Daventry's MP reacts to closure of town school: '˜People voted with their feet'

Daventry’s MP Chris Heaton-Harris said people had ‘voted with their feet’ after not enough pupils signing up to allow the school to be financially viable.

He added that a future use for the campus, off Ashby Road, is being examined by the Department for Education.

The school announced earlier this week that it would close at the end of the current academic year in August 2017. The school’s trust said not enough pupils were signing up to attend the school to allow it to balance its books.

In a statement, Mr Heaton-Harris said: “I am extremely disappointed that Daventry’s UTC has announced it is to close.

“I have long known of the problems it has had recruiting students and the financial pressure it was under as a result of those low student numbers.

“Indeed I have been working with the UTC’s governors, officials from the Department for Education, the local council and other interested parties in trying to find solutions to its problems.

“I know that the students and staff at the UTC love the college and I have always been impressed by them every time I have visited. I would like to thank the staff and governors for all the time and effort they have invested in the UTC.

“I have been assured that plans will now be made to find each of the UTC’s students a suitable place in other schools so that their education is not interrupted. The students at the UTC are an impressive bunch and I know they will do well wherever they head to next.

“I have also been assured by the Department for Education that they are looking at various options as to the future of the campus itself and they hope to be in a position to make an announcement on this in the future.

“For now though, all I can say is that I am truly disappointed that the UTC itself is to close. I thought it offered an exciting vocational choice for Daventry. However people voted with their feet and not enough people chose to send their children to the UTC for it to keep going as a viable educational facility in its current form.”