Parents, children and teachers of ST Jude and St Paul’s and Highbury Quadrant, determined to “save their schools”, marched to the City Council last night (Thursday, April 24) where the Islington Council Cabinet voted in the first announcement’s plans.
Inside, the executive member of children and young people, CLLR Michelline Safi-22, said that the municipality and capital faced an “important situation” with the number of students leading to less Chailton of the Fundon School.
According to the Council, St Jude and St Paul’s have a vacant rate of 46 percent, which makes their student body the smallest of all the primary schools in Islington.
The local authority predicted that the budget deficit of schools would reach £ 484,000 at the end of 2026/27.
Families and teachers gather outside the Islington City Council before the closure verdict. Photography: Josef Steen
The Highbury quadrant, meanwhile, is “more than half empty” and operates with a deficit that “would approach £ 1 million” at the end of the same financial year.
The councilors and officers spent much of the meeting of parents, teachers and interested parties of the school, one of which said that Hall’s reports were “plagued by inaccuracies.”
But the executive director Victoria Lawson argued that the proposals were made in good faith, “based on data, evidence, clear financial implications, legal advice and impact assessments of relevant equalities.”
In a statement this morning, the Board leader one O’Halloran (Labor Party) said that while she and her colleagues would have “loved” to maintain open schools, St Jude & st Paul’s has the lowest student number of any Islington a high “while he is hygbatant” while hygbatant “while hygbatant”
(LR) CLLR John Woolf, leader of children and young people, CLLR Michelline Safi-Ngongo, and the director of children’s services Jon Abbey. Photography: Josef Steen
The two primaries will now permanently close on August 31.
In the light of the decision to close the school, the Highbury PHOEBE Oakley quadrant teacher told the local democracy reports (LDRS) that he felt “very numb and in a state of shock”, he even thought that the staff knew it was likely to come.
Others did not know that the Executive had approved the closures until they met outside the duration of the camera for a break.
The Highbury Quadrant caregiver, Mark Gillespie, acknowledged that it was a “difficult decision”, but said that “there had to be a human element for this.”
Andri Andri Andrinou, whose children attend St Jude’s, said that families and staff were exploring other options and remained “hopeful” of the school would remain open, and added: “The Council has not won the battle and continue to the future.”
The school groups are directed to the Islington City Council to listen to the Council’s decision on the closures. Photography: Josef Steen / Free for use by LDRS Partners
Barbara Schulz, a teacher of the year 3 at St Jude and St Paul’s, simply said: “The fight continues.”
The parents and interested parties of both schools made the council formally consult the option of merging the two schools, which would only have one of the nearby primaries.
At the meeting, Jon Stansfield, vice president of Governors of ST Jude’s, said this option had not “proven properly.”
But the City Council insisted that the Neith option was viable, citing previous difficulties to transfer students to a new school making ‘amalgamations’.
CLLR Safi-22 said he had not received a strong proposal on how he was going to work.
The director of children’s services, Jon Abbey, said that the reluctance of the parents of the Highbury quadrant to move his children was “powerful and clear” in public meetings.
Should I follow a fusion, “there [was] There is no more guarantee or number of numbers of students, which still leaves the crucial problem of not enough young people, ”said Hey.
He added that combining schools would add another year to the process and would be “complex.”
The leader of the Opposition Group of the Green Party, CLLR Benali Hamdache, said: “It is time to describe this as a school financing crisis. Our new government is simply not providing enough support for local authorities for our schools.”
“We are also deeply concerned about the process here. Close two schools so close to the Hackney Meeans limit Many students will leave the municipality, taking very necessary funds with them,” he said.
He added that depending on the classification class schools of the Ofsted’s classifications was “disproportionately” closing. ”
Althegh, the local authority now occurred with the closures, the City Council is looking at a broader way to avoid future closures through the lobbying between the government of the Government and the City Council for the change reported London Londrs. Funds.
In the Chamber, Mr. Abbey said that he has already held a meeting with Ofsted, the Department of Education and Trade Unions on the challenge of admissions and the fall of rolls, where they created an “action plan” that includes asking for mechanisms and arrangements.
Hello, he added that Mrs. Lawson would invite the unions and other executives of the local authorities to “gather” in the City Council to discuss “how we can do. [a] Representation a [the] Government “.
