Education Proposals

How to fix the secondary and adult education provision in the Whitby area is subject to much debate. There are clearly many options, but sadly the Whitby Secondary Partnership (WSP) haven’t been willing to analyse these and discuss them publicly, simply pushing option 1 below.

Some things to bear in mind with all options.

  • Closure of any site inevitably leads to selling off of land assets. Whitby has large deficits of green space, and a Local Plan that states very clearly (rule HC14) that no green space should be reclassified (for development) when there is no surplus. Additionally, Whitby finds itself with some of the lowest life expectancies of North Yorkshire, coupled with green space providing significant benefit to mental/physical health, and a new North Yorkshire Council stating that Public Health will have oversight of any issue that impacts on health. Consequently the only real land assets for potential sale are the brownfield parts of the different sites.
  • All schools should have an acceptable Travel Plan, and this includes having 20mph zones outside all schools and in areas of high footfall (NYCC Overview and Scrutiny Committee motion Feb 2023). As a result, changes in schooling mean reassessing the pedestrian, cycling and road aspects of all affected schools, and typically will require transport interventions, and this can be a significant cost factor that should be included in the budgetting for such a decision.
  • A Playing Pitch strategy is required, and if requiring pupils to perform sports at a remote site then travelling time has to be taken into account. A recent UK Government policy requires all children up to year 11 to have 2 hours of sports every week, and equal teams for girls. This will mean that the Playing Pitch strategy may need to change from what it has been for previous years.
  • School renaming implies new uniforms and more expense for parents, so is a net negative.
Here we look at a few proposals and try to outline the main advantages and disadvantages
  1. 11-16 on Normanby site, 16-18 on Scoresby site
  2. 11-16 on Scoresby and Eskdale, 16-18 on Normanby
  3. 11-16 on Scoresby and Eskdale, 16-18 on Scoresby
  4. 11-18 on Scoresby in new-build school
  5. 11-16 on Scoresby, no 16-18

1. 11-16 on Normanby site, 16-18 on Scoresby

In January 2023, the executive headmaster of the Whitby Secondary Partnership wrote to parents saying that the governing board had requested NYCC close Eskdale School and merge with Caedmon College, with the changeover happening by Sept 2024. The core of this proposal is available on the NYCC website. In short this proposal would be to

  • close Eskdale School, with land passed back to NYCC for unknown use.
  • move all (or the vast majority of) 11-16 to the Normanby site, with sports held at the Scoresby site more often than not, since the Normanby site has little greenspace for sports.
  • retain 16-18 on the Scoresby site, and develop the options for pupils to try to retain more pupils. Note that the same was said in 2019 at Federation, and numbers went down.
  • rename the school and develop a brand.
Comments
  • POSITIVE : Stable educational platform through to GCSEs.
  • NEGATIVE : No choice of school for 11-16.
  • NEUTRAL : More pupils per class. Better for finances, worse for pupil attention.
  • NEGATIVE : Sports activities would take maybe 20mins to get to the Scoresby site, and 20 mins to return, hence the actual time for activity is cut short. This would not fit in with the recent UK Gov edict to have at least 2 hours sports up to year 11.
  • This would involve around 500 pupils walking across Whitby New Bridge to get to school (40mph). The 20mph requirement would mean that New Bridge would need to be 20mph, as would a section of Mayfield Road. There are inadequate crossing facilities on Mayfield Road so that would need an intervention also. With the current 600 pupils on the Normanby site there are major traffic issues on the busiest incoming road to Whitby with coaches parking on the highway (no way to enter the school), and with parents parking around all surrounding estates to drop off / pick up pupils. This would get much worse with 1000 pupils, so we do not see how this would be viable from a transport perspective without major interventions.
  • Any attempt to sell off the Eskdale green space, contrary to Local Plan and Public Health advice, would mean that rather than having a 3ha deficit of sports green space, Whitby would then have a 5.4ha deficit (assuming Fishburn Park pitch and 3G pitch were retained). It would also kill off any idea that the new North Yorkshire Council was going to have locality at its heart, listening to local people’s needs.

