Final bid to save primary school with 13 pupils

Last-ditch appeals to prevent a rural primary school closing look set to be rejected by councillors despite a campaign by villagers to save it.

St Hilda's Primary School in Ampleforth currently has just 13 pupils and North Yorkshire Council is set to close it in September.

Letters of objections from parents, grandparents and the manager of a nursery, arguing the school has a viable future, are to be presented to the council on Tuesday.

However, council officers said with just 10 pupils projected to attend the school in September it was difficult to see "further demand for places".

After the council published its intention to close St Hilda’s the authority received a number of objections, with one stating the closure would “rip the heart out of the village community”.

The manager of Daisy Day Care, a private nursery in Ampleforth, said the proposed closure was “creating immense upset and stress” in the village.

He said: "We know that St Hilda's can be a viable school again, it just needs to be given the chance to ride this storm."

A former pupil and parent of a three-year-old attending the school’s nursery said St Hilda’s had "always been a smaller school".

They said this meant the pupils "got help when they needed it."

A report to North Yorkshire council states: "Parental preference shifts year on year and parents who may want their child to attend a school in the future may change this preference at any point before the time comes for them to submit applications."

Council officers said St Hilda's was strongly valued by some, but of the 94 pupils living within the catchment area only 13 were attending the school.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service said while some parents had blamed the school’s leadership for its decline in pupil numbers, council officers highlighted there had been three Ofsted inspections since 2011, all of which judged the leadership and management of the school to be good.

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