Very undersubscribed school

[ChocHotolate]

I'm looking at primary schools for my daughter. A school we like has only 12 children in reception (PAN 30) and other years have a similar number of children. Our borough closed a primary school a few years ago due to lack of children. Would this worry you? I know number of children equal funding. It's a Catholic primary if that makes a difference

Yes it would worry me a bit and I discounted 2 local schools for this exact reason. They will almost certainly have to go to mixed age classes if they haven’t already which is something I’m not keen on personally (though plenty of children have no problem with it). Plus of course risk of closure longer term.

I don't know what the procedure is for closing a church school - it might be a little less likely.

What's the local population doing? Generally, numbers are falling, but if there has been a lot of building in the area then that usually means a bulge in primary school numbers (people tend to move as they expand their family, so a lot of new occupants will have older children reaching school age). If an increase is expected, things will pick up, and they won't close a school and risk not then having capacity they need. (I also know of small schools near barracks being kept open, as sometimes that can cause an influx for which some spare capacity is needed.)

We have a CofE school near us like this, and we have just had a tour from the head.

She told us that church schools are harder to close (several LA ones have locally), but there must come a point where they’re not viable.

We’ve discounted it because of the funding issues. They’re funded per pupil not per class, so if they’re really undersubscribed they Have no wiggle room in the budget at all, or combine classes as PP says.

Also, as this school is tiny it has a local reputation for being ‘nurturing’ for kids who are only just coping in mainstream. So high needs + low resources is a fairly tricky mix!

What are the demographics in the area?

I live in the middle of nowhere and the 4 nearest primary schools have less than 40 pupils, all in mixed age classes. Pupil numbers where I am are the result of an elderly population (so few families and children).

It's great for my 3dc who get taught in classes of 12 or less. The school's able to attract better teachers due to the small class sizes and lower workload, staff turnover is low. Socially it's good for them and good use of teaching assistants and lesson structure means the kids make good progress academically.

But if you're looking at a school with low numbers due to poor performance and unhappy parents/children that's totally different.

Yes I would be worried. I would expect it to close or merge with another school very shortly.

I have lost count of the number of primary schools in my area, mostly church I think, which have shut or merged over the last few years.

This school sounds great but I cannot see how it is getting by financially. Schools which are full are struggling and cutting things like TAs to save money. 12 in a class means they are receiving less than half the funding of a school with 30 in a class as funding is per pupil. The teacher will be paid the same and that’s where most of the money goes. In the next couple of years I’d imagine they’ll have to cut TAs and start having 2-3 years per class as 12 per class isn’t viable long term.

I think the population is aging. It's quite central to London & the combination of Brexit and covid has lead to lots of families leaving the area. It's a shame as it's a really lovely school with a big emphasis on the arts

From The Standard

https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/london-schools-covid-brexit-spiralling-costs-young-families-renting-crisis-b1077651.html#:~:text=The%20nearby%20borough%20of%20Camden,might%20have%20to%20follow%20suit.

RC schools closing round us… not hard to shut. Find the council place planning report - it will give you a much better sense of what is going on.

This is relhaly interesting. I work in education and am always surprised how many small rural schools there are round here but have never known one to close. I can think of 10 schools in a perhaps a 15 mile radius with under 100 pupils, most with closer to 60 or 70.

@Kaloopo I wonder if there is a difference between small schools in an urban area were there are other schools within a short travelling distance? If a Catholic school closes the other local Catholic schools usually have spare capacity to take the children so the church dues carry on providing a Catholic education. no Transport is needed, from the local authority anyway! In the case of rural ache I suppose if a village school is closed then the local authority has to start thinking of transport?