Government urged to act over sixth form closure

The government should intervene in the planned closure of a school sixth form, a council has said.

In January Synergy Multi Academy Trust (SMAT) announced it was going to shut Sheringham Sixth Form with "great disappointment", due to a take-up of only 50 pupils.

North Norfolk District Council (NNDC) voted unanimously to ask the Department for Education (DfE) to pause and review the decision.

SMAT is set to close the sixth form to new students at the end of this school year.

The trust previously said it needed "at least one hundred students per year group to be financially viable and to offer an appropriate breadth of courses".

The DFE has been asked for comment.

At a full meeting of NNDC, Sheringham North councillor Liz Withington warned closure would create "barriers" for young people to learn.

The Liberal Democrat said a lack of local provision for A-levels meant students would have to travel significantly further afield.

"It would be 60 to 90 minutes each by way of public transport to Norwich or North Walsham or maybe even further, depending on what you wish to study," she said.

"The annual cost of post 16 transport in Norfolk can run into many hundreds of pounds per family…it's prohibitive."

Conservative Angie Fitch-Tillett told the meeting her granddaughter was currently in Year 9 and, as a former teacher, she thought SMAT's plan was "appalling".

"With one stroke of a pen, you are actually destroying any possibility of her moving up and improving and getting the sort of qualification she will need in the future," she said.

At a meeting this week, all members agreed the council should ask SMAT for "a detailed explanation of the financial rationale for closure" and for the DfE to intervene.

They also wanted the department to become involved in the proposed closure of Corpusty Primary School – where pupil numbers have fallen from 103 to 31 over the last decade.

A growing number of schools have been affected by a falling birth rate and Norfolk County Council has said it was working with education leaders to address the impact of changing demographics.

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