The council says falling pupil numbers mean it cannot afford to stay open
Staff and parents protested at Newham Town Hall today (Tuesday 16th) as council leaders discussed the possible closure of a primary school.
Newham Council’s cabinet committee voted to launch a formal consultation on proposals to close Calverton Primary School in Custom House. The council says falling pupil numbers mean it cannot afford to stay open. The number of applications for places at primary schools in the capital fell last year due to the falling birth rate, as well as families leaving the city after the pandemic and Brexit, councils said.
Councillor Sarah Ruiz, responsible for education, said there was no other solution “which enables high-quality education to continue within the available resources”. The council is considering closing the school as it has a £1.1million budget deficit underpinned by falling pupil numbers.
The amount of funding a school receives depends on the number of pupils it has. But schools across London are facing falling pupil numbers. The council says a number of schools in the borough are having to reorganise classes and cut staff to cope with falling pupil numbers. But it says Calverton Primary School is in an even worse position as its pupil numbers have fallen faster than others.
Speaking to councillors at a scrutiny committee yesterday (Monday 15th) the council’s director of education. Annabel Bates. said pupil numbers at Calverton began to fall before the broader decline in children seeking school placements.
She said this happened after an Ofsted inspection in 2022 found it “requires improvement”. Bates said: “Around that time it became less popular with families which meant that the pupil numbers began to drop before the impact of dropping numbers of children. So they were already undersubscribed. They were at a disadvantage already because of those historical issues.”
Another inspection in July this year found Calverton was “outstanding” in all areas, and Bates said it had “improved significantly”. But she added: “But they already had a challenge because they started with a deficit before the numbers started to drop.”
The council now says that even with several new homes set to be built nearby, it doesn’t believe the numbers of pupils will rise enough to be able to pay off the deficit.
Cllr Ruiz told Tuesday’s cabinet meeting: “Unfortunately for Calverton Primary School there is not a solution which enables high quality education to continue within the available resources. This is why we must now consider the option of closure.”
She added: “We fully impact the impact this will have and the concern that this will have on pupils, parents, staff and the wider community and we will be providing all the support we can at every stage.”
But speaking at a protest outside the town hall, National Education Union (NEU) rep Liam O’Hanrahan said the council could come up with a “rescue plan” that would allow the school to pay off its deficit “over a long period of time”.
He said this would mean “all the children would be able to continue without the disruption to their education and the good practice that is there will carry on”.
Cabinet members voted to launch a statutory consultation on the proposals, which must last for four weeks.
They must then consider the responses to that consultation before making a final decision in December. If they agree, the school would close in August 2026.
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