Campaign for return of secondary school provision

Sutton on Sea, Trusthorpe and Mablethorpe project (STaMP) are aiming to get secondary education back in Mablethorpe.From left back:Paul Russell, Pamela Hunt, Steve Palmer, Sandra Pitwell, Michael Wellby, Pauline Palmer, Steve Holland, Lisa Evans, Howard Moss, Tony Howard, Julia Crawford. Front: Max Hunt, 9, and Leon Hunt, 6. Photo: D.R.Dawson Photography

A group of parents have applied to the government for better secondary school provision for children in the Mablethorpe area, as many have to travel up to 16 miles away to attend school when they leave primary school.

The Sutton, Trusthorpe and Mablethorpe project (STaMP) are a group of more than 140 parents in the area saying that dozens of local children are not being offered their choice of secondary school due to the lack of provision in the area.

Other parents have primary school-aged children, and are part of the group with the aim of having secondary education returned to Mablethorpe in time for their own children to start secondary school.

There has been no secondary school in Mablethorpe since 2016, when the Mablethorpe campus of Monks’ Dyke Tennyson College closed its doors due to falling pupil numbers after merging with the Louth site of Monks’ Dyke Technology College, which itself was amalgamated into Louth Academy.

The nearest secondary schools to the coast are John Spendluffe Technology College and Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Alford (roughly eight miles away), Skegness Academy and Skegness Grammar School (16 miles), Somercotes Academy (11 miles), Louth Academy, and King Edward VI Grammar School in Louth, (15 miles).

They have now submitted an application to the Department for Education (DfE) to open a new secondary school in the Mablethorpe area, which has been supported by a number of town and district councillors in the Mablethorpe area.

Founder of the group, Pauline Palmer, said: “I am hearing from local parents that their children are not being offered their choice of secondary school from the limited choice available.

"One child [who attends Mablethorpe Primary Academy] will have to go to King Edward school in Spilsby!

"This means he will not only have to travel even further to school but will be separated from his friends and class mates.

“Other parents have also written to me to express their concerns about this,” Pauline said, "It is vitally important, in my personal opinion, that these children go to a local school and are able to continue their friendships.”

Another parent has seen her daughter offered a place at a school in Skegness, despite her brother already attending her first choice of school in Alford, where her brother already attends.

Similarly, another Mablethorpe child was offered a place at Somercotes Academy.

Matthew Clayton, interim head of capital reform and education sufficiency at Lincolnshire County Council, said that it was “unlikely” that a new secondary school would be possible for Mablethorpe, or that the capacity of existing schools in the area would be expanded and that decisions on both would rest with the Department for Education (DfE).

He said: “It is unlikely that a new secondary school for Mablethorpe would be viable unless all local children were to attend along with some from outside of the town.

“However, we know that many families prefer other local schools, and they have a right to express a preference to attend them.

There’s no indication that pupil numbers are likely to grow in the near future to such an extent that a new secondary school would be needed or approved by the DfE.

“Similarly, there is currently no case to support the need to permanently expand the capacity of existing schools in the area, a decision that also rests with the DfE. However, the situation continues to be monitored.”