Save Hazlewood School

Please find below a selection of points for anyone who would like help completing the 'Have Your Say' - North Tyneside Council Survey. These points are a guide and can be adapted to your own wording.

The Pre-Publication Report states that North Tyneside Council has engaged with the Department for Education (DfE) regarding funding. It also claims that the Governors of Hazlewood were given the opportunity to apply to the DfE School Rebuilding Programme, but chose not to do so. Governing bodies cannot apply directly to, or nominate a school for, the DfE School Rebuilding Programme, as stipulated by the DFE. Applications must be submitted by the school’s local authority. North Tyneside Council will be fully aware of this application process. The report’s assertion that Hazlewood’s governors chose not to apply is misleading. It attributes responsibility to the governing body for a process which it has no direct control. This raises serious concerns that the Council is using the issue to deflect responsibility and unfairly shift blame onto Hazlewood’s Governing Body. Rather than acknowledge its own role and responsibilities in pursuing funding for the school.

To this day, no evidence has been provided to substantiate the claim that the structural works carried out to the dining hall and kitchen in 2025 has a lifespan of five years. North Tyneside Council should commission and publicly release a clear, independent professional report. This report should confirm the current structural condition, expected remaining lifespan and long-term viability of both the dining hall and kitchen. This report must provide transparent, evidence-based findings to establish whether the five-year lifespan claim is justified. The evidence presented to Cabinet was a report from 2024, which clearly set out three options for the Council. Option A was identified as a temporary solution proposed by Narro. However, no evidence has been provided to demonstrate that Option A was the solution implemented in 2025 for the works carried out to the dining hall and kitchen.

Hazlewood once again demonstrated it is a high-achieving school, with SATs results significantly exceeding both local and national averages. In 2025 - 79% of pupils achieved the expected standard, 15% above North Tyneside's average and 16% above the National average. In 2026, 85% of pupils achieved the expected standard, 21% above North Tyneside's average and 22% above the National average These results demonstrate Hazlewood’s consistently strong academic performance despite the uncertainty the school was faced with.

A fundamental concern with the Council's proposal's, is the evidence given is inaccurate or contradictory. Hazlewood has been presented as operating in deficit, when the school is in fact operating at a surplus. Declining birth rates being cited to demonstrate reduced future demand. This fails to account for proposals of more than 500 new homes, within Hazlewood’s catchment area. According to the Council’s, every 100 new homes generates an estimated 32 additional children. The dining hall and kitchen have been given a lifespan of just three to five years, despite an independent specialist confirming a lifespan of more than a decade. The previous proposal, stated Fordley could not be considered, within the merger, as it serves its own catchment area. Yet its capacity is now being relied upon within the closure proposal. A decision with such serious and irreversible consequences should be based on precise and compelling evidence.

North Tyneside Council must recognise the emotional impact of yet another consultation. Staff are once again facing job insecurity, yet expected to continue supporting children, while carrying enormous stress about their own futures. Children are being exposed to instability in the very place where they should feel safest, secure and protected. Parents and carers are left anxious and fearful about the impact on their children and the future of their school. This is not just a process or a set of figures on a spreadsheet, it is people’s livelihoods and children’s emotional wellbeing. The repeated disruption is causing real distress across an entire school community. The feelings and mental wellbeing of those affected, cannot be ignored.

The Council’s urgency to progress the closure of Hazlewood raises serious questions, particularly so soon after the previous merger proposal was not upheld by the adjudicator. A lawful consultation must begin with an open mind. The speed of this renewed closure proposal raises serious concern that the Council has already predetermined closure.

North Tyneside Council states that it is committed to creating long-term stability for everyone, yet its actions regarding Hazlewood School have resulted in two years of ongoing uncertainty and disruption since 2024. With building issues first identified over 15 years ago, the lack of timely action has left children, staff and families facing instability that could potentially have been avoided. Since 2024 teachers have faced constant threat of job insecurity, children feeling worried and adapting to different envirnoments, families panicked. A school is a safe space for many children, they are nutured, cared for and enjoy social interactions. For our Year 6 students, they have never known a stable Primary School experiance. Hazlewood teachers have adapted their teaching environments, ensured the children still receive education whilst helping create stability due to Council's wrong doings.