A passionate campaign by an entire Yorkshire dale has saved a small but top-rated school from closure in an about-turn with implications for other isolated communities.
Anger the length of Wharfedale prompted a reprieve today on Kettlewell primary, which has averaged fewer than 30 pupils in recent years but is rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.
The victory follows nine weeks of vigorous argument that the school is increasingly attracting young families to move into the beautiful but remote village.
North Yorkshire county councillors were treated to a song recorded by the current pupils, but were more taken with data on new arrivals – three families with six primary-age children in the two years – as proof of the school’s role in regeneration.
Richard Humpidge, the chair of governors and a National Trust ranger with two children at the school, said: “Small schools perform better. It’s all part of the small-is-beautiful ethos – an intimate teaching environment, the big kids looking after the small ones, and the close bonds with the local community.”
Gervase Phinn, the author and former schools inspector in the Yorkshire dales, said: “Rural schools are a precious thing. They don’t just provide an education. Often they are the central heartbeat of the village. We have to do everything possible to ensure they continue.”
The decision reopens the debate over six other primaries in Wharfedale, but ends fears that Kettlewell children as young as five would face 17-mile journeys to school. One of the pupils, nine-year-old Caitlin Ambler, had her letter to education staff read out at the council meeting today.
“I don’t want the school to close. I like the work that we do,” she wrote. “I like all my teachers and I will miss them if they say we have to go. I have been happy here.”
Chris Beazley, chair of Kettlewell-with-Starbotton parish council and a parent, said: “I was worried that losing our school could have cost the community its future. Young families make a village. Without a school, I’m not sure many would have wanted to stay. No one here wants to see what is now a living, vibrant village turn into just a walk-around museum.”
Other relatively new parents include professionals working part-time in Jeddah and Madrid, and Kettlewell’s potential has also been shown in the recent granting of planning permission for five new houses – something inconceivable for years in the highly protected Yorkshire dales national park.
The local Anglican diocesan centre at Scargill is also recruiting new staff, after raising £2m. Its newsletter says: “God gave us eight people with just the right skills – a lawyer, an accountant, a financial negotiator, someone who could run a website, a brilliant secretary, a vision person, an expert in making business plans and managing projects.”
Another of the school campaigners, Steve Hounsham, said: “The thing that has struck me most is how almost the entire local community has come together to fight closure of its primary school. And each person in the community has brought a different skill to the table that has contributed to the final success of the campaign. It is a real demonstration of what can be achieved if people pull together and don’t give up.”
Kettlewell’s hugely successful annual Scarecrow festival has also raised nearly £20,000 for the primary in the past two years.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/feb/01/yorkshire-dales-primary-school-saved
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