Two prep schools in Ryedale are to merge to form one school from September this year.

Ampleforth College Junior School and the nearby St Martin's at Nawton, near Helmsley, are combining to form a new school, to be known as St Martin's, Ampleforth.

The new school will be located on the present Ampleforth Junior School site at Gilling Castle and will provide education for boys and girls, aged from three to 13. The combined intake is expected to be 200 pupils.

Stephen Mullen, the present headmaster at St Martin's, will be head of the new school, with Paul Mulvihill, acting headmaster at Ampleforth Junior, becoming deputy head.

School spokesman James Darley said all the staff were being invited to apply for positions at the new school, but he said there would be some job losses.

He said the vast majority would be accommodated and some of the support staff would be offered jobs on the main Ampleforth site.

He said: "We can't offer positions to them all, but for the others there will be fair and generous settlements."

He said the merger was taking place because the schools would be able to offer more facilities and investment.

The St Martin's site will be sold and work is going on to invest £500,000 in the Gilling Castle site.

He said Ampleforth Junior had recently announced its intention to accept girls from 2001 and St Martin's was already co-educational.

Updated: 11:45 Thursday, February 15, 2001