Bath and North East Somerset Council’s cabinet members have signed off the formal closure of Camerton School which only seven children on the books.
Paul May, B&NES Council’s Cabinet member for Children and Young People, said it was a “sad day”, but that Camerton Church School was no longer viable, either financially or educationally. The children from different year groups were being taught in a single class by one teacher, but are now at its sister school in Shoscombe and can formally transfer there.
Cllr May told Wednesday’s Cabinet meeting: “It’s always sad seeing a school that’s served the community for so many years close. It tried really hard. There are good people who worked in that school for years and years who are heartbroken. The simple fact is, the school has not been able to get enough pupils in. There’s a partnership that’s been formed. They have worked together to deal with how that school could continue to exist, but it’s not educationally or financially sustainable. There’s no new housing proposed in the area.”
Cllr May said the decision was particularly disappointing for a couple who moved to the village because of the school and were planning to have a child in the future. He added: “This is a sad day. If we believe in rural schools, I don’t enjoy having to recommend this. We need to make the pupils as prepared as they can be. It’s appropriate to offer them places in other schools to give them a rounded education.”
A report to the meeting said keeping the school open was ‘not in the best interests of educational provision in the area’.
Cllr Charles Gerrish, who chaired the meeting, said: “The majority of school funding comes on a ‘per pupil’ basis. The finances simply don’t stack up. We don’t receive any rural assistance funding.”
Cabinet members voted to approve the school’s closure.
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