County set to go ahead with closure of primary school

Members of North Yorkshire County Council executive committee will on Tuesday vote on plans to shut St Peter and St Paul’s RC Primary School in Leyburn.

Cynthia Welbourn, the council’s corporate director for children and young people’s services, is recommending that the authority ceases to maintain the school.

It would then be down to the Catholic diocese of Middlesbrough to make the final decision on whether to shut the school. Church leaders have already indicated they support the closure of the school.

St Peter and St Paul’s has just 13 pupils, which is well below its capacity of 49.

Forecasts indicate that the numbers will not recover significantly in the long term and the roll could be into single figures by 2013.

Average funding per pupil at St Peter and St Paul’s equates to more than £7,000 per pupil, compared to a county average of £3,334.

On the basis of these figures, governors say the school is no longer financially viable and they cannot offer the full curriculum to children.

A consultation exercise held last year resulted in seven written responses.

Ms Welbourn said in a report to members: “The fundamental argument relates to the range and quality of educational opportunities available to the children in a school of so few pupils.

“Additionally, there is an issue about the long-term viability of the school. All the information and data currently available indicates that it is highly unlikely that the number of pupils seeking places at St Peter and St Paul’s Primary School is likely to increase within the foreseeable future.”

She said Leyburn Primary School had spare spaces, as did St Mary’s Primary School in Richmond.

If the school does close, the diocese of Middlesbrough has said that, while it is obliged to make a commercial decision, it would look favourably on proposals to allow the building to be used for community use, including a children’s centre.

The proposal is for the school to close on August 31.