Queensway School: Victory for Leeds parents, teachers and families who 'fought so hard' against closure

Leeds City Council announced on Tuesday it would not be shutting Queensway Primary School in Yeadon, two months after a consultation over its future started.

Campaigners had claimed shutting the school would cause huge damage to pupils’ education.

The council had considered the move amid a severe shortage of school-aged children in the surrounding Aireborough area, but says it will now try to find another way to address the problem.

Conservative councillors in the Guiseley and Rawdon ward, in which the school technically lies, welcomed news that Queensway would stay open on Tuesday.

Councillor Paul Alderson said: “This is fantastic news for everyone at the school – the pupils, teachers and families who have worked so hard to oppose the council’s plans.

“I want to thank everyone who responded to the consultation in such numbers and with such feeling that it became impossible for the council to ignore the opposition to these plans.

“It should never have come to this and questions remain over why the council decided to propose closure in the first place.”

Around 40 pupils have already been taken out of the school by their parents, since the council first announced Queensway could close, a meeting last week was told.

Councillor Paul Wadsworth, who also represents Guiseley and Rawdon, said: “It is a shame that plans progressed to this stage before the council decided to u-turn.

“Some damage has been done, as a number of pupils have already left the school. I wish that the council had engaged more with all governing bodies and councillors over the summer to develop a solution for the whole area.

“But we are where we are, and thanks are certainly owed to all the local campaigners who fought so hard against these proposals.

“It’s important that the council now works closely with schools across Aireborough to develop a solution to the school places issue that can command the support of the whole community.”

At Civic Hall last week, a delegation of parents from Queensway pleaded with councillors to keep the school open, arguing that vulnerable and deprived families in the area would suffer.

In a letter to the school’s head teacher on Tuesday, Councillor Jonathan Pryor, Leeds’ executive member for education, said while the consultation had “not been a referendum”, it was right for the council to “listen to that strength of feeling.”