This meeting is about the potential closure of Monkseaton High School in 2026. The school is not taking in new pupils in Year 9 this year, and the council will help current Year 9 pupils move to other schools. The report pack sets out the reasons for the closure, and explains the timeline for the planned closure.

Proposed closure of Monkseaton High School

The report pack contains the results of the recent pre-publication and representation period consultations on the proposal to close Monkseaton High School. It proposes that the school will close in 2026 and contains a number of appendices that describe how the closure will be managed.

It contains details of an extraordinary in-year admissions process for the current Year 9 pupils that will take place in January 2025. This process will support pupils to move from Monkseaton High School at the end of the 2024-25 academic year to one of the following secondary schools for the 2025-26 academic year:

• Burnside College
• Churchill Community College
• George Stephenson High School
• John Spence Community High School
• Kings Priory School
• Longbenton High School
• Marden High School
• Norham High School
• North Gosforth Academy
• St Thomas More Catholic High School
• Whitley Bay High School

It also contains the details of an extraordinary admissions process that will take place to help the current Year 8 pupils at middle schools in the North-East Planning Area (NEPA) make their Year 9 school place choices for the 2025-26 academic year.

The report says that the school is no longer viable for a number of reasons.

Under section 15 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006, the Authority believes the closure of Monkseaton High School is considered necessary on the basis that it is no longer viable.

The report pack says that the school has a significant financial deficit.

Monkseaton High School has a significant financial deficit, currently over £5m, which is projected to increase to over £7 million by 2027.

It says that the number of pupils attending the school is lower than the number the school was designed for.

Declining pupil numbers and lower birth rates mean that the school is operating at just over 50% of its capacity.

It suggests that parental choice is a major factor in the school's decline.

While parental choice plays a significant role in this decline, with only one in five current pupils coming from the local community, there has also been changes to the local demographics and an overall decrease in pupils in the catchment area.

It says that the school is more expensive to maintain than other schools.

The financial position is made more challenging by higher than average building running costs, maintenance and changes to Government funding.

It says that the council has tried, and failed, to find other ways to keep the school open.

The Authority has explored every viable option available to avoid the closure of the school.

The report pack contains the Delegated Decision Report - Strategic Education Review Update Nov 6 2024 that was used to begin the representation period consultation.

The report pack contains the Pre-Publication Consultation Outcomes from the pre-publication consultation on the proposed closure of Monkseaton High School. It summarises what people said during the pre-publication consultation period, listing the themes that arose from their comments. It says that:

During the period of pre-publication consultation, no viable alternatives or options were presented, though all were carefully considered.

The report pack also contains the Responses to Pre-consultation Survey Question 2, and a document containing the full Responses to Representation Period. Both of these documents list some of the ideas that people have suggested as possible ways to keep the school open.

The report pack contains the Strategic Education Review Update Dec 19 2024 Statutory Representation Consultation Out, that summarises the comments that people made during the representation period. It lists the most commonly occurring themes, and how many people commented on them. For example:

Impact on pupil and staff wellbeing 30

Perceived lack of a detailed plan 30

Critical of consultation process 25

The Cabinet Report - Strategic Education Review Update Dec 19th 2024 lists the statutory factors that the council had to consider during the consultation process, and refers to the published guidance for councils on closing schools.

In determining this matter Cabinet must have regard to the statutory decision makers guidance which is contained within the Department of Education’s document entitled “Opening and closing maintained schools: Statutory Guidance for proposers and decision makers” (January 2023).

Date and time of next meeting

The next meeting of the Cabinet will be on Monday 20 January 2025 at 6pm.