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Farming Today: 11/11/2013

11/11/2013

BBC Radio 4 - Farming Today, 11/11/2013

What future for small rural schools? Charlotte Smith starts a week of reports.

This week, Farming Today takes a look at the state of rural schools. What are their strengths, their weaknesses, and their future? Presented by Charlotte Smith.

Schools in rural areas face very different issues to their counterparts in urban areas. In this programme, Farming Today embarks on a week of reports looking at the problems, the advantages, and the likely future for schools in rural areas.

For demographic reasons, many rural schools are small. Charlotte Smith hears about the approach taken to keeping small schools open in Scotland, where a government-commissioned report proposes that an independent body, rather than the local council, should make the final decision on any school closure, and that any school surviving a closure threat should be safe from similar threats for five years.

Meanwhile in England, North Yorkshire has more small primary schools than anywhere else in the country. BBC Radio York reporter Sarah Urwin finds out how schools there are sharing staff and resources in order to survive.

Presented by Charlotte Smith. Produced by Emma Campbell.

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