After years of ups and down, the Isle of Wight Council has made the final decision to close Chillerton and Rookley Primary School on 31st December.
Cabinet last night (Thursday) decided to publish a public notice ratifying the amalgamation of The Stenbury Federation’s 2 schools — Godshill and Chillerton and Rookley.
Speaking yesterday, cabinet member for education, Cllr Debbie Andre, said it had been a long journey to get to this point but there were now no alternatives, no children at the school and they could not recruit teachers.
She said:
“No one wants to close a school but despite doing everything to keep the school open we have now run out of options.”
Cllr Andre thanked the headteacher and staff of Chillerton and Rookley who supported pupils to the very end; Council officers for their work and the parents and families of the school that stayed.
The number of pupils enrolled at the school has now dwindled to 9, and since January, they have been taught in Godshill due to a lack of a teacher.
The future of the school has been debated since 2021, after The Stenbury Federation asked the Council to merge its 2 schools together due to funding challenges.
The amount of money a school gets each year is linked to how many pupils it has, so falling pupil numbers led to tighter budgets. Over the years, Chillerton and Rookley has now accumulated a deficit of more than £74,000 — equivalent to 1/3 of its annual budget. The staffing costs of the school equate to 3/4 of the school’s budget at more than £194,000.
A decision on the school’s future had been paused since February 2022 as other alternatives were explored but none were successful – leading the authority to come to the same conclusion that closing the school would be the best way forward.
Campaigners had tried to save the school by looking into various options for the school and its building. No decision has yet been made about the long-term use of the building.
First of several I would wager.
Yes best to merge. It will be better for students as it will improve facilities. As well as keeping cost down.
I expect captiva already have plans of what development will cover these prime sites.
What choice did they have?
Can we build a couple of LDs here?