'At least one' Camden secondary school could close due to empty desks
Published: 9th December, 2010
by JOSIE HINTON
DOUBT has been cast over the future of Camden’s secondary schools after latest figures revealed hundreds of empty places.
Statistics published by the Department for Education this week show more than 500 empty desks across the borough’s secondary schools, with six out of nine schools running below capacity.
A further 180 places will be created when the £30million UCL Academy opens in Swiss Cottage in 2012.
The flagship academy escaped cuts to the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) programme, along with the expansion of South Camden Community School and Swiss Cottage Special School, but with two-thirds of schools already experiencing vacancies it is feared that the new academy will steer pupils away from existing schools.
It is thought South Camden Community School and Haverstock could be amongst the most vulnerable.
Andrew Baisley, from Camden National Union of Teachers, said opening an academy will put “at least one” school at risk of closure.
He said: “Having a surplus of places will mean too many vacancies in Camden schools, and on top of that the government may ask for further savings on the BSF projects.
“The best way to make substantial savings is to go ahead with the rebuilding of South Camden and Swiss Cottage Special School, but to cancel the building of the UCL Academy. This will protect Camden school places and school budgets at a time of extreme pressure.”
Projections from the Greater London Authority (GLA) predicted a yearly rise in pupil numbers from 2006 to 2010 – which formed part of the justification for the new academy. But pupil numbers actually dropped year on year from 1,528 in 2006 to 1,392 this year.
Mr Baisley said the falling numbers could be attributed to the opening of 17 new schools in Camden’s neighbouring boroughs over the past six years. In July, the Coalition scrapped long-awaited rebuilding projects at schools including Parliament Hill, Acland Burghley, Maria Fidelis and William Ellis.
Fiona Millar, chairwoman of governors at William Ellis, said: “Most governors are having to make cuts, but the level of those depends on the number of students you have on roll. I think any chair of governors would be concerned about more places being created at a time when there are already vacancies.”
But Camden’s education chief Councillor Heather Johnson put school vacancies down to “parental choice”.
“That’s why we have vacancies in some schools while other ones are oversubscribed,” she said. “[Mr Baisley] wants us to go back to government and say we don’t want to build an academy, but there’s no way at this point that we would be able to renegotiate that funding for something else.”
She added: “I’m not saying that if we were starting the BSF process again, I would have gone down the route we’ve gone down. But the projections show we needed eight new forms of entry and I have no reason to discount those figures.”