Education
Everything in this concern comes under the NYC Portfolio of Education, Learning and Skills, Cllr Annabel Wilkinson.
Whitby and District has a range of primary and secondary educational establishments. These are shown on the following map (yellow signifies a primary school, and red a secondary school). The Whitby district boundary is also marked (orange) as a guide to secondary catchment area. In terms of attainment, Whitby is rated as a “small town” and as having “higher deprivation”, with an attainment of +0.2 (0 is the average for England), whilst Scarborough is a “medium-sized town” and as having “higher deprivation”, but with an attainment of -1.7. You can read more of this on this link from the ONS.
Primary Education
Whitby and District has a range of primary schools to choose from. To give an idea of the current primary schools situation in this area, we have extracted the following (September 2023) from the UK Government website (note that these numbers may not be totally up to date since they are dependent on reporting to UK Government by schools).
| School | Age | Pupils | Places | % Subscribed | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fyling Hall School | 04-18 | 163 | 200 | 81.50 | Independent school |
| Airy Hill Primary School | 02-11 | 195 | 210 | 92.86 | Multi-academy trust |
| Castleton Primary School | 05-11 | 52 | 56 | 92.86 | Multi-academy trust |
| Danby CofE School | 05-11 | 46 | 70 | 65.71 | Voluntary aided school |
| East Whitby Primary Academy | 02-11 | 212 | 315 | 67.30 | Multi-academy trust |
| Egton CofE Primary School | 04-11 | 44 | 56 | 78.57 | Voluntary aided school |
| Fylingdales CofE Primary School | 04-11 | 69 | 112 | 61.61 | Federation |
| Glaisdale Primary School | 04-11 | 26 | 56 | 46.43 | Multi-academy trust |
| Goathland Primary School | 04-11 | 23 | 49 | 46.94 | Community school |
| Hawsker Cum Stainsacre CofE Primary School | 05-11 | 41 | 84 | 48.81 | Federation |
| Lealholm Primary School | 05-11 | 33 | 56 | 58.93 | Multi-academy trust |
| Lythe CofE Primary School | 03-11 | 75 | 105 | 71.43 | Voluntary controlled school |
| Oakridge Primary School (Hinderwell) | 03-11 | 40 | 42 | 95.24 | Community school |
| Ruswarp CofE Primary School | 04-11 | 50 | 105 | 47.62 | Voluntary controlled school |
| Sleights CofE Primary School | 02-11 | 106 | 105 | 100.95 | Voluntary controlled school |
| St Hedda’s Catholic Primary School (Egton) | 04-11 | 17 | 51 | 33.33 | Multi-academy trust |
| Seton Primary School (Staithes) | 03-11 | 63 | 105 | 60.00 | Community school |
| Stakesby Primary Academy | 02-11 | 194 | 210 | 92.38 | Multi-academy trust |
| West Cliff Primary School | 02-11 | 215 | 210 | 102.38 | Multi-academy trust |
| Moorland Waldorf School | 02-11 | 17 | 76 | 22.37 | Independent school |
In accordance with our transparency policy, this table is downloadable in spreadsheet format.
Secondary Education
Whitby and District currently has 1 secondary school (and 1 private school) to “choose” from. To give an idea of the current secondary schools situation in this area, we have extracted the following (September 2024) from the UK Government website (note that the numbers for Whitby School are obtained directly from the school, but why they have not updated the DfE figures you’d have to ask those schools). Please note that we are assuming that Airy Hill site (lower school) has 552 capacity, based on when it was listed as Caedmon School; if it has had changes since, we would need to see a revised number, so if you have that information, please let us know.
| School | Age | Pupils | Places | % Subscribed | Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Whitby School | 11-18 | 1064 | 1539 | 54.06 | Comunity School |
| Fyling Hall School | 04-18 | 163 | 200 | 81.50 | Independent school |
In accordance with our transparency policy, this table is downloadable in spreadsheet format.
