Public Meetings in Whitby Today Over Eskdale School Closure Proposal

Wednesday, 8 March 2023 06:00

By Matthew Pells

Pupils and Parents from Eskdale School in Whitby will walk together this evening to a public meeting on the schools future.

North Yorkshire County Council is consulting on a proposal to close the school in September 2024 and merge it with Ceadmon College.

The School governing body says falling pupil numbers mean they can't afford to run two sites in the town.

Parents campaigning to save the school say the town's children need a choice.

Whitby County Councillor - Neil Swannick - thinks the fundamental problem is pupil numbers.

Two public meetings are being held at Whitby Pavillion today as part of the consultation on the plans. The meetings are being held at 12.30pm and 6.30pm.

Campaigners from the Keep Choice in Whitby and Save Eskdale School group will be walking tot he the evening meeting carrying banners and placards. They say they will gather outside Clara’s cafe on the West Cliff from 5.45pm-6pm and are inviting the whole community to join them to walk down to the Pavilion for the meeting once everyone has arrived.

Concerned Caedmon parent Emma Wilcock said:

“The walk that has been planned is a way of expressing our concerns as parents of present and future pupils and it will also be a fantastic way of getting real time on the issues that the campaign has raised.

“It's really important that all parents are involved in stopping this amalgamation.

“Just because the plan is to close Eskdale doesn't mean it won't impact children already at Caedmon and children who will be planning to attend in the next two academic years.

“Those of us with children in Year 5, who had made choices on secondary schools, now find ourselves in a limbo and it isn't acceptable.

“Many of us visited Eskdale, Caedmon or both in Autumn 2022 and some of our children already picked where they would prefer to go. They made a choice and now that choice is being removed from them without them even being considered or consulted.”

It's the second time in 7 years that proposals to close the school have been put forward.

The governors say the proposal is a result of low pupil numbers and significant financial challenges.

They say a considerable amount of the budgets is spent on maintaining the two sites when it could be spent on curriculum and teaching resources.

In a written statement the Governors say:

"The reasons for this proposal are three linked factors: low pupil numbers, significant financial challenges at both schools and an imperative to give the best education and curriculum to the young people of Whitby. Currently both schools are subject to a financial warning notice from the local authority and this limits any spending that can happen, a considerable amount of the schools budgets is spent on maintaining the sites when it could be spent on curriculum and teaching and learning resources to benefit the students education.

We want to express that this in no way has been an easy decision for the governors to make, and we do acknowledge that this can be a very emotive topic, however in order to ensure that we can deliver a fit for purpose education to the young people within the community for the generations to come we feel it is the right decision. It will be our priority to ensure that we support all staff and students through any change and will be sensitive with how and when information is presented. A newly amalgamated school will provide the opportunity to develop a broader curriculum, with far more choice over subjects to study and access to a wider range of experiences both in and out of the classroom that currently aren’t available to us.

We firmly believe that the future of the secondary provision needs to be able to adapt to the world around us and the climate that we find ourselves in given the financial constraints and instability that needs to be resolved in order for us to deliver on the quality first education Whitby children deserve.

We need to ensure that the current education we provide to our students remains at its highest, students will still be able to complete courses they have begun and work towards those final assessments in those subjects in both 2023 and 2024 and that we are focused on the current job in hand for the good of our students and the community.

Whitby County Councillor - Neil Swannick - thinks the falling pupil numbers and financial pressures do support the merger idea.

Terri Anne Jones launched an online petition opposing the closure, she says the town needs two secondary schools.

The petition to save Eskdale School from closure was signed by 2,479 people. The signatures were made up of 1,157 written signatures and 1,322 online.

Keep Choice in Whitby and Save Eskdale School campaign group member Carla Blackman said:

“The petition shows just how strongly this town feels about the threat and the decline of education in Whitby.

“Addresses from up and down our coastline have signed their support wanting to see an improvement in the quality of schooling so that their children and their children's children can continue to be educated in our town.”

There will be two public consultation meetings at Whitby Pavilion, West Cliff, Whitby, YO21 3EN on Wednesday 8 March at 12.30pm and 6.30pm.

The closing date for responses to the consultation is 5pm on Friday, 31 March 2023.

The consultation can be completed online at https://consult.northyorks.gov.uk/snapwebhost/s.asp?k=167542956340

North Yorkshire County Council have published background information at https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/proposal-amalgamate-caedmon-college-whitby-and-eskdale-school-1-september-2024

All responses to the consultation received by the closing date will be considered by the new North Yorkshire Council Executive on 18 April 2023.

If the Executive decides to proceed with the proposal, then statutory notices would be published on 27 April 2023. These notices would provide a further four weeks for representations to be made, by 25 May 2023.

A final decision would then be scheduled to be taken by the Executive on 20 June 2023. If agreed, the schools would amalgamate from 1 September 2024.