The following table sets out the numbers of school closures, and their reason for closure in each year since 1999. We do not have reliable information about decisions made prior to 1999.
Cease to maintain Change of religious character Due to amalgamation For academy For fresh start To allow for a new establishment Total 1999 1 — 1 — — — 2 2000 12 — 96 — 8 — 116 2001 26 4 193 — 3 3 229 2002 31 9 180 4 1 1 226 2003 36 10 177 8 5 — 236 2004 54 6 191 6 7 1 265 2005 39 8 211 7 7 — 272 2006 41 4 224 17 3 1 290 2007 45 5 270 34 3 1 358 2008 49 2 193 56 1 — 301 20091 27 1 104 47 — — 179 Total 361 49 1840 179 38 7 2,474 1 2009 shows schools approved for closure up to 31 August 2009.
The data on the table is recorded on our Statutory Proposals Information (SPI) database. SPI provides information from 1999 but is only accurate from 2001, when local decision making came into force and we started recording decisions on SPI.
There are various reasons for school closures. We categorise these under six different proposal ‘types’:
“Cease to maintain” indicates cases where a school is not proposed to be established on the site of the closing school;
“Change of religious character” is where a school must close and re-open in order to add, change or remove a religious character;
“Due to amalgamation” indicates cases where schools are being closed and a new school established—usually on the site(s) of the closing school(s)—or where one or more closes and an existing school makes prescribed alterations e.g. enlarge, change age range etc;
“For academy” indicates schools that are closing and are being replaced by Academies;
“For fresh start” is where an existing school closes to be replaced by a new school under fresh start policy; and
“To allow for a new establishment” are ‘miscellaneous’ closure proposals. No school has been closed under this category since 2006. (Miscellaneous closure included changing the category of a school—regulations now allow for this.)