School with no pupils to close by end of month

The school has faced dwindling numbers in recent years and currently has no pupils

A tiny school in North Yorkshire will officially close for good at the end of March.

North Yorkshire Council's executive approved the decision to close Fountains Earth Church of England Primary School in Lofthouse in Upper Nidderdale.

The school has faced dwindling numbers in recent years and currently has no pupils.

The council's executive member for education Annabel Wilkinson said "no-one wants to close a small school" and it was a "very hard decision."

Fountains Earth is part of a federation of schools, but only 10 students were enrolled in 2022.

Back in 2017, when the school was rated good by Ofsted, there were 22 pupils.

Early last year, the school’s governing board approached the council to request consultation on a proposal to close it.

It came after chair of governors Abi Broadley said they had "exhausted all options" to save the school.

In the meeting of North Yorkshire Council's executive, councillor Greg White said for rural schools to remain open, residents needed to “breed and have children”.

'Disservice to children'

The area councillor Andrew Murray pleaded with councillors to delay a decision on the closure, calling for an investigation into the leadership of the federation that runs the school.

But the council’s legal officer suggested it would be out of its remit to investigate governance at the federation.

Councillor Murray said: "Families have put houses up for sale because the school’s not there."

North Yorkshire's executive member for finance councillor Gareth Dadd said keeping a school open with so few potential pupils “would be doing a disservice to those children."

He added: "I feel very uncomfortable sending a child to a primary school with eight pupils. I don’t think it can be beneficial to that child.

"It’s not just about education, it’s about social interaction as well."

The school will officially close on 31 March and its catchment area will become part of St Cuthbert’s Church of England Primary School in Pateley Bridge.

Follow BBC Yorkshire on Facebook, external, X (formerly Twitter), external and Instagram, external. Send your story ideas to [e-mail], external.