A school once described as the worst in Britain after staff went on strike over classroom violence is to close. The Ridings School in Halifax, West Yorkshire, will shut down in August 2009, Calderdale council's cabinet said last night, in what is expected to be part of a wider process of replacing the school and three other comprehensives with a city academy.
The Ridings was dubbed "the school from hell" in 1996 when the local education authority ordered it to close temporarily after attacks on teachers by pupils.
Craig Whittaker, the council's cabinet member with responsibility for children and young people's services, said the decision had been taken following thorough consultation. "Nobody takes a decision to close a school lightly but councillors feel that this decision is in the best interests of children and young people in the area," he said. "The Ridings is currently only half full and parents have been voting with their feet by sending their children to other schools across Calderdale."
Mr Whittaker said the annual cost of educating a pupil at The Ridings was £4,252 per year compared with an average cost of £3,588 for each pupil in Calderdale.
"But a far more important factor than the cost in helping us to arrive at our decision has been the poor standard of achievement at the school. While standards are currently improving, we feel that this is not sustainable in the longer term."
The school staged a comeback after the problems in 1996 and in 2001, government inspectors described pupils as "polite, courteous and helpful". But in March it was put into special measures for a second time and the schools minister, Lord Adonis, said the situation was "serious and unacceptable" and called on Calderdale to consider shutting it down.
Local NUT secretary Sue McMahon, said: "Closure of The Ridings is both thoughtless and short-sighted. Children will be condemned to leave their community in search of a school place."