can also express their views by writing to the Head of Learning, Leisure and Achievement, Brunswick House, Strand Close, Beverley Road, Hull, HU2 9DB.