{"id":197177,"date":"2024-01-14T05:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-01-14T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/?p=197177"},"modified":"2024-01-12T11:13:10","modified_gmt":"2024-01-12T11:13:10","slug":"talks-begin-to-help-tourist-hotspot-school-hit-by-housing-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schoolsweek.co.uk\/talks-begin-to-help-tourist-hotspot-school-hit-by-housing-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"Talks begin to help tourist hotspot school hit by housing crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

An academy trust is in talks to secure extra cash for a secondary school in a Cornish beauty spot where tourists have \u201cdisplaced\u201d families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Truro and Penwith Academy Trust<\/a> has launched \u201cspecial case\u201d funding discussions with the Department for Education to boost Cape Cornwall School\u2019s viability, after it racked up a \u00a3332,000 deficit last year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

CEO Dr Jenny Blunden said the academy, the only secondary in St Just, needs \u201ca longer-term, more sustainable [arrangement]\u2026 it can\u2019t be a one-year quick fix\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘School needs long-term solution’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you have families that are displaced out of the area, it\u2019s really hard for children to travel back into Cape Cornwall or any of the primary schools. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Dr Jenny Blunden<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“[With] the increased costs of overheads\u2026 the cost of staff has gone up and the increased cost of utilities, we\u2019re just struggling to make the books balance with ever declining numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blunden added that similar pressures are being felt in two more trust academies<\/a> in Cornish villages Pendeen and Sennen. The trust runs 34 schools in Cornwall.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elsewhere, town councillors in Southwold, East Suffolk, warned two years ago that the proliferation of holiday lets in the area could leave its only primary \u201chighly under-utilised and at risk of being financially unsustainable\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consortium Trust CEO Andrew Aalders-Dunthorne, whose chain is responsible for Southwold Primary, said: \u201cThere is no doubt that the amount of second homes \u2026 restrict the number of families and, therefore, local children.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Union calls for ‘better system of financial support’<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

He has \u201ctaken a number of measures that have reduced overheads and costs\u201d, while \u201cmaintaining a four-class structure \u2026 that provides a quality education\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Whitby, MP Sir Robert Goodwill, a former children\u2019s minister, believes the problem \u2013 along with a growing pensioner population \u2013 has contributed to pupil number drops in the area as well. One of the town\u2019s secondaries, Eskdale School, is set to merge with nearby Caedmon College amid child and cash shortages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders union, said: \u201cThere needs to be a much better system of financial support available for schools with falling rolls, either as a result of general demographic changes or specific local issues.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

School ‘struggling to make books balance’ as families ‘displaced’ from beauty spot <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":311204,"featured_media":197120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[32],"post-theme":[2381],"class_list":["post-197177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-academies","post-theme-academies"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t