Britain’s smallest primary school with only two pupils finally closes after costs rise to £21,000 per student

England’s smallest primary school, with just two pupils, will close at the end of the year after costs rose to three times the average.

Councilors have taken the ‘painful’ decision to close the school in Gwynedd, North Wales, as declining pupil numbers mean spending more than £21,000 on each child.

Ysgol Y Garreg school in the village of Penrhyndeudraeth has lost almost 90 per cent of its pupils in the last two years, dropping from 17 to just two.

There are no students queuing to enroll, and two ten-year-olds will be leaving for secondary school in the summer.

Officials recognized at the Plaid Cymru-run council admitted ‘the seriousness of the situation means the school cannot continue’.

A report found it was expensive to work with so few students, with the cost per head at £21,471 compared to the national average of £5,998.

Cabinet members in Cyngor Gwynedd, north Wales, voted unanimously to close the school on 31 August.

Dewi Jones, cabinet member for education, said: ‘No one is going into education to close schools.

The school, which has lost almost 90 percent of its population in the last two years, has only two students

‘Our aim is to see schools succeed, children thrive and communities remain strong.’

Mr Jones said it was incredibly ‘difficult’ to close the school and paid tribute to staff, governors and parents who have served the community for more than half a century.

‘The demographic challenges facing some of our rural communities are real,’ he said.

‘No matter how painful it is to admit this, we cannot ignore the facts before us and, given the special location of Ysgol Y Garreg, it is impossible to ignore the seriousness of the situation.

‘This is not a decision that the cabinet wants to make, but it is a decision that certain circumstances have led us to.’

The councilor said Gwynedd had experienced a significant decline in the number of children over the last decade and the authority had a duty to make responsible long-term decisions.

Councilor June Jones, who supported the recommendation, said it was sad to lose the school, which was an ‘important part of the community’.