Parents have shared their disappointment after a school announced it is temporarily closing its sixth form.
Longcroft School and Sixth Form College in Beverley, East Yorkshire, said in March it was considering suspending new entries to its Year 12 due to a “historic low” number of 86 pupils enrolling in 2021 who are now in Year 11.
In an email announcing its decision to parents on Wednesday, head teacher David Perry said the decision was made “with deep regret and sympathy for those pupils and families affected”.
Jo Foster, whose daughter has just finished her GCSEs at the school, said: “They’ve just left Year 11s in the dark and it’s absolutely disgusting.”
The email stated the decision to pause recruitment to its sixth form was made after a request for Falling Rolls Funding had been declined due to “falling post-16 numbers being outside the remit of such funding according to government guidance”.
It stated: “The longer-term commitment to the sixth form provision at Longcroft remains unwavering both for the school and local authority.”
East Riding of Yorkshire Council confirmed governors had made the “difficult decision” to temporarily close the sixth form for the next academic year.
A spokesperson said: “This decision has been made following consultation and looking at all options available.
“The extraordinary make-up of the current Year 11 cohort, which relates to historic factors detailed in the consultation, would mean that recruiting to Year 12 in September would create a financial deficit impacting the whole school.”
They added the current Year 12 pupils would continue into Year 13 as normal.