Decision details

This report follows an announcement made by the Dales Academy proposal to close Kirkby Fleetham Church of England Primary School at the end of the Summer term 2025.
The school is identified as a rural academy.
In accordance with the presumption against closure of rural academies, the Local Authority needs to agree to the closure.
The report will seek the Local Authority’s agreement to the proposed closure of the rural academy.

The Council notes the Substantive Closure Decision taken by the Secretary of State on 29 January 2025 under the DfE’s “Closure of an academy by mutual agreement” guidance dated October 2024.

The Council does not oppose the decision already taken by the Secretary of State on the 29 January 2025 to close Kirkby Fleetham Primary School.

To agree on a stakeholder consultation on catchment area proposals to be
effective from September 2025 that:
• The shared catchment area of Applegarth and Kirkby Fleetham becomes a
discrete catchment area for Applegarth Primary School.
• The discrete catchment area of Kirkby Fleetham becomes a discrete catchment area for Aiskew Leeming Bar CE Primary School

Unlike if the Council were proposing to close a maintained school, the Council is not the proposer of these proposals, nor the decision maker and the process for closing an academy is different to that of a maintained school.

The decision to close the academy school has been made by the academy trust (in this case Dales Academy Trust) in collaboration with the Secretary of State for Education with a substantive decision to close the school taken on the 29 January 2025.

The Council has a statutory responsibility to ensure that there are sufficient school places for all children in our area. This duty includes planning and managing school places to meet current and future demand, ensuring fair access to schools and supporting vulnerable children.

Whilst consideration of this duty is effectively a moot point following the decision taken on the 29 January 2025, the Council has nonetheless considered this duty. There are sufficient places available locally to satisfy sufficiency and place planning requirements.

On this basis, there is no reasonable rationale upon which to object to the closure.