In terms of history, for many years Whitby had a system of 2 schools (Eskdale and Caedmon) for 11-14 age groups, and then Whitby School (Whitby Grammar School, Whitby Community College) for 14-18. This split failed in other parts of the country, as well as more locally in Scarborough and Northallerton. Whitby School and Caedmon School merged to become Caedmon College and eventually moved to a 11-16/16-18 split, whilst Eskdale also moved to 11-16. In September 2024, Caedmon College and Eskdale School merged to become Whitby School once more, though on 2 sites – Airy Hill site and Prospect Hill site.
At Dec 2022, whilst Eskdale School was currently reasonably well subscribed, with a margin for new pupils (particularly important given the amount of housing development taking place around the school – 500 new homes), Caedmon College (11-16) was only 65.5% subscribed, and Caedmon College (16-18) was worse still at 24.6% subscribed! This was the legacy of the many years when these operated as 11-14 schools, as well as the general housing problems causing issues with retention of young people. At the point of deciding on A-level courses, Caedmon College was losing around 65% of pupils, who get their education outside of the town largely due to absence of a course that they desire.
Looking at the pupil numbers at each site there clearly are problems to resolve, largely based around providing school sites that are suitable for 11-16 and 16+, and why the current 16+ offering is failing local young people. Making a reasoned proposal would ideally require projected numbers of pupils per year for the town as a whole to see if there are any dips/rises in future years to allow for; sadly this is not currently available to us due to lack of transparency.
The following chart shows how well the 3 secondary schools in Whitby had been subscribed since 2010.
Clearly there are issues with the sixth form subscription, with many pupils now opting to go further afield for A-level education; when the YNY LEP state that “Average travel to learn times in North Yorkshire are 40% higher than for the comparator area of West Yorkshire” you can see that very clearly in the Whitby and District area, with many going to Scarborough, Guisborough etc adding an extra hour travel time at the start and end of the day! The rise in Eskdale numbers (and fall in Caedmon numbers) around 2017 were due to the move to 11-16 from 11-14; clearly the capacity of Eskdale School increased at that time also.
Regarding the 16-18 education subscription levels, in 2019 we had Caedmon College and Eskdale forming a Federation, and there being statements like Sir Martin Narey of North Yorkshire Coast Opportunity Area stating “… But nothing has been more important than ensuring that Whitby has a top class sixth form. I am delighted by the outstanding cooperation between Eskdale’s and Caedmon’s governing bodies and heads, working to bring the two schools together in this way. To ensure the new sixth form is able to match the ambitions of both schools for their students, I’m delighted that the Opportunity Area budget will be used to contribute to a major redevelopment of the new sixth form“. Needless to say that was an utter failure, and pupil numbers in the sixth form fell even more. What happened to that funding and why is the management of Whitby Secondary Partnership not capable of providing adequate sixth form opportunities?
In terms the impact of new housing on pupil numbers, the pupil numbers per new residence used by NYCC are (as of 2022) 0.13 secondary school pupils per residence, and 0.25 primary school pupils per residence. These numbers can then be utilised in projecting pupil numbers from any new housing developments. A simple example is taking the new housing from Broomfield Farm (Phase 1 + Phase 2 + NetZero Village) + Green Lane = 600 homes, so that equates to the order of 150 new primary school pupils, and 78 new secondary school pupils.
The following chart shows the forecast numbers of pupils in the 3 secondary schools in Whitby (prediction from start of 2023).
A bit more about the three secondary schools (2022) in the Whitby TTWA.
- Caedmon College Scoresby site was the largest and built in the 1960s, with around 9.0ha of space of which 7.1ha is for sports (tennis courts, sports hall, all weather pitch, and an array of sports facilities), and full road access for coaches. Large potential to expand due to the amount of land available.
- Eskdale School site was the second largest and built in the 1950s, with around 7.5ha of space of which 6.0ha is for sports (3G pitch, Fishburn park pitch etc), full road access for coaches, as well as the possibility of (limited) expansion. Surrounded by residential so ideal location for a school.
- Caedmon College Normanby site was the smallest and oldest (1912), with around 4.5ha of space of which 2.3ha is for sports (sports hall, tennis courts, and limited sports fields), listed school building, but no play area, and no road access for coaches.
