End nears for St Teresa’s Catholic Infant School in Birkdale as parents remove pupils

St Teresa’s Catholic Infant School in Birkdale in Southport is taking a step towards closure after Sefton Council said it had “exhausted all options to address the pupil numbers and financial situation at the school”. 

The local authority also recognised that several parents have been removing their children from the school since the consultation into its future began. 

It means that the numbers of pupils left there have fallen from 89 in January 2010 to just 15 in October 2021 – with just two in Reception, six in Year 1 and seven in Year 2. 

Sefton Council’s Cabinet will hear this Thursday (3rd January) how Stage One of the consultation process over the school’s future has now been completed. 

The council will now begin the formal process to close the school.

The 153 year old school first opened its doors to pupils in 1869. St Teresa’s was given a Good rating in its last Ofsted inspection, with Lead Inspector Sheila Iwaskow saying that teaching staff had “improved the school beyond recognition”.

In the report, Sefton Head of Education Tricia Davies said: “St Teresa’s Catholic Infant School has 90 places and there were 15 pupils on roll at the time of the School Census in October 2021 which meant they had 83.3% surplus places.

“However, once the consultation for closure was announced parents started to make enquiries about moving their children to other schools.” 

Many of the parents have been moving their children to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School in Birkdale. 

Tricia Davies said: “The closure of St Teresa’s Catholic Infant School would mean that 90 infant places would be removed from the Catholic sector. There are three other Catholic primary schools in the Southport area with a total 420 infant places between them including Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary, St Patrick’s Catholic Primary and Holy Family Catholic Primary.

“There are sufficient places available at Our Lady of Lourdes to accommodate pupils who will be displaced by this proposal. This includes those pupils whose parents have expressed a preference for a place in Reception in September 2022.

“The building is owned by the Archdiocese of Liverpool and no decision has been made about what will happen to this once the school has closed.

“It will be their responsibility to decide how the building will be used in future.” 

The Stage One consultation period ran from 22nd November 2021 until 17th December 2021. 

The bodies and individuals consulted included: Parents / carers of pupils; staff; Trade Union Representatives; Sefton schools; Ward Councillors; Directors of neighbouring local authorities; Local MP; Archdiocese of Liverpool; General consultation invites on Sefton’s website.

The consultation also consisted of meetings with staff, governors, and parents / carers, and provided the opportunity for discussion and written representation. 

Tricia Davies said: “St Teresa’s Catholic Infant School has been struggling financially for several years and the Governing Body has worked hard to reduce costs but have unfortunately not been able to set a balanced budget since 2018/19.

“The school ended the 2020/21 financial year with a deficit of -£55,316 and although the Governing Body has made several staffing adjustments in August 2021 the current budget shows the deficit rising to -£134,466 by the end of the current financial year.

“There will continue to be staffing and running costs in 2022/23, if the school continues to operate until 31st August 2022.

“When the school closes there will be closure costs associated with the discontinuation of the site along with any potential contractual liabilities that are still outstanding and severance costs for displaced staff. Many of these costs are unknown at this time but will add to the identified deficit position on 31st March 2022. There may be some residual School funding from 2022/23 to offset some of the additional costs but, this cannot be calculated at this time. 

“Pupils presently attending St Teresa’s Catholic Infant School will, if their parents wish, transfer automatically to Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School at the closure of their school or, in appropriate cases be offered places at other Catholic Primary Schools in accordance with parental preference. Admissions may also be sought at other schools where places are available.”

Any person may object to or make comments on this proposal by sending them to the School Organisation Team, Sefton Council, Town Hall, Oriel Road, Bootle L20 7AE. The last date for representations is 5pm on 30th March 2022. 

Do you have a story for Stand Up For Southport? Please message Andrew Brown via Facebook here or email me at: mediaandrewbrown@gmail.com