'England's Smallest School' Bleasdale Primary to Close

[6Foot2]

Link: 'England's smallest school' Bleasdale Primary to close [bBC News]

 

 

A primary school said to be the smallest in England is closing after it was left with just two pupils.

 

Bleasdale Church of England Primary in the Forest of Bowland near Preston is shutting its doors after 180 years on Tuesday.

 

Lancashire County Council said it had decided it was no longer financially viable after one of the pupils was leaving to go to secondary school.

 

The head teacher said it was "very sad" as it was "the core of the community"...

[Wubbalubbadub]

Don't see any reason for it to not shut... Two students, one of which is moving to secondary. Surprised it wasn't shut down earlier!

[Edu-IT]

“Associate head teacher David Fann said there was "shock and numbness" amongst the school's seven staff at its pending closure on the last day of the summer term.”

 

Shocked that a school with 1 pupil, out of a possible 60, is closing because it’s not financially viable?

 

“Bleasdale Church of England Primary School has seen a reduction in the number of pupils on roll from 16 in January 2014 to 2 in September 2018. There are no pupils in Reception, Year 1, Year 2 or Year 3 and there were no admissions to the school in September 2018.”

Edited July 21, 2019 by Edu-IT

[smurfomatic]

“Associate head teacher David Fann said there was "shock and numbness" amongst the school's seven staff at its pending closure on the last day of the summer term.”

 

Shocked that a school with 1 pupil, out of a possible 60, is closing because it’s not financially viable?

 

I'm amazed that a school with 2 pupils has 7 staff - must be the best pupil to staff ratio in the country!

[strawberry]

8 staff, 6 teachers and administator and a site manager. Wonder how many TLR's

[JordanT91]

8 staff, 6 teachers and administator and a site manager. Wonder how many TLR's

 

I'm not sure how that can be justified. Kielder First School in Northumberland has 12 pupils and 5 staff (Headteacher, TA & Cook, TA, Administrator, and Site Manager.) Holy Island C of E First School, also in Northumberland, has just 1 pupil at the moment so I'm not sure how true the news article is. Holy Island does share with a mainland school so this may be why (they only attend the Island school when the tide is in).