Guide to the proposed merger of Forest Hall Primary School and Ivy Road Primary School
Why are we proposing this?
North Tyneside’s population is changing. Birth rates have fallen steadily since 2018/19 and there are now around 300 fewer children born each year. That’s the equivalent to 10 fewer classes annually. There are now too many schools for the number of children in North Tyneside.
In the Forest Hall area, there are five primary schools close to each other and the number of children attending these schools is falling. Forest Hall Primary School and Ivy Road Primary School are half a mile away from each other.
Both Forest Hall and Ivy Road primary schools have low pupil numbers and are only two thirds full. The amount of funding schools receive is linked to how many pupils they have. There is too much financial pressure on the schools and both are in deficit (where the amount the school spends is more than it gets).
The school’s budget forecasts show the deficit at both schools is predicted to worsen by 2028, which will have an impact on the education children will receive.
The Council needs a clear plan to ensure pupils in the Forest Hall area get the best education now and in the future.
The consultation is looking at the proposal to:
- Merge Ivy Road Primary School and Forest Hall Primary School
This will mean:
- The closure of Ivy Road Primary School
- Increased admission numbers at Forest Hall Primary School
- The relocation of Forest Hall Primary School to the current Ivy Road Primary School site
Ivy Road Primary School was judged Inadequate following an Ofsted Inspection in February 2024. This meant they would join an Academy Trust. Unfortunately, no trust has come forward to take on the school.
We believe the best option for children in the Forest Hall area is for Forest Hall Primary School to move to Ivy Road’s school building, and for Ivy Road Primary school to stop admitting pupils from September 2026 to allow the merger. The Ivy Road school building is big enough to accommodate all children from both schools.
There would be no changes this academic year. If the proposal moves to the next phase we would work with employers – the school leadership and governing bodies- to agree a full timeline and we expect changes to be implemented by September 2027 at the latest.
The consultation will begin on 2 October 2025 and end at noon on 13 November 2025. If no viable alternatives are found, the Council will move into the statutory consultation period with the outcome expected to be announced in January 2026.
There are similar proposals for schools in other areas of North Tyneside.
You may have some questions to ask, and this document will provide you with the background. There are more answers in the options and background document and the Frequently Asked Questions on Our North Tyneside Voice. Please read this in full before submitting your consultation response.
Background – Pupil numbers
Birth rates have fallen since 2018/19 and fewer pupils are entering schools. The new homes being built in North Tyneside will still not bring in enough children to fill all the schools.
This is having an impact on both Forest Hall and Ivy Road Primary Schools, where more than a third of available places at the schools are empty.
Only a quarter of families living locally in the catchment area are choosing to send their children to Ivy Road Primary or to Forest Hall Primary (data from Jan 2025 Census).
*The admissions capacity is the number of pupils the school admits. This number may be lower than the physical capacity of the school building. Ivy Road Primary School’s building has a physical capacity of 315. All children at Forest Hall Primary and Ivy Road Primary would fit comfortably at the Ivy Road site.
The number of spaces not being filled, or ‘surplus places’ projected for each school:
Background – Ivy Road Ofsted judgement
In February 2024 Ivy Road Primary School was judged inadequate by Ofsted. When a school receives this rating they are given an ‘Academy Order’ and must join an Academy Trust.
When the Academy Order was put on the school, the Department for Education began to look for an ‘academy sponsor’ (an Academy Trust to take over the school to make improvements).
Unfortunately, no trust has been identified. One potential ‘academy sponsor’ looked into the details of the school but decided it was too great of a risk to take over in the light of declining numbers.
If approved, this merger means the academy order goes and pupils would continue to attend a Council maintained school.
Even without the Ofsted judgement, action would still need to be taken in the Forest Hall area because of the falling birth rate.
Financial position of each school
Both schools have a deficit which is predicted to get worse. School leaders have made changes and worked hard with the Council to make the financial situation better, but because low pupil numbers mean less funding, the situation is not improving. If left unchanged, the risk is that the two schools would continue to grow in deficit, limiting their ability to sustain high quality education.
The proposed merger would sustain high quality education in the community, provide greater stability for all local pupils and improve financial sustainability.
The financial information is from the school’s budget forecasts.
