A North Yorkshire primary school is set to permanently close its maintained nursery due to falling demand for places.
Due to the temporary suspension of the provision in 2023, there are currently no nursery-age children attending Kettlesing Felliscliffe Community Primary School in Harrogate.
Earlier this year, parents and carers were invited to consult on the future of the facility.
The responses to the consultation all supported the permanent closure of the nursery and no issues or concerns were raised by local families.
North Yorkshire Council’s executive member for education, learning and skills, Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, agreed (Thursday, April 17) during a meeting of the authority’s children’s and young people’s service to support the governing body’s proposal to remove nursery provision at the school.
There has been a reduction of pupil numbers at the nursery for the past five years. In October 2020 there were 17 children attending the nursery whereas this was reduced to nine in October 2022.
The decision will see year groups running from reception to Year 6 for pupils aged four to 11 rather than the current nursery to Year 6 for children aged between three and 11 from September this year.
Cllr Wilkinson said:
This is not a sudden decision or something we take lightly. Demand for the nursery has steadily declined in recent years and currently there are no nursery-aged children enrolled.
Nursery provision at the school was temporarily suspended in September 2023 by the school’s interim executive board after a consultation with families. I would like to thank everyone who took part in another consultation earlier this year about its future.
Based on the feedback received, it seems the sensible thing to do is to permanently change the age range at the school.
Despite the closure of this nursery, families still have access to good early years places within their community for their children which includes flexibility of accessing the provision during the school holidays.
The school’s executive headteacher, Miss Victoria Kirkman said “it’s business as usual” with the years from Reception to Year 6.
Miss Victoria Kirkman said:
We are hugely proud to continue to deliver excellent education to children of statutory school age; sentiments echoed at our recent Ofsted inspection where we were highly praised by inspectors.
