A restructure of seven schools in the Yorkshire Dales is underway to ensure they comply with education laws.

Consultation exercises have begun in communities in Wensleydale and Swaledale affected by the proposed changes.

The reorganisation comes after several schools opted to work together to form federations due to falling rolls.

These included the BAWB Federation, made up of Bainbridge, Askrigg and West Burton schools; Reeth and Gunnerside Schools Federation and the Federation of Middleham (VA) & Spennithorne (VC) CE Primary Schools.  The schools then changed their models so that schools catered for a limited range of age groups, rather than all age groups being taught at all schools.

North Yorkshire Council has however received legal advice that pupils must be educated at their registered school, which means models adopted by the federations were not compliant.

The federations were given several options by the council to bring them in line with the law, with the three Dales federations all choosing to change their primary schools into either infant or junior schools.

BAWB governors have decided to make Askrigg a junior school and Bainbridge an infant school, with West Burton, which had already temporarily closed, being permanently shut.

Elsewhere, Reeth and Spennithorne are set to both become infant schools, while Gunnerside and Middleham would be junior schools.

Upper Dales councillor Yvonne Peacock, whose division includes the BAWB and Reeth and Gunnerside schools, said: “The schools have no option but to find a solution and hopefully this is a good solution. I think it can work extremely well. It’s going to be very similar to how the schools currently operate, which means the children will not face disruption.”

A federation running two other primary schools, Follifoot and Spofforth, near Harrogate, is proposing that the primaries stay as two separate schools.
An alternative plan is proposed for Aiskew Leeming Bar and Leeming and Londonderry primary schools, which are run by the Synergy Federation.
This would involve the technical closure of  Leeming and Londonderry and the expansion of Aiskew Leeming onto the former Leeming and Londonderry site.  The new school would then have a combined catchment area from both existing schools.

A North Yorkshire Council report into the changes noted that the structures operated by the five federations were not compliant with the Education Act 1996 and the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024.  It added: “The federated governing boards, including Synergy Federation’s governing board, have undertaken a thorough assessment of the different school organisation options available to them and have made proposals that will achieve or maintain compliance and provide a sustainable basis for the future provision of education within each locality. Where the proposals made require that statutory processes are undertaken, each federated governing boards and council officers agree that it is desirable that the views of the school community and key stakeholders should be sought on the school organisation proposals.”

A consultation on the changes is set to run until November 7, with the council’s executive due to consider the plans in December.