Camden New Journal – We Need Another School.
20 October 2005MP joins parents’ campaign for secondary places
FORGOTTEN families in the south of the borough are moving out of the area simply to boost their chances of success in the frantic chase for secondary school places for their children.
This is the warning from parents who have launched a determined campaign to get a new community school built south of the Euston Road.
Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson last night (Wednesday) said that he sympathised with the campaigners.
He said: “Many people with children at primary schools in the south of the borough find it very difficult to send them to local secondary schools.”
Mr Dobson said the shortage of places could have been soothed by Camden Council’s proposed plans to prioritise entry for pupils at the borough’s primary schools – a policy that collapsed when the Office of Schools Adjudicator ruled that it was unfair.
Known as ‘Fortress Camden’ and severely criticised by parents on the Islington side of the borders, the proposals would have reduced the numbers of students from outside of the borough claiming places at Camden’s high-performing secondaries.
Mr Dobson said: “I supported Camden Council with those plans for feeder schools because it is such a difficult situation now. I sympathise with the parents. In a way it is a testament to the popularity of Camden’s schools and how successful they are but it has left a problem for parents. I’m not even sure the adjudicator really followed the rules of natural justice because as far as I know they took representations from those who objected and not from those who supported the council.”
School place campaigners in the south of the borough say that although Bloomsbury, Covent Garden and Holborn have enough primary school places to go around, there are few options for secondary school age pupils.
Protester Emma Jones, mother of two primary school pupils, said: “Families are being forced to uproot and try to move into school catchment areas but many cannot afford to and very few want to. There are many local children who have no offer of a place at secondary school at all and have to remain on waiting lists for intolerable lengths of time with no idea when a place will become available.”
She will be among protesters collecting signatures on a petition in St George’s Gardens on Saturday afternoon.
Two hundred people have already put their names to the campaign, even though it was only thought up last week.
Parents claim that land could be found during the refurbishment of Westminster Kingsway College in Gray’s Inn Road.
Ms Jones, who lives in Guildford Street, King’s Cross, added: “This site has been in educational use since before the war. We believe it should remain in educational use and be used to build the secondary school we so urgently need, which would share the site with the reorganised Westminster Kingsway college. This is not simply an issue of choice of shopping for the best schools for our children, it’s an issue of need.”
A council press official said yesterday (Wednesday): “We are aware of the pressure on secondary school places across Camden and have been monitoring this. With rising pupil numbers in the borough, this is an issue kept under constant review and reported regularly to the School Organisation Committee.”
She added: “We have already expanded South Camden Community School (Somers Town) and Haverstock School (Chalk Farm), and will consider options for secondary expansion as part of our Building Schools for the Future programme. The council does not currently own a suitable vacant site for a new school but we will consider opportunities suitable for secondary provision.”
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