‘Imagine how much this is hurting us’: Yorkshire mother tells of fears for children if school closes

A mother whose children attend an under-threat school fought back tears as she told councillors she’ll have to reluctantly home educate them if it shuts.

Beth Ford’s two youngest children go to Queensway Primary School in Yeadon, which Leeds City Council is considering closing because of a shortage of pupil numbers in the area.

Parents, governors and staff connected with school are all fighting against the plans, claiming that pupils’ lives and education will be severely disrupted as a result.

Around 40 children have already been pulled out of the school in the last two months because of the uncertainty, a local community committee meeting was told on Monday.

Campaigners linked to Queensway Primary School in Yeadon are fighting against the Labour-run city council’s plans to shut it, amid a shortage of school-aged children in the area.

The school was rated ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted in June 2022, but parents and governors have praised the way Queensway looks after special needs pupils.

Ms Ford, who is also a governor at Queensway, has a daughter in Year 3 at the school and a son in Year 5.

Her daughter is autistic, while her son is awaiting a possible diagnosis for the same condition.

In an emotional address to councillors from Leeds’ outer north-west ring, Ms Ford said: “I will be one of the parents looking at home education, even though I don’t want to home educate.

“None of the other schools in the area can meet my children’s needs. I have gone to them.

“I’m not just someone who looks to go to Queensway because it’s my local school. I’ve no option but to go to Queensway.”

Queensway’s chair of governors, Peter Marsh, accused the council of “incompetence” in how the affair had been handled, claiming the school had had no “forewarning” of the local authority’s plans.

Councillors on the community committee, which covers Otley, Yeadon, Guiseley, Rawdon, Horsforth, Adel and Wharfedale, later passed a motion calling for the consultation on the closure to be withdrawn, until the issues raised by governors have been answered.

They also called on the council’s executive member for education, Councillor Jonathan Pryor, to apologise for the disruption caused by the process.

In response, a spokesperson for Leeds City Council said: “Due to a significant and continued fall in the number of children being born in Guiseley and Yeadon, primary schools in this area are now facing continued lower demand for places.

“In order for the schools to remain financially stable and continue to meet the learning needs of their children, there needs to be a reduction in the number of available places.

“We have explored alternative options to reduce the number of school places in the area, but unfortunately the only way we can manage numbers is to consider the closure of a maintained school.

“Over the last few years, there has been a decline in families in the area preferencing Queensway Primary School, and there are currently a high number of surplus places at the school.”

A further debate on Queensway’s future will take place at a full council meeting on Wednesday afternoon, with Otley and Yeadon councillor Ryk Downes (Liberal Democrat) presenting a motion calling for the school to be saved.