APPENDIX 2

Consultation Document

Proposal to change the age range at Wensleydale School and Sixth Form, by ceasing the Sixth Form Provision

from 31 August 2025

November 2024

This paper sets out details of a proposal by North Yorkshire Council to change the age range at Wensleydale School and Sixth Form, by ceasing the Sixth Form Provision with effect from 31 August 2025. It gives the background to the proposal. There will be a public meeting on Thursday 5 December at 5.30pm at Wensleydale School.

Background

Following a consultation during October 2022, on temporary suspension of sixth form provision for a period of up to two years, effective from September 2023, the Governing Body of Wensleydale School and Sixth Form suspended sixth form provision. The period of temporary suspension has allowed time to assess the practicalities of continuing with post-16 provision, given the Government’s withdrawal of the vocational BTEC courses, which the school offered.

The Governing Board based their decision on concerns about the limited range of post-16 qualifications and courses available, and related concerns about low post-16 pupil numbers and the school’s financial position. Given the withdrawal of government funding for school’s more vocational BTEC courses, the suspension was necessary to secure the interests of current and future pupils.

The Governing Board’s decision to temporarily suspend provision was not reached lightly, and not before alternatives were considered. A Level teaching finished at Wensleydale School and Sixth Form, Leyburn in 2018. The Business and Innovation Centre opened with a focus on more vocational subjects. The post-16 offer became a focus on BTEC and CTEC qualifications in subjects including Business Studies, IT, Sports Studies, Travel and Tourism and Health and Social Care rather than traditional academic A Level courses.

Wensleydale School and Sixth Form is a relatively small secondary school. Due partly to the demographics of the school’s very large, and often sparse catchment area, numbers on roll at Wensleydale School and Sixth Form suffered a demographic dip for 5 years, making it difficult to maintain viable class sizes at post 16 in terms of quality of experience, subject breadth and financial viability. With the government’s withdrawal of funding for the school’s BTECs, it was difficult for the school to offer a curriculum with the sufficient breadth required. Though judging the school as ‘Good’ overall, Ofsted highlighted how the post-16 offering had ‘narrowed' and acknowledged this was ‘in part due to financial constraints’.

Making A Significant Change

Any significant change that is expected to be in place for more than two years is considered a permanent change and requires a statutory process. At the end of the two-year suspension, if a proposal is made to close post-16 provision permanently, the decision maker is North Yorkshire Council (or the Regional Director if the school has become an academy).

The Proposal

At a recent meeting of the Governing Board of Wensleydale School and Sixth Form, Leyburn it was resolved to ask North Yorkshire Council to consult on the permanent closure of the school’s Sixth Form. For a community school like Wensleydale, the Council’s Executive is the decision-making body for a permanent change, and a further period of consultation is required.

Sixth Form Numbers

The number of sixth form students at Wensleydale School and Sixth Form fell over the years, from a high of 86 sixth formers in 2013/14 down to 4, 10 and 8 in the years prior to the temporary suspension.

Year	Y7 –Y11	Year 12	Year 13	Pupil numbers 6th form	Total pupil roll
2013/14	426	44	42	86	512
2014/15	416	23	34	57	473
2015/16	405	26	18	44	449
2016/17	386	18	22	40	426
2017/18	366	17	16	33	399
2018/19	361	19	17	36	397
2019/20	351	6	8	14	365
2020/21	320	0	4	4	328
2021/22	325	10	0	10	335
2022/23	347	0	8	8	355
2023/24	367	0	0	0	367
2024/25	390	0	0	0	390
2025/26	406 ¹				406 ¹
2026/27					433 ²
2027/28					429 ²

Notes: 1. Forecast.

2. Forecast including additional children generated from housing.

Sixth form numbers fell to the point where the choice of courses and quality of experience that the school could provide was limited compared to the much wider range of vocational study routes offered at other FE colleges.

Alternative Larger Sixth Form Provision in the Area

There are benefits for young people of going to a larger external sixth form. Several larger secondary schools across North Yorkshire have already made a change in recognition that their sixth form is unable offer the full range of A Level courses that larger post-16 providers can.

The next nearest sixth form within North Yorkshire is at Richmond School (9.7 miles). However, traditionally many Wensleydale pupils looking to study A Levels have travelled to Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College in Darlington.

The range of practical courses and vocational qualifications offered by Further Education colleges in the surrounding areas has increased over recent years. These organisations, such as Askham Bryan Agricultural College and Middlesbrough and Darlington FE Colleges, also offer specialist vocational facilities, and their size bridges the gap between school and employment. They have become very popular with local families who broadly feel these organisations provide the widest offer for post-16 education and ensure that students are placed on a pathway that meets their needs and interests.

