Burnholme Community College closure sealed

11:00am Wednesday 18th July 2012 in News Photograph of the Author By Mark Stead, Political Reporter

CITY leaders have sealed the fate of a York secondary school which will close for good in two years after being deemed too small to survive.

Burnholme Community College , where only 40 students have applied to go in September, will be wound down to closure by August 2014 after City of York Council ’s cabinet rubber-stamped the move last night.

The authority says keeping it open until 2021 would cost at least £5.2 million. The school will have only 270 pupils out of a potential 600 next year and education bosses said it was “highly unlikely” its roll would be more than 380 by 2020, meaning it would still be “financially unviable”.

Campaigners who handed a 1,996-name petition opposing closure to the council last week fear children’s education will be harmed, students with special educational needs will be affected and community facilities will be lost.

They claimed Burnholme, York’s smallest secondary school, would be needed to cope with population growth in east York.

The phased closure will allow 172 current Year Nine, Ten and 11 students to complete their education at Burnholme, while 114 students in Years Seven and Eight will move to other schools in 2013 and 2014 to begin their GCSEs.

In a statement, the Burnholme Parents’ Action Group said: “The council has used low pupil growth numbers to decide it will cope with a huge increase in demand for secondary places by closing small schools like Burnholme and expanding others, but the cost of this programme and how it will be achieved is unknown – there is no plan.

“The council’s position has remained unchanged throughout consultation and we met with nothing but sympathy and stonewalling from councillors and officials who were determined on closure.

“A Labour administration has decided to close a school providing community-based education and services to one of the most challenged areas of York.

“The group now turns to helping achieve the best outcome from this gamble with children, communities and public money.”

Coun Janet Looker , cabinet member for education, children and young people’s services, said: “Although small can be beautiful, when a secondary school reaches a certain size, it starts to prejudice the quality of education for children.

“Burnholme has offered a good education, but our concerns are its long-term ability to maintain that quality of education when it is going to need such a significant subsidy.

“We are going to work very hard with the community and the school to make sure the next two years is as easy for youngsters and their families as possible.”

Comments(17)

Peteyork says...
9:18pm Tue 17 Jul 12

I am shocked that City of York have decided to close this school, what a short term panic decision, there are many reasons to show that this school will become busier in the near future. Councillors that have made this decision maybe have a more sinister reason for closing this school, perhaps they have been asked nicely if the land could be built on to extend Derwentthorpe!!!

Report this post »

Chrido81 says...
12:16pm Wed 18 Jul 12

How many of the 1,996 people who signed the petition were planning to send their kids to Burnholme then? Ignoring those without kids, and those wearing their rose tinted spectacles, I'll bet a healthy number of people ought to be in that position. So where are they?

Report this post »

lokifromyork says...
12:39pm Wed 18 Jul 12

You are right Peteyork there are other reasons why the CYC are doing this. The plan as far as I can see is 1st, pick some schools that are on the outskirts of the city turn them into Supper schools and invest lots of time and money in them. 2nd underinvest in a school just enough to make people think that they are run down and also to make the cost of revamping them very high in doing so it will raise an eyebrow or two about whether or not it is a good idea to keep it. 3rd make the land worth a lot more for housing. 4th Slowly get the feeder schools to start feeding the other schools so the school in question has a decreasing up take. Then finally leave this situation running for 10 years or so and then hay presto the best thing to do is shut the school which leaves another problem! there is a big empty building with loads of land around it what is going to be done with it in a time where the Council is needing to make savings! and bring in money....

"The way to do what you want with what ever you want is to do it slowly so no one notice or if they do they will not care as it is just a little thing and dose not matter ie staying under the radar until it is to late to be stopped"

Report this post »

taffywilliams says...
12:51pm Wed 18 Jul 12

At the end of the day the cost to run the school outweighs the number of students. Its a no brainer! Shame though as you cannot knock the committment of staff and the welfare of students many of whom other schools simply do not want! The blame should be on other schools not a million miles away who are picky with students to boost their results and attendance figures.

Report this post »

Sawday2 says...
1:46pm Wed 18 Jul 12

lokifromyork wrote:
You are right Peteyork there are other reasons why the CYC are doing this. The plan as far as I can see is 1st, pick some schools that are on the outskirts of the city turn them into Supper schools and invest lots of time and money in them. 2nd underinvest in a school just enough to make people think that they are run down and also to make the cost of revamping them very high in doing so it will raise an eyebrow or two about whether or not it is a good idea to keep it. 3rd make the land worth a lot more for housing. 4th Slowly get the feeder schools to start feeding the other schools so the school in question has a decreasing up take. Then finally leave this situation running for 10 years or so and then hay presto the best thing to do is shut the school which leaves another problem! there is a big empty building with loads of land around it what is going to be done with it in a time where the Council is needing to make savings! and bring in money....

"The way to do what you want with what ever you want is to do it slowly so no one notice or if they do they will not care as it is just a little thing and dose not matter ie staying under the radar until it is to late to be stopped"
Except your argument falls down at the first hurdle as Burnholme received far more investment in latter years than most other York schools.

