The Reach South Academy Trust Board has informed parents that Parkfield School in Hurn is to close permanently for the majority of pupils next month.
The last day of term will be the end of this academic year (Tuesday 23 July 2024), with the exception of Year 11 which will continue until July 2025 to enable those students to complete the courses they have begun.
In a letter to parents, issued today, Dean Ashton, CEO of Reach South Academy Trust said: “It is with great sadness that I am writing with the news that the Reach South Academy Trust Board has written to the Department for Education to inform them of our recommendation that Parkfield School should close, by mutual consent, due to unsustainable numbers of pupils.
“That recommendation has been approved by Ministers in their taking a decision to terminate the school’s supplementary funding agreement, subject to a listening period.
“A final decision by the Department for Education on closing the school will be subject to a listening period and full assurance that all pupils are offered alternative places by the end of this academic year, where required.”
Every child at the school will be offered a new school place, and The Council has been developing a Transition Plan, working with other local schools.