Funding

Pupil numbers primarily determine the funding for school budgets. The funding model for post-16 education has changed in recent years and now favours larger Sixth Forms than Wensleydale School has ever had. Historically, funding intended for those in years 7 to 11 at the school to some extent subsidised the provision of a Sixth Form, but this has become increasingly unsustainable as schools have faced increasing cost and funding pressures over recent years.

Standards

In May 2022 Ofsted judged the overall effectiveness of Wensleydale School as ‘Good’, with the quality of education rated as ‘good’, behaviour and attitudes as ‘good’, personal development as ‘good’ and leadership and management as ‘good’. However, as well as highlighting the school’s existing strengths in all these areas, the inspectors in this latest Ofsted report judged the sixth form provision as ‘requires improvement’.

Staffing

The school has advised that there would be no changes to staffing as a result of the proposed permanent closure of the Sixth Form.

Transport

North Yorkshire Council publishes on its website a Post 16 Policy Statement by 31^st May each year, which sets out the transport assistance available to young people moving onto sixth form or college who are resident in the county and who qualify.

North Yorkshire Council provides assistance with transport to the nearest sixth form or college to students who qualify. To qualify for assistance with transport to sixth form or college, the following applies:

students must be over 16 and under 19 on 1 September and live in North Yorkshire
students must be attending the nearest sixth form or further education college to their home address or the sixth form of the secondary school which is recognised as the normal school for their home address
the course attended must be full-time, for instance, more than 12 hours a week
the sixth form or college is the nearest establishment offering a course that the Council consider suitable to a student's career choice, or that is a pre-requisite for entry into higher education (see below for more details)
the nearest sixth form or college is more than three miles from the home by the shortest walked route
students must have agreement from their parent or guardian to pay for the assistance.

Transport assistance needs to be renewed annually and is not provided for students on apprenticeships or work placements.

Further details are available at:

https://www.northyorks.gov.uk/education-and-learning/school-and-college-transport/transport-sixth-form-or-college

Any parents who may wish to seek transport assistance, should seek advice on transport entitlement prior to applying for a place on a post-16 course.

Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College, Darlington runs a minibus service from Leyburn at the beginning and end of the school day for sixth form students and there is also public transport to Richmond School and Darlington College.

Students attending post-16 courses in Darlington have tended to travel into Leyburn on public transport and then catch the College bus provided by Queen Elizabeth Sixth Form College.

The Proposal

For the reasons above it is proposed to change the age range at Wensleydale School and Sixth Form, from 31 August 2025, by ceasing the Sixth Form Provision.

What Happens Next?

Your views about this proposal are welcomed. You can either complete and return the attached response sheet or submit an online response.

Paper responses should be returned to North Yorkshire Council at the address below:

FREEPOST RTKE-RKAY-CUJS

Wensleydale School Sixth Form Proposal

Strategic Planning

North Yorkshire Council

County Hall

NORTHALLERTON

DL7 8AE

Online responses may be submitted by following this link:

https://online1.snapsurveys.com/alldkk

Responses to the consultation will be published on the Council’s website. Your personal details, and those of others you may refer to, will not be published.

The closing date for responses is 5pm on 20 December 2024

All responses to the consultation received by this date are scheduled to be considered by the Council’s Executive on 21 January 2025.

If the Council’s Executive decides to proceed with the closure proposal, then statutory notices would be published in the local press on 31 January 2025. These notices would provide a further four weeks for representations to be made. A final decision is then scheduled to be taken by North Yorkshire Council’s Executive in March or April. If agreed, the sixth form provision would cease from on 31 August 2025.

Anticipated Key Dates

All dates are subject to approvals at each stage.

Consultation opens	11 November
Public meeting	Thursday 5 December at 5.30pm at Wensleydale School
Consultation closes	20 December 2024
Council’s Executive considers consultation response	21 January 2025
Statutory Notices published (4 weeks for representations to be made)	31 Jan – 28 Feb
Final decision by Council’s Executive	March or April
Proposed implementation date	31 August 2025

Wensleydale School Sixth Form Consultation

This is a consultation on proposals to change the age range at Wensleydale School and Sixth Form, by ceasing the Sixth Form Provision from 31 August 2025.

We are collecting this information for the purpose of gathering views on the proposal. Your personal data will not be published or passed to any other organisation unless a legal obligation compels us to do so.

Reading our Privacy Notice will help you understand how and why we process your personal data. www.northyorks.gov.uk/privacy-notices

Do you have any comments about the proposal?

(Please do not disclose any personal information in your answer)

What is your interest/status? Parent / Governor / Teacher / Community / Other

Other (please state)

Name of school:

(if applicable)

To confirm your proximity to school and to prevent duplicate responses we are asking you to provide your name and address. This information will be removed from any analysis or reports.
Name:
Address:
Postcode:

To help us assess whether we have provided clear information, please let us know whether you found this consultation easy to understand? Yes / No

Please send this response sheet to the following “FREEPOST” address. You do not need to use a postage stamp.