Two rural village schools are consulting on forming an official federation partnership to help remain sustainable and offer increased opportunities for staff and pupils.
Both Lythe C of E Primary and Goathland Primary schools already operate under a shared leadership agreement, but have worked even more closely since April last year – and the appointment of headteacher Andrew Wood who is at the helm of both schools and splits his working week across them.
Now the schools want to make the joint working a formal arrangement. A six week consultation began last Monday, which provides parents, carers, staff, governors and members of the wider school communities in Lythe and Goathland with the opportunity to learn more about the proposed federation and share views.
It means the governing bodies of Lythe and Goathland schools will be dissolved and a new single governing body created. Both schools will remain under the authority of North Yorkshire Council and Lythe will also still remain a C of E school.
The Federation proposal says applications for places at each school will remain separate and school funding allocations and budgets will also remain separate.
There will be no major changes to the day to day running of both schools, Mr Wood told The Anchor.
He said: “Parents won’t see a difference in the day to day running of the schools other than the letter head might have another logo on. Nothing will change, other than it will create more opportunities for both the schools and children.
“What is really important is the schools will keep their own identity and uniqueness. Both schools are fantastic schools in their own ways but this will help them share expertise, help develop staff and give the children the best opportunities.”
At their respective recent Ofsted inspections, both Lythe C of E and Goathland schools were rated good. Consultation documents say the merger will allow them to build on arrangements where they share staff, skills, resources.
It also creates opportunities for children to meet other pupils from outside their villages.
This is especially important as Goathland Primary has just 20 pupils and caters for pupils aged from three to 11. There are 83 children at Lythe school from the reception class through to year six.
Mr Wood said: “Coming from smaller and rural schools can be isolating at times. The more people the children can meet before moving to secondary school the easier that move will be for them.”
With small, rural schools increasingly being forced to merge or close down, the merger will help make both more sustainable. Both schools could accommodate more pupils but have attracted extra pupils in recent years, and just last week prospective new parents were shown around Goathland.
Mr Wood added: “The key part of it is to secure the future of the schools as schools are so important to communities. The children are amazing at both schools, they are like sponges and love to learn.
“I am a big advocate of small schools. Each child is known by every member of staff at both schools and we have a family feel and that won’t change going forward.”
The consultation runs for a further five weeks and the responses will be evaluated. If there are no significant objections, the next stage is to form the governing body with a view to the federation being effective from January 4.
