Teachers to fight closure of Moreland School

Published: 5th November, 2010
by PETER GRUNER

Teachers are threatening to resist plans to close a primary in Finsbury and transfer pupils to another school.

Members of the National Union of Teachers at Moreland School – due to close next year – intend to oppose the move, which means transferring pupils to nearby St Luke’s.

Many parents have voiced opposition to the scheme. Children will be housed in temporary classrooms at St Luke’s while a new £6million school is built on the Moreland School site.

Pupils from both schools will transfer to the new building, to be called St Luke’s. The St Luke’s site will then be used for housing.

Moreland’s buildings are said to be in a poor state and with 180 pupils the school is only half full. It has been consistently under-subscribed in recent years, with a surplus capacity this year of 55 per cent.

Staff at Moreland have voted unanimously to defend the community school. A spokesman said: “We applaud Moreland parents who petitioned Islington for a new building. It is grossly unfair to turn the parents’ wish to improve the school into a reason to close it.”

Despite assurances that jobs are secure, teachers fear redundancies. “We will oppose compulsory redundancies through our unions,” the spokesman said.

A formal consultation on plans for the Moreland site will begin in January but no building work would start before 2012.

Labour schools chief Councillor Richard Watts said the idea for the new school emerged after Moreland parents complained about the unsuitability of the building. 

He added: “However nothing is cast in stone and there are a lot of consultations to complete. The school was built in the 1960s and is well past its use-by date.” 

A public meeting to discuss the move is being held at St Luke’s school at 4.30pm on Thursday.