A DEVON County Council committee has stood by the cabinet’s decision to close Sutcombe Primary School.

The decision by cabinet to close the Torridge primary school from August 31 was ‘called in’ to the council’s People’s Scrutiny committee on Monday.

After an hour of discussion and debate, a vote was taken, with six in favour of the cabinet’s decision, and six against, and the chairman used her casting vote in favour of supporting the cabinet, meaning the cabinet will not be asked to reconsider its decision.

After the decision by cabinet on March 8, parent Becky Whinnerah told the Post she was working with some county councillors to ‘call in’ the decision as a ‘last gasp’ attempt at preventing closure of the school.

Mrs Whinnerah attended the committee meeting on Monday, where she told councillors: “I have done a lot of these three-minute talks to councils, committees and cabinet on this issue — none are as hard as today.

“My nine-year-old will go to her fifth school in September, My five-year-old who has complex special needs is going to start her second school.”

Referencing the recent announcements around a consultation on the introduction of a national funding formula for schools, and in the budget that every school will be an academy by 2022, she added: “All of these things are happening very soon in time for us I believe.

“Councillors were told there are 10 schools in our area, two of which are 15 miles away. All but one are five miles or more away.

“Torridge desperately needs quality small schools likes ours and Sutcombe needs its school. We have been a village in mourning since the 9th of March.”

Cllr Andy Hannan said: “This is a decision based on flawed evidence, a decision which should be re-examined. This is a school rated good by Ofsted which is not in deficit. The number on roll is small but is not falling recently.

“It seems to me options have not been fully explored. Building projects are about to start locally which would generate more pupils for that school. I would argue that the whole issue needs to be re-examined, that there need to be further discussions with the governing board of this school.”

Cllr Rob Hannaford, vice-chair of the committee, said: “I do think with the new funding that has been announced in the budget recently we ought to re-look at this again.

“If the school was to be closed would we have to at some point build a new one there?”

Cabinet member for children, schools and skills James McInnes said: “No one takes lightly the decision to close a school.

“Leadership is fundamental to every school. The previous governors left the local partnership, the Holsworthy partnership, and that looking back now was very much a wrong decision.

“The headteacher at the time went off sick for a period then left the school then after that the school governors with the help of the county council worked really hard to find a replacement for that headteacher, a permanent one.”

He said it is a statutory duty a school has a headteacher, and currently Sutcombe has a temporary arrangement.

He added: “The actual budget at the moment can’t afford a full time head teacher and an agency would cost £565 a day. That’s why going forward you need to be part of a partnership of schools that has the overall high quality leadership so that leadership can filter down to some of the smaller schools that can’t afford that leadership on its own.”

The meeting heard the cost of a head teacher is £61,000 for a small school, including on costs.

He added:?“Unfortunately no other school in Holsworthy or the wider learning community wants to work in partnership with Sutcombe.

“We have been looking for a partnership solution for the past 18 months to two years.”

With regard to the financial situation at the school, Cllr McInnes said Sutcombe receives £8,585 per child, and in an ‘urban’ school of around 420 pupils, this would be less than £4,000 a child.

He added: “The actual funding per child is more than double, nearly three times going to a Sutcombe child than the average across Devon. Even with all that extra money the accounts don’t stack up.”

He added the school needed to submit a three-year financial plan, which he said the council was still waiting for. He said the last Ofsted inspection was in 2010, adding: “Ofsted goes on about a school having strong leadership and if they don’t they become inadequate very quickly.”

He said there are 64 children in the catchment area, and 21 pupils at the school: “That’s local parents voting with their feet.”

On new housing for the area, Cllr McInnes said: “You know planning permission gets granted for housing. When that housing gets built could be any time in the next five years.”

On the pupil numbers, Cllr Alistair Dewhirst said: “As a parent would you want to send your child to a school with uncertainty it will be existing in 18 months time? If we could find a method of keeping the school going, these numbers would come back.” However, Dave Black, head of transportation and planning at the council, said the ‘situation’ where Sutcombe has 21 pupils on roll ‘has been in place for a number of years’. He added that there is a school bus operating in the area, ‘so the impact is not going to be high’ on transport.

Cllr Alan Connett asked: “Is there a financial incentive for any other school for Sutcombe to close?”

Sue Clarke, head of education and learning at the council, said: “We don’t think head teachers in the area would be so cynical to see it in that way. Every child has funding but the numbers here are very small, wouldn’t make a huge impact.”

Cllr Frank Biederman referred to a recent government announcement: “If Sutcombe was kept open in the near future it would have a partner because government policy would dictate that. I just feel it all seems a little bit premature for me. I just think there are far too many questions.”

The chairman’s casting vote meant the committee supported cabinet’s decision in favour of closing the school.

Mrs Whinnerah told the Post after the meeting: “It was a pretty fierce debate and that was nice because at cabinet you don’t really get a proper cross examination. I’m amazed it was so close — down to a casting vote. There is some positive to take from it I guess but now we have to think where on Earth our kids will go. I think it’s absolutely tragic.”

The closure of Sutcombe Primary School will follow the closure of Pyworthy Church of England School at the end of last year.