The 3 options are:

A. Close Hookergate and transfer students to Ryton and seek funding for a new state-of-the-art school building on a new site in the Greenside area.

B. Close both Ryton and Hookergate schools and open a new secondary school; the council would seek funding for a new state of the art school on a new site in the Greenside area.

C. Close Hookergate and transfer the existing students to Ryton, seeking funding to refurbish or re-build the school.

There are strong arguments for supporting Option B. These are most obvious from Hookergate’s perspective but there are also clear advantages from Ryton’s point of view.

Background

There is no argument about the falling roll in the west of Gateshead and the implications this will have for both schools. The numbers of pupils currently in our primary schools illustrate this very well.

In two years’ time there will be 40 fewer pupils in Year 6 in the Hookergate and Ryton catchment area primary schools. In four years’ time there will be 100 fewer.

There are plenty of other figures which illustrate the point, but they all lead to the same conclusion - that there is too much ‘provision’. When ‘surplus places’ as they are called, get above a certain level, the local authority (LA) is bound to take action.

There is a further, very positive, incentive for the LA to tackle the issue in the west. There is a very strong possibility that it can acquire Building Schools for the Future (‘BSF’) money to re-build and refurbish all the schools in the ‘west’ just as they have done in other areas of the borough.

In order to be successful in bidding for funding the LA has to prove that their plan is good value for money and has addressed the ‘surplus places’ issue.

That is why the cabinet report has been produced and why there is now a consultation process based around the 3 options listed above.

The Hookergate View

Hookergate staff and governors (the two groups we have been able to consult so far) enter the review period strongly in support of Option B.

We recognise that there is a clear issue with falling numbers across the west of the borough and that this has to be addressed for the sake of our young people. Hookergate has made great improvements over the last 10 years and the last thing we want to do is to put all this improvement at risk.

We want students to continue to have a full range of subjects and courses, the best specialist staff and a wide-range of extra-curricular activities and extended services.

We believe that Option B offers a once-in a lifetime opportunity to create a new state-of-the art school which provides a first-class education for all young people in the communities of the outer west. By working together we can take the best practice from two successful schools and create a new school which will be even stronger.

Option B is by far the best way to make this happen. By merging the two schools, there are several advantages which the other two options do not allow.

§ the students of both schools and all the communities they come from will feel equally valued - real partners in an exciting new venture, which builds on the considerable strengths of both schools.

§ this equality of esteem will make integration of the two school populations easier to achieve. They will be able to work together from the outset and take full advantage of their new educational opportunities

§ staff will be equally treated under the ‘merger’ option. It offers not only the probability of job security for all staff across the two schools, but also the opportunity to apply for posts of responsibility within the new school. This would be a powerful boost to morale for the Hookergate staff and would allow the best talent to influence the development of the new school

§ a new site, more central to the whole new catchment area would send a very strong, inclusive message to all our communities. It would be a school with a new name and identity which signals a vision for the future rather than a look back to the past.

What happens next?

Over the next 3 or 4 weeks there will be the opportunity to contribute to the consultation process. Dates for meetings will be confirmed shortly and there will be the opportunity to provide written feedback to the local authority.

We trust that the advantages of Option B will shine through the consultation process.