Northamptonshire primary school to close after cabinet vote

A Northamptonshire primary school will close its doors permanently after a vote from the county council's cabinet.

Great Creaton Primary School will close on December 31 after the cabinet vote this afternoon (September 11) at One Angel Square. Parents and residents of the village cried ‘disgrace’ as they left the meeting following the decision.

The county council says the decision is based upon ‘the low and decreasing number of pupils on roll at the school and the impact that this has had on the school’s ability to effectively deliver the curriculum to pupils’.

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The school currently only has three pupils on the books, but campaigners say this is due to the consultation on closure, which they said they feared was a ‘done deal’. It had 20 students as recently as June.

Campaigners also say they have case studies provided by the NASS (National Association for Small Schools) that shows that schools even smaller than Great Creaton was at the time the consultation was started ‘can achieve great things under competent leadership’.

Councillor Victoria Perry, the cabinet member for education, said that the lack of numbers at the school would present safeguarding issues and affect the delivery of the curriculum.

She added that LGSS Law services had held an investigation into the consultation period, and ruled that it had followed due process.

Parents argued that the council had ‘stood back and willingly allowed Creaton parents to spend a considerable amount of their own money on a predetermined lost cause’.