The Eskdale site comprises 1.75ha of buildings, car parking and playground, and 5.75ha of green space. The green space includes a 3G pitch, and the Fishburn Park pitch (assumed to come under the deeds). In terms of the specifics of the Eskdale School land, the map adjacent shows the land registry portions. The area outlined in blue (3G pitch,
plus car park and changing rooms) cannot be sold off without written consent by the Football Foundation.
Secondary School Amalgamation 2023-2024
In January 2023, Whitby Secondary Partnership sent out a proposal to amalgamate Caedmon College and Eskdale School, effectively closing Eskdale School. On 30th January 2023 NYCC posted the proposal from Whitby Secondary Partnership on its website. The effective date for this proposal was then put back to 1st September 2024, which provided more acclimatisation time should a change be made, but still does not open the consultation out to other options. On 7th
February the NYCC Executive Councillor for Education approved the proposal, and it went ahead to consultation between 20th February until 31st March. The consultation results have been published here. On 18 April, NYCC announce the decision to approve the move of the proposal to the next stage. Between 27th April and 25th May there will be a second consultation. On 20th June, the final NYCC decision on the overall proposal will be announced.
In terms of the scope of the proposal, considering children already at secondary school, this decision will impact on the education of currently 1053 pupils aged 11-16, and 136 pupils aged 16-18 (numbers from the proposal document). The proposal is seemingly based around split-site 11-16, with sixth form remaining at the Caedmon College Scoresby site. As is known, “split-site schooling” does not work so pupils in an academic year should always be doing all of their studying at a single site (as should teachers, unless they have adequate time to get across sites); there are ample anecdotes from the current Caedmon College set-up where teachers turn up 20 mins late due to having a class on the other site just before with no space in their timetable to get across), so it is peculiar that this is the suggested option. From a transport perspective it similarly made no sense, choosing the worst positioned school to house around 1000 pupils, and not performing a transport intervention assessment to understand the costs required to implement a satisfactory School Travel Plan.
On 20th June, the NYC Executive gave the green light to this proposal, against all objections, largely ignoring the very valid points made, with Whitby Secondary Partnership refusing to enter into conversation about the proposal or the other options.
In terms of one of the consequences of this decision, as can be seen from the Green Space analysis, Whitby already has a large deficit in green space due to years of neglect by Scarborough Borough Council (SBC), continually eroding the available space. With the closure of Eskdale School we currently presume that the 3G pitch (0.75ha) and Fishburn Park (0.75ha) pitch would remain, however the remaining playing field area will likely be lost. This would mean that the Eskdale School playing field area, rather than being 6.0ha currently, would drop to 1.5ha. When we scale that for the TTWA that means 0.8ha in the table on the Green Space page for Eskdale School (and 0.6ha for accessible area). The resultant Sports subtotal numbers then become 17.4ha (from 19.8ha), and 13.0ha (from 14.8ha). This means that instead of having a 3.0ha deficit of Sports green space, we would then have a deficit of 5.4ha. And taking into account accessibility of green space, instead of having a deficit of 7.7ha of Sports green space, we would then have a deficit of 9.5ha. Clearly this also directly impacts on SBC’s desire to bury people on Larpool Playing Field, since there’d then be even less green space (whether public access, or school access) on east side. That would mean having the order of 1700 houses in the Helredale/Eskdale area with just a 3G pitch to use (not free-to-use access) and maybe access to Fishburn Park’s pitch. No pronouncements from NYCC yet on what they plan on doing to fix the problems with Whitby green space.
Adult Education
NYC (when called NYCC) used to offer a large range of adult education classes in the Whitby and District area (under the “evening institute” branding, maybe 20-30 yrs ago). You can find their current offerings in Whitby on this link. When checked in October 2022, and again in June 2023, that search was giving precisely 0 results.
NYC have recently been trying to add further offerings for adults, and in August 2023 provided a survey for people to define what types of courses they would like to see. Their current courses (as of Sept 2023) in Whitby Library are now included in this booklet.
Bearing in mind that NYC aim to have people using cars 48% less by 2030, we feel that it is essential that a full range of adult education offerings are provided in some form to residents in the Whitby and District area, which is what we will continue to push for.