What is the rationale for the proposal to relocate Forest Hall Primary School to the Ivy Road site?
The Council is proposing to merge Ivy Road Primary School and Forest Hall Primary School on the existing Ivy Road site. This means that pupils who currently attend Forest Hall Primary School would be educated at the Ivy Road site half a mile away, but would still be pupils of Forest Hall Primary School.
The Council considered many factors when making this decision. It included proximity to other schools, the physical capacity of buildings and the number of pupils attending both schools.
Both Forest Hall Primary and Ivy Road Primary schools are in buildings which are too big for the number of pupils currently in them.
Ivy Road Primary School is the bigger school site and has the physical space to fit more pupils. It has two assembly halls, a large yard and playing field, car parking spaces and bigger facilities.
While Forest Hall Primary School has too many places, the building is not big enough to accommodate combined pupils from both schools. That’s because the school was built as ‘one form entry’ meaning one class per year group, but the combined pupils would need more than this.
Closing Ivy Road Primary School without relocating or expanding Forest Hall Primary School would mean pupils needing to be relocated to a number of other schools. This would have an impact on sibling links and travel arrangements for families. It would remove all excess capacity too, meaning there’s no flexibility for new housing or families moving into the area. There is more information below and in the Options and Background Data document as well as FAQ's on Our North Tyneside Voice
More households live in Ivy Road Primary School’s catchment area, but there are fewer schools within half a mile.
Closing the Ivy Road site and keeping the Forest Hall Primary School site would have an impact on more families, and siblings might end up at different schools.
By closing Ivy Road Primary School and relocating Forest Hall Primary School, children and families can stay together.
Which other options have been considered?
You can read more about all options considered in the Options and Background Data on the Have Your Say website. In summary, it is proposed that the best solution would be to merge the two schools. The option of using the Forest Hall Primary School site has also been considered but the site is not big enough to accommodate the combined number of pupils from both schools. For this reason, it is also not a viable option to merge Ivy Road with another school.
The number of new homes being built now and in the future near Forest Hall was also considered. On average, each 100 homes brings an extra 32 pupils across all twelve year groups. Even with all the homes planned near Forest Hall catchments, and indeed across all of North Tyneside, there would still not be enough pupils to fill the empty places at schools.
Just closing Ivy Road Primary School with no associated relocation and expansion of Forest Hall Primary School would require existing Ivy Road pupils to be relocated to other settings and they would be spread across a number of schools, which would have an impact on families in the community. Having no Ivy Road Primary School and the same size Forest Hall Primary School would leave too few school places in the area and would leave no flexibility for the small number of pupils from new and developing housing sites into the future.
What happens next?
Any proposal for school reorganisation must be carried out in accordance with Department for Education (DfE) statutory guidance.
The Council cannot take a decision to merge a school without having held a consultation on the proposal, which will include seeking the views of members of the public. The first stage of consultation will be informal and opens on 2 October 2025.
The detail below sets out the expected timescales for the process:
Consultation – 2 October to 13 November 2025
The initial consultation will take place for six weeks. This will include the publication of consultation material and parental information sessions.
Once the consultation closes, the Council will analyse the responses.
Statutory Public Notice and Representation Period – November to December 2025
Following a thorough analysis of consultation responses, and if appropriate, a delegated decision will be required to publish a statutory notice. As part of the analysis of consultation responses, all options not previously explored will be considered and necessary due diligence undertaken.
If an alternative viable option is presented, the timeline would need to be reviewed, and we would taken the necessary time to evaluate. If no viable alternative options are put forward the Council will decide to proceed with this proposal. At this stage, statutory notices would be published which commences a Statutory Representation Period. This is where any person or organisation can submit comments to the Council within a four-week period.
Decision Making – January 2026
Once the representation period closes, the Council’s cabinet would consider responses to the statutory notice and make the final decision on whether to agree the proposal or not.
Taking part in the consultation
We are clear that no decision has been made. The public consultation runs until noon on 13 November 2025. We encourage you to take part in the online consultation on Our North Tyneside Voice. A range of Frequently Asked Questions are available on the site, please read these before completing the survey.
If you need us to do anything differently to help you take part in this survey, including providing this information in another language or format, please