BURNHOLME CLOSURE: Heads across York vow to help those affected (From York Press)

BURNHOLME CLOSURE: Heads across York vow to help those affected

10:22am Tuesday 21st February 2012 in News By Haydn Lewis, Education reporter

In 2009, pupil Lee Wright wrote to The Queen pleading for Burnholme Community College to remain open

HEAD teachers across York have vowed to support those affected by the closure of Burnholme Community College.

If the school were to stay open with 270 pupils, including the planned September intake of 40, it would effectively mean the other eight state secondary schools subsidising Burnholme to the tune of at least £60,000 each, as it would cost £9,500 per pupil to educate a child at Burnholme. The city council would need an extra £580,000 to keep it open, it said last night.

Falling rolls at many of Burnholme’s feeder primaries, along with parents choosing to send their children elsewhere, have contributed to the current situation where a school with a capacity for 600 pupils has only 230 on the roll.

Councillors had hoped the Derwenthorpe development would help create demand for more places, but calculations show that on completion the planned 540-home development would create a need for only about an extra 80 secondary school places, not enough to sustain Burnholme – and the Derwenthorpe development has not yet been completed.

Pete Dwyer, the city council’s director of adults children and education, said the parents of the 40 children going into Year 7 at Burnholme will now get the chance to choose their secondary school options again from schools across the city.

The council has had a commitment from all state secondary school head teachers in York to support the planned closure of Burnholme, including the two nearest secondaries on the east side of the city: Archbishop Holgate’s CE and Huntington.

For pupils travelling to Huntington School from Burnholme’s heartland of Burnholme, Tang Hall and Osbaldwick the distance to school is about 2.9 miles, a car journey of about 11 minutes in good conditions while to Archbishop Holgate’s CE School in Hull Road the distance from Burnholme is about 1.9 miles, a journey of about seven minutes.

Andrew Daly, head teacher at Archbishop Holgate’s, one of the city’s two Academies, said it was a time for the education community and the wider community to pull together.

He said: “We want to be part of the solution for our local community in this desperately sad situation. Burnholme is a really, really good school and we just want to work with everybody at what is a very challenging time.

“We will be working closely with Burnholme and other schools to help find a solution that works for our young people. The York education community is standing together on this.”

Mr Daly said although Archbishop Holgate’s, with about 872 pupils on roll, is full, the school is working to find extra capacity if needed.

John Hattam, chairman of governors, said: “This is inevitably a difficult and unsettling time, but Archbishop Holgate’s is committed to working closely with Burnholme and the local authority.

“Over the coming weeks and months we believe together we can develop positive outcomes for all the students in our local community and support them through this time of change.”

John Tomsett, head teacher at Huntington School, said they have 1,450 pupils on roll with some capacity to take more students and he would like to see a city-wide approach to the issue.

Mr Tomsett said: “The last thing I want is for Burnholme to close – I don’t want that for the students, the parents, the staff or the governing body.

“What other community building is there in that part of the city that fulfills the role of a community hub like Burnholme?

“There isn’t one, but we will do whatever we can as a school to help. Our governing body believe that we have a moral obligation to support whatever happens at Burnholme and to do our share.”

Mr Dwyer said if a closure were agreed the council’s priority would be to make the transition as smooth as possible.

He said: “We must ensure that during the transitional phase the quality of education of the children at Burnholme doesn’t deteriorate and we will be making special arrangements with staff to secure their employment in the longer term and if vacancies do arise we are confident we could fill them.”

Student's campaign

IN 2009, when uncertainty last surrounded the future of Burnholme Community College, a plucky 15-year-old pupil spearheaded a campaign to save his school.

Lee Wright, who was then a pupil at the school and studying for his GCSEs, wrote to the Queen and then Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, asking them to intervene to prevent the possible closure.

Lee also wrote to the then council leader, Andrew Waller, who met with Lee and his friends to discuss the matter further. Burnholme celebrated its 60th anniversary in 2009, and a Facebook campaign was launched to save the school, along with a petition and demonstrations at the school.

The campaign proved a success and on the last day of the summer term there were jubilant scenes at Burnholme as the council lifted the threat of closure and agreed an action plan with the school governors.