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Decision details

*Re-published: call-in no longer applies* Re: Drax Community Primary School

Decision Maker: Executive Member for Education, Learning & Skills

Decision status: Recommendations Approved

Is Key decision?: No

Is subject to call in?: No

Decision:

To approve public consultation on a proposal that the County Council should cease to maintain Drax Community Primary School with effect from 31 August 2017.


Reasons for the decision:

*PLEASE NOTE This decision was originally published on or near the date of the decision and so call in no longer applies. It has been re-published as part of the change in committee management system that we use.*

Drax Community Primary School is a 4 -11 community primary school in the Selby rural area. The school serves families living in the village of Drax. It has a net capacity of 70 places based on an annual published admission number of 10. Pupil numbers have been falling, from 52 on roll in 2013/14 to 12 in 2016/17. The significant recent drop in numbers has increased concerns around the financial sustainability of the school.

In Autumn 2015 the governing body took the decision to request that Drax Community Primary School become a sponsored academy with Ebor Academy Trust alongside Camblesforth CP School. The Academy Order was issued in January 2016 however during the summer term 2016 Ebor Academy Trust imposed a pause on the conversion process due to the falling roll and the projected non-viability of the school. After discussion with Ebor and Department for Education representatives the governing body approached Camblesforth Community Primary School with a proposal for Federation between the two schools. However on 5 September 2016 the governing body of Camblesforth Community Primary School, mindful of the projected pupil numbers, rejected the proposal to federate.

In September 2016 it was confirmed there would be no reception aged pupils entering the school in the current academic year, further exacerbating governing body and local authority concerns about viability. On 14 September 2016 the full governing body resolved unanimously to ask the County Council to consider the future of the school in light of the current pupil numbers and the lack of progress in achieving any alternative structural solutions.

Under the arrangements agreed by Executive on 25 September 2007, school organisation decisions, for which the decision maker is the Local Authority, will normally be taken by the County Council’s Executive or, if there are no objections to the Statutory Notice, the decision is delegated to the Executive Members for Schools.

Publication date: 06/05/2021

Date of decision: 18/10/2016