Families and staff rally against school closure

Proposals to close one school and merge others in response to a falling birth rate and spare school places have been met with fierce opposition.

Two weeks ago North Tyneside Council announced it wanted to shut Monkseaton Middle School (MMS) in Whitley Bay but its headteacher, staff, pupils and parents do not think this should happen.

Nearly half the 205 pupils there have special educational needs and disabilities - more than double the national average for a mainstream school.

Parents said they had been "blindsided" by the move and claimed an initial six-week public consultation was not enough.

Sitting with other parents and their children in the school library, Joseph's mum Angela said she had to remove her son from another school for "various reasons" but she added that MMS was the "best decision she had ever made" for him.

"It's nurturing, supportive, the teaching staff are amazing and the children love coming here," she said.

Pupil Eva said she liked the school because the teachers were nice and "understand people with different types of brain".

Another, called Bea, called it "a very kind and safe environment which makes learning easier".

On railings outside the school are hand-drawn posters created by students saying: "Save Our School".

An initial six-week public consultation about the plan to shut MMS and merge six first and primary schools into three is currently under way.

"It's not just about this school, or the others involved, it's about the community," said Caroline Savage, from the parents and carers action group that has been set up.

"If these displaced children are forced into another educational premises it will potentially have a big impact right across the borough.

"The pupil numbers will be overwhelming and they are not going to get the level of education they're entitled to."

But North Tyneside Council said MMS's pupil numbers had dropped by more than a third - down from 333 to 205 - since 2016, due to falling national birth rates.

It added that surplus places there were also expected to increase from the current 40% to 59% by 2033.

However, headteacher Kirsty Nichols-Mackay said the school governors made the decision in 2021 to reduce from a three-form to a two-form entry so they could offer the "personalised learning" on which the school prides itself.

She added MMS has had huge success getting pupils with emotional issues back into the classroom - in the long term saving the tax-payer money by allowing parents to work and not be forced into home schooling.

Vice-chair of governors Jane Lowe said: 'If you think about the operational reality of the school and the numbers of SEND that we have – we're providing excellent value for money."

Both women added that MMS was not one of the 51 maintained schools in the borough which the council said were running in deficit.

The authority said it had received and is considering a request to extend the current public consultation, which is due to end on 13 November.

It added it had "considered many factors before making this proposal".