The sixth form at Todmorden High School will officially close on 31 August 2018.
The Governors’ decision to close the school has to be ratified by Calderdale Council. The Cabinet approved the decision at a meeting last night at Halifax Town Hall.
The move follows a five week public consultation on the proposal. As a maintained community school the decision to close a sixth form rests with the local authority.
Recent changes to the government funding of post-16 education mean that the majority of schools now receive less money for A Level students and some vocational courses for 16-18 year olds than in previous years.
Sixth forms usually need a minimum of 200 students to be financially sustainable and schools with fewer students in Years 12 and 13 are reporting difficulties in offering the quality and breadth of curriculum which are required at post-16.
Todmorden High School currently has 118 students within its sixth form which means that the governing body had to take the difficult decision to inform parents that there would not be a sixth form intake at the school from September 2017.
Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People’s Services, Cllr Megan Swift said:
“We fully support the Governors’ decision to end sixth form provision at the school because of concerns about the budget. I know that this was a tough decision for them to take.
“Although it is regrettable it will mean that the school can continue to focus on its rapidly improving offer to 11-16 year olds. The school is already recognised as good by OFSTED and is determined to achieve outstanding in the next stage of its development.
“We are continuing to invest in the school and work on the fantastic new multi-million pound English and Humanities building is well underway. This a great school with real ambition for its pupils and I’m confident they will continue to make excellent progress in future.”