School Near Scarborough Wants Giant Fence After 'Safeguarding Issues'

Monday, 16 December 2024 06:00

By Antoni Numminen, LDRS

The Brompton Hall School in Scarborough has applied for permission to erect 2.4m high fencing around its perimeter due to a ‘flight risk’.

The Venn Academy Trust said its application was in “response to a number of safeguarding issues” and that the works had been agreed with the Department for Education which had provided funding to support the scheme.

The proposal states that currently, there is a “high flight risk at the school resulting in the need to protect all boundaries” and that there are “also a number of areas which could be accessed by trespassers”.

Located in Brompton-By-Sawdon, the Venn Academy Trust took ownership of the site less than two years ago, prior to which it was maintained by the local authority.

Plans submitted to North Yorkshire Council propose installing 345 metres of 2.4m high paladin fencing around the perimeter as well as in areas “where sections of the site need to be segregated”.

Fencing would also be erected around a pond located on the grounds “to eliminate the risk of pupils accessing [it]”, alongside nine new gates to provide access through the fenced areas.

The site is Grade II Listed but the majority of protected features relate to the original main building and the proposed works are “outlined mainly across the Eastern and South West boundary”.

Fencing is already in place around the car park to the South of the main building and the new fencing and the new partition would match the existing fencing while the colour will depend on the surroundings.

The Venn Academy Trust said that the aim of the works was to safeguard the pupils and “reduce the risk of harm should a child attempt to stray beyond the boundary”.

The trust said the fencing would also “reduce the risk of trespassers who may damage the Listed Building”.

An inspection by Ofsted carried out last year found that “on occasion, pupils abscond from the school” but also commended staff for working with pupils to develop strategies for coping which meant that “pupils make better choices, and they abscond less often”.

North Yorkshire Council has not set a date for deciding on the application which is currently pending consideration.

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