Report this post »

lokifromyork says...
2:41pm Wed 18 Jul 12

Did it? it dose not show! can I ask what set of figurers you are working from and when where they published? and if I am wrong and the school has had far more investment then the most of the other schools in York why would they shut it as that dose not work on there 10 year time scale for reward v investment....

Report this post »

wayne gorst says...
3:39pm Wed 18 Jul 12

not surprised really when me and my son went there the school looked very run down this is why my lad goes to a different school this council as not really planed for anything for the future its not good to shut any school as once its gone its gone and thats a shame for the local children

Report this post »

R'Marcus says...
4:22pm Wed 18 Jul 12

Peteyork wrote:
I am shocked that City of York have decided to close this school, what a short term panic decision, there are many reasons to show that this school will become busier in the near future. Councillors that have made this decision maybe have a more sinister reason for closing this school, perhaps they have been asked nicely if the land could be built on to extend Derwentthorpe!!!
Shocked?
The school is a failing one.
Parents have voted....by their feet by asking their children to go to other schools in York.
The fact is the cost of maintaining a failing school is a no brainer. Think about Canute and the tide!

Report this post »

taffywilliams says...
5:16pm Wed 18 Jul 12

I beg to differ R'Marcus, it is not a failing school as oFsted reports show. The failing lies within parents chosing other schools over this one which really has sealed its fete! Parents and students should have attended open evenings to see that it is a good school with a very happy ambience with dedicated staff. Also very well maintained inside with good facilities. This school has been let down by the authorities and surrounding parents who think the school has a bad reputation. Mud sticks unfortunately and very unjustified!

Report this post »

big boy york says...
9:05pm Wed 18 Jul 12

yorks labour council the biggest joke since bobby saxton

Report this post »

PKH says...
10:09pm Wed 18 Jul 12

taffywilliams wrote:
I beg to differ R'Marcus, it is not a failing school as oFsted reports show. The failing lies within parents chosing other schools over this one which really has sealed its fete! Parents and students should have attended open evenings to see that it is a good school with a very happy ambience with dedicated staff. Also very well maintained inside with good facilities. This school has been let down by the authorities and surrounding parents who think the school has a bad reputation. Mud sticks unfortunately and very unjustified!
It got a poor ofsted report

Report this post »

lowbeam says...
12:22am Thu 19 Jul 12

I have not read these posts..i have no need to..the findings from the census indicate that as a nation we are growing..we need more schools..

so all this is very pointless..
we need schools full stop.

Report this post »

idlehousewife says...
8:29am Thu 19 Jul 12

I ask the question again; what is happening to the teaching staff?

Report this post »

Stan2Attention says...
9:42am Thu 19 Jul 12

In 2011, the school had the weakest GCSE results of any secondary school in York, as shown in official league tables published by the Department for Education. In May this year, Ofsted gave the school only grade 4 overall - unsatisfactory - and issued an improvement notice. The school could take 600 pupils but has only 300. Other York schools have been subsidising Burnholme's running costs for several years, to the tune of £60,000 per year, per school. Those other schools achieve better results and have had better Ofsted reports - and to cap it all, many parents already choose to send their children to those schools, even when Burnholme is nearer.

Leaving aside the understandable sadness that any closure causes, this is logically the right decision.

Report this post »

Burnholme Parent says...
2:29pm Thu 19 Jul 12

@Stan2Attention - the bar for Ofsted reports has been 'raised' and this will apply to all schools, not just Burnholme. This was confirmed by the council earlier this year when they stated that Burnholme would not get the same high-standard Ofsted report as they received previously. Interesting that they were able to predict this with some certainty prior to Ofsted going in......! I am not sure if Burnholme is the only school to be visited this year, but it certainly seems to be one of the first. So dismissing it on the basis of the Ofsted report is unfounded - lets wait to see how wonderful all the other nearby schools are with the new Ofsted regime. I don't think they will come out smelling of roses.

Interestingly, we will wait to see how the current students of Burnholme vote "with their feet" when they choose which school they wish to switch to in the next couple of years.

Report this post »

R'Marcus says...
5:12pm Thu 19 Jul 12

taffywilliams wrote:
I beg to differ R'Marcus, it is not a failing school as oFsted reports show. The failing lies within parents chosing other schools over this one which really has sealed its fete! Parents and students should have attended open evenings to see that it is a good school with a very happy ambience with dedicated staff. Also very well maintained inside with good facilities. This school has been let down by the authorities and surrounding parents who think the school has a bad reputation. Mud sticks unfortunately and very unjustified!
If it is not a failing school, it would be growing in numbers and the parents would be scambling to enrol their children to join the school.
Clearly, this is not happening, as the school is failing.

Report this post »

Stan2Attention says...
11:41pm Tue 24 Jul 12

Four other York schools have received Ofsted reports and letters so far in 2012: Canon Lee, full report, satisfactory (grade 3); Huntington, full inspection deferred because Ofsted considers it remains "good" (grade 2); Joseph Rowntree, monitoring visit completed - inspector says "the school has made good progress in making improvements"; York High School, full report, good (grade 2).

Report this post »

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree