Plea to diocese over Yorkshire's rural schools

Pupils, parents, and supporters at the school in Horton-in-Ribblesdale who are fighting against the closure. Picture: James Hardisty.

Church leaders have been urged to develop a clear vision to restore a healthy balance to Yorkshire Dales communities to attract young families and counter closures of village schools.

Campaigners, who have launched an appeal against a decision to close a 300-year-old school, near Settle, have written to the chair of the Diocese of Leeds Board of Education calling for a new approach to small rural schools. It comes after North Yorkshire County Council’s executive decided to push ahead with plans to shut the tiny Church of England school in Horton-in-Ribblesdale last month.

Kerry Pilkington, from the Friends of Horton School, wrote: “Ask yourself in 10 to 20 years’ time while you take time to walk around the ‘Dales village’, with its rotting school and ageing population – is this the right decision we made back then?

“I look forward to hearing back from you and seeing some new ‘transparency and openness’ and hopefully a vision that will help restore a healthy balance to our ageing Dales communities long term, rather than a ‘quick win’.”

The letter was penned after the Rt Rev Dr Jonathan Gibbs wrote to The Yorkshire Post, explaining the reasons why the diocese supported the closure, including evidence that “it was not in the best interests of the children’s education to keep it open” due to the size of the school, which has just 12 pupils on the roll.

He also called for a wider discussion about the future of rural communities, stating: “If those up-the-Dale villages and their outlying farms are going to survive, then we need to work out what they need in order to do so and we need to make sure they get it.”

However, Mrs Pilkington argued that Horton School was the first of several Dales schools under threat of closure, writing: “surely taking the school out of these communities is a destructive thing to do?”.