School set to close over falling pupil numbers

In a letter to parents, the trust in charge of Parkfield School said it was "not possible to run a school that is less than half-full"

A school has announced plans to close due to "falling and unsustainable numbers of pupils".

Reach South Academy Trust told parents on Friday that the Department for Education agreed with its recommendation that Parkfield School - situated next to Bournemouth Airport in Hurn - should close.

While the school would shut to most students at the end of the current academic year, Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP) Council said children currently in Year 10 would be able to finish their GCSEs at the site.

The trust said other students would be offered a "suitable place" at another school rated as at least Good by Ofsted and within a "reasonable" travelling distance.

Parent Lorna said her son would now have to go to a different school to his sister

Lorna, who has a 14-year-old daughter in Year 10 and a 12-year-old son in Year Seven, said the news had left her in "complete shock".

"I was quite upset as well because my children... are really happy at this school," she said.

Her daughter will stay on at the school to finish her GCSEs but her son, who has made lots of friends during his time at Parkfield, will be moved.

"It's a shame because I have to separate them," she said.

"I've got to do two school runs."

The school will remain open for current Year 10s to finish their GCSEs in the next academic year

Parkfield is a free school, meaning it works outside of local authority control and receives money directly from the government.

After first being proposed in 2011, it opened in a Bournemouth town centre office block in 2013 before being relocated to a former air traffic control training centre in 2017.

The letter to parents said the decision had not been "taken lightly" but that it had "exhausted all possible avenues of making Parkfield viable", citing the difficulty of the school not having a "natural catchment area".

'Extremely difficult'

"We have concluded that it is simply not possible to run a school that is less than half-full, with a falling roll and no prospect of these numbers increasing," it said.

A spokesperson for the trust said the final decision was subject to a "listening period", as well as for "full assurance" that all pupils who needed another school had been offered one.

"This has been an extremely difficult situation, and we recognise the news will be upsetting and unsettling for families," the spokesperson said.

"The council will be writing to all families this week to explain the transfer process and advise them of the place that is secured for their child.

"For our part, we will do everything we can to support making this process as smooth as possible, giving families the support and advice they need."

A spokesperson for BCP Council said a "detailed plan" was in place, and that "all children" would receive an offer of a school place.