Islington’s cabinet to vote on school closures next week

St Jude and St Paul’s Primary School in Mildmay. Image: Google

Islington Council’s executive will take its final decision on the closure of two of the borough’s schools next week, following months of consultation and campaigns over the plans.

Yesterday (14 April) the Town Hall announced its leadership will vote on proposals, affecting St Jude and St Paul’s and Highbury Quadrant primary schools, at its upcoming meeting on Thursday 24 April.

The council had put forward plans to shut the two schools due to the dwindling number of pupils on their registers (falling rolls), which have hurt their “financial viability”.

A statement from the local authority said the proposals were “the last resort, after all other options to deal with [the schools’] sustainability challenges [had] been exhausted”.

The council added that St Jude and St Paul’s in Mildmay ward has a 46 per cent vacancy rate, making its student body the smallest of all Islington’s primary schools.

Highbury Quadrant is “more than half empty”, the Town Hall said, “and is operating with a long-standing budget deficit”.

“The long-term trend of declining pupil numbers, combined with the way schools are funded nationally, makes it increasingly difficult for these schools to continue operating and to provide their pupils with the high-quality educational experience they deserve.”

Proposals to close the schools have ignited a series of public protests and direct action from teachers, pupils and families.

Last month, cohorts from both primaries clubbed together for a open-top bus tour through the borough and to the Town Hall, where they railed against the closures.

Campaigners have said closures would damage the community and provision for special needs pupils in particular.

They also claim the plans unfairly target schools with pupils from disproportionately low-income backgrounds.

In a public meeting, Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn notably accused the council of having a “sub-plot” to exaggerate Highbury Quadrant’s financial problems in order to justify closures.

Council leader Una O’Halloran rebuked her party’s former leader over the “serious” and “offensive” allegation.

The council has explained that if the leadership decides to shut down a school, the local authority “will provide dedicated support to help parents and carers find the right school for their children”.

“Nearby schools have enough places to accommodate all pupils without increasing class sizes to unsustainable levels.”

Schools funding, aka the Dedicated Schools Grant, is handed to local authorities by the government and determined by the National Funding Formula (NFF), allocating money on a per pupil basis.

However, the Citizen recently learned that Islington Council is “looking into” ways it can forge a cross-council campaign to lobby the government to change the NFF, amid the city-wide trend of school rolls falling as families leave inner London.

However, a council spokesperson confirmed that any local authority-driven campaign to change national policy would not affect proposals to close the two schools this year.

Meanwhile, parents from St Jude and St Paul’s last week told the Citizen that the school’s headteacher and governing board had submitted to the council their alternative option to merge both primaries.

Prior to this, Islington’s executive member for children, families and young people, Michelline Safi-Ngongo told the LDRS: “We have received several proposals suggesting alternative approaches to closing the schools.

“These will be evaluated and considered.”