2. 11-16 on Scoresby and Eskdale, 16-18 on Normanby

An alternative proposal worthy of consideration would be to

  • retain Eskdale School as-is, for 11-16, since it has a small amount of space for extra pupils, and is currently having a large amount of residential constructed around it. It has space suitable for expansion should this be necessary.
  • move all 11-16 from Caedmon College Normanby to Caedmon College Scoresby, but expand the teaching facilities to cater for more pupils to fit them in (621 pupils with 525 capacity currently). This is the largest available site so, if any site should be expanded, this is it.
  • locate the 16-18 capability at the Caedmon College Normanby site. This is by far and away the least adaptable site. It could provide the basis for a much expanded technical college (due to the wealth of buildings available), and in turn retain a much greater percentage of children in the town. Should it need to be downsized due to limited retention possibilities then areas can be sold off, or an amount of one playing field be provided as a free-to-access playing field for the Mayfield area, something that it currently lacks (due to poor urban planning, and years of SBC building on green space).
Comments
  • POSITIVE : Stable educational platform through to GCSEs.
  • POSITIVE : Choice of school for 11-16.
  • POSITIVE : Travel time is minimised.
  • POSITIVE : Excess capacity better utilised for 11-16s.
  • NEGATIVE : Requires some development of the Scoresby site to add capacity for 11-16
  • NEGATIVE : 16-18 totally dependent on providing a better offering, and should it not be possible then close the Normanby site.
  • 20mph would be needed outside Eskdale, East Whitby Primary, Scoresby and Normanby sites. Better crossing on Mayfield Road.

3. 11-16 on Scoresby and Eskdale, 16-18 on Scoresby

An alternative proposal worthy of consideration, as a slight variation on Proposal 2 would be to

  • retain Eskdale School as-is, for 11-16, since it has a small amount of space for extra pupils, and is currently having a large amount of residential constructed around it. It has space suitable for expansion should this be necessary.
  • move all 11-16 from Caedmon College Normanby to Caedmon College Scoresby, but expand the teaching facilities to cater for more pupils to fit them in (621 pupils with 525 capacity currently). This is the largest available site so, if any site should be expanded, this is it.
  • locate the 16-18 capability also at the Caedmon College Scoresby site, since the site is of significant size to permit this.
  • sell off the Caedmon College Normanby site, since it is the most central site, and hence likely the most valuable in a purely monetary sense.
Comments
  • POSITIVE : Stable educational platform through to GCSEs.
  • POSITIVE : Choice of school for 11-16.
  • POSITIVE : Travel time is minimised.
  • NEGATIVE : Requires significant development of the Scoresby site to add capacity for 11-16 and 16-18
  • 20mph would be needed outside Eskdale, East Whitby Primary, Scoresby sites. Better crossing on Mayfield Road.
  • Any attempt to sell off the Normanby green space, contrary to Local Plan and Public Health advice, would mean that rather than having a 3ha deficit of sports green space, Whitby would then have a 4.2ha deficit. It would also kill off any idea that the new North Yorkshire Council was going to have locality at its heart, listening to local people’s needs.

4. 11-18 on Scoresby in new-build school

Whitby has not had a new school for 60 years. During those 60 years there has been no significant investment in education in this town, just a continual downgrading of the secondary schools. Having a single purpose-built school would cost the order of £30m, but would solve the particular problems that are present, and would also have a school that would guarantee the educational needs for the next 60 years. At least 1 NYCC councillor seems interested in this option. Such a school could be located on the largest available site, the Scoresby site, and could be constructed whilst utilising the existing Eskdale and Caedmon Normanby sites.

Comments

  • NEGATIVE : Requires significant funding.
  • NEGATIVE : No choice of school for 11-16.
  • POSITIVE : Much improved facilities and prospect of resolving many of the existing problems.
  • 20mph would be needed outside East Whitby Primary, Scoresby sites. Better crossing on Mayfield Road.
  • Any attempt to sell off the Eskdale and Normanby green space, contrary to Local Plan and Public Health advice, would mean that rather than having a 3ha deficit of sports green space, Whitby would then have a 6.6ha deficit. It would also kill off any idea that the new North Yorkshire Council was going to have locality at its heart, listening to local people’s needs.

5. 11-16 on Eskdale and Scoresby, no 16-18

A variation on Proposal 3 would be to

  • retain Eskdale School as-is, for 11-16, since it has a small amount of space for extra pupils, and is currently having a large amount of residential constructed around it. It has space suitable for expansion should this be necessary.
  • move all 11-16 from Caedmon College Normanby to Caedmon College Scoresby, but expand the site and teaching facilities to cater for more pupils to fit them in (621 pupils with 525 capacity currently). This is the largest available site so, if any site should be expanded, this is it.
  • drop the 16-18 capability.
  • sell off the Caedmon College Normanby site, since it is the most central site, and hence likely the most valuable in a purely monetary sense.
Comments
  • POSITIVE : Stable educational platform through to GCSEs.
  • POSITIVE : Choice of school for 11-16.
  • POSITIVE : Travel time is minimised.
  • NEGATIVE : Requires development of the Scoresby site to add capacity for 11-16
  • NEGATIVE : No 16-18 provision in Whitby, and some pupils would struggle with having to travel to school in Scarborough, Guisborough etc.
  • 20mph would be needed outside Eskdale, East Whitby Primary, Scoresby sites. Better crossing on Mayfield Road.
  • Any attempt to sell off the Normanby green space, contrary to Local Plan and Public Health advice, would mean that rather than having a 3ha deficit of sports green space, Whitby would then have a 4.2ha deficit. It would also kill off any idea that the new North Yorkshire Council was going to have locality at its heart, listening to local people’s needs.
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