Small schools, many of which are in rural areas, face particular challenges and there is now widespread and growing concern for the future of small schools in the UK. The challenges associated with funding of small schools in England have recently been acknowledged by the DfE (2021) along with the position of small schools in the Academy system and the new OFSTED inspection framework. The Manifesto for Small Schools and associated briefing notes, published by the National Association of Small Schools (https://www.smallschools.org.uk/) and the University of Plymouth in association with school leaders and teachers across the UK, is a declaration of why small schools are so important for children, families and communities.

Small schools in England were under significant threat from the 1970s to the end of the 1990s. The steep decline in school numbers during this period and the impacts of school closures on localities and communities, raised concern. There has been a ‘presumption against closure’ status to rural (not necessarily small) schools in England since 1998.  A similar ‘presumption against closure’ for rural schools is also present in Scotland (2010) and Wales (2017), but not in Northern Ireland, where almost 300 schools fall below the Sustainable Schools Policy threshold. The ‘period of grace’ offered by the ‘presumption against closure’ gave schools in some places some protection but there is renewed concern amongst small school leaders that their schools are under renewed threat from academisation of schools, an invigorated push for ‘economic efficiencies’ and the new OFSTED inspection framework. Small schools appear to being exposed to new threats of closure.

The Manifesto for Small Schools has been produced to declare the value of small schools and raise awareness of the threats to their existence. Anyone working in or with schools in rural communities is welcome to make use of the manifesto and information in the briefing notes.

The Manifesto for Small Schools

‘Small schools are assets, centres for innovation in education and communities and treasuries for their localities’

This manifesto calls for:

• acknowledgement of and support for small schools as centres for research, innovation and development in teaching and learning and in their communities and localities.
• support for collaborative practices amongst schools; collaboration by choice, not through force or coercion
• recognition of the importance of schools o the communities and places they serve and the importance of communities to schools: Schools do not exist in isolation, this fact calls for acknowledgement of situated contextual factors which interact with the school and its locality such as housing, employment and provisions of services.
• acknowledgement and celebration of and support for a commitment to building a wide range of relationships in education settings as an integral part of the UK’s Levelling Up agenda.
• a fair funding system for all schools. It calls particularly for a system that acknowledges and funds small schools and other schools that challenge standard financial efficiency models.

The Manifesto and briefing notes can be found here:
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/research/learning-and-social-justice-through-the-lifecourse-research-group

Contacts:

Dr Cath Gristy, Plymouth Institute of Education, University of Plymouth   [email protected]
- Neil Short, National Association of Small Schools [email protected]

(Click below to download a full copy of the manifesto)