A petition calling for an investigation into the leadership of a Harrogate district school has been launched.

North Yorkshire Council has begun moves to close Fountains Earth Primary School in Lofthouse, near Pateley Bridge.

The school has no pupils left and although the council attributes this and a struggle to recruit teachers as key factors in opening a consultation on closure, parents say long-running leadership issues contributed to its decline.

They say pupil numbers were increasing until parents were alienated and poor leadership prompted them to send children elsewhere.

Their petition has already achieved 500 signatures.

Fountains Earth is part of the Upper Nidderdale Federation, which also includes Glasshouses Community Primary School and St Cuthbert's Church of England Primary School in Pateley Bridge.

Parents previously said they were “devastated to have been left with no choice but to remove our children” and warned closure would "rip the heart" out of Lofthouse.

Now a petition, launched by Ashley Gatehouse, calls for "a full, objective and thorough investigation into the leadership of the Upper Nidderdale Federation".

It says small rural schools foster community spirit and can deliver high quality education, when managed and governed appropriately.

The petition says:

The petition concludes by urging the council to halt closure "until a full and thorough investigation has been conducted".

A 'heavy and sad decision'

Read more:

• Angry parents say closure of Lofthouse school will 'rip heart out of community'


• Lofthouse Moor owner fined for illegally burning peat