Warning of school mergers amid falling pupils numbers

SAVED: Forest of Teesdale school saved from closure earlier this year

A COUNTY  school strategy is likely to see more “amalgamations” and action taken at primaries with too many surplus places, but officials are being asked whether they have got their sums right.
Plans for “rationalisation of the school estate” for “more cost-effective” education were rubber stamped at County Hall last week.
In the 46-page document are figures forecasting falling numbers at nine Teesdale primary schools during the next five years.
The report revealed there would be “a presumption against” the closure of rural schools but warned that did not mean a rural school would never close.
It also warned that funding remains the “biggest issue” facing schools in the short-term with no increase in funds anticipated.
The report added: “It is likely that consideration will have to be given to more effective and sustainable organisational structures such as amalgamating with other schools.”
Forecast figures for schools were calculated from Health Authority records alongside “expected house building”, “migration trends” and “surplus places”.
Figures suggest rises in pupil numbers at Montalbo Primary, Bowes Hutchinson’s and Evenwood with small rises at Butterknowle, Woodland and Cockfield Schools. 
The largest forecasted falls in numbers by percentage are at Staindrop Primary (-20.8 per cent), Hamsterley (-30 per cent) and Forest of Teesdale
(-50 per cent).
Under “projection of need” the council report said factors including “year groups with fewer than ten pupils in primary schools” and “the remoteness of a school to other schools” would be considered in reviews.
Other factors considered in reviews included “transport implications” and “total pupil numbers if fewer than 100 pupils and not expected to increase”.
When it came to surplus places at school, the report added: “Where an individual school has 25 per cent or more surplus places, the local authority will take action to reduce this if it is appropriate to do so with the aim of
improving that school’s educational and financial sustainability.”
More than a dozen dale schools are forecast to have a surplus of more than 25 per cent at some point in the next five years. However, Richard Bell, a county councillor and governor of Forest of Teesdale School, dubbed some of the figures “notional”.
“This is a complex paper and it is hard to discern
what underlies it,” Cllr Bell added.
“Speaking as a school governor, I do know that the theoretical capacities of schools are often way in excess of what the school could physically accommodate.
“If these notional ‘surplus places’ are to be used as evidence to decide a school’s existence then it is important that schools’ theoretical capacities are corrected to realistic levels.”