Southwark headteachers have blasted Southwark Council’s approach to the school admissions crisis, citing regeneration’s “huge impact”, and saying there has been no “sense of a coordinated approach”.
One headteacher said he was “very aware that schools have to close” but feared schools with pupils from low socio-economic backgrounds were most vulnerable.
Exclusive: The fight is on to help sixteen cash-strapped primary schools
In June, the News broke the story that sixteen primary schools were in a budget deficit and risk closing because falling pupil admissions had caused a funding shortfall.
The council has blamed Covid-19, Brexit, declining birth rates, the cost-of-living crisis and unaffordable housing for the exodus of Southwark families.
While recognising that unaffordable housing has contributed to the crisis, the council does not say that its own regeneration policy has contributed to this. But at the Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Commission meeting on Monday, October 17, the council’s own actions were brought sharply into focus.
Makeda Williams-Pinnock, headteacher at Elephant and Castle’s Victory Primary School, said: “The regeneration itself… well first of all let’s just think about what the word regeneration actually means.
“It actually means a process of growing… and to be honest, all that I can really see growing in the locality is lots of bright shiny buildings because the indigenous population has been decanted far and wide and although a certain section of housing was promised to them they’ve actually been priced out of the market.”
She said that even one-bedroom flats near her school cost as much as £2,500 per month, making it “nigh impossible” for families to live nearby.
Elephant Park, a five-minute walk from Victory Primary School, saw the Heygate Estate’s 1,200 council homes demolished and replaced with just 92 social rent homes.
Ms Williams-Pinnock also said closing the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre had forced parents to relocate in search of jobs, exacerbating the issue. “It’s almost been like a deconstruction of families and the support system because aunties and uncles and grandmothers do not live next door to each other… they’ve been decanted… and we all know how much child care costs nowadays, [which] again has the financial burden on families,” she said.
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Schools get funding on a ‘per pupil’ basis and schools across London are facing shortfalls in cash as families leave the capital. In a letter to the former Secretary of State for Education, Nadhim Zahawi, Cllr Jasmine Ali had previously urged him to rethink the funding formula.
Andrew Rojas, headteacher at St George’s Church of England Primary School, Camberwell, said: “I’m very aware that schools have to close, I understand that. My want is that we’re not just gonna close schools that are like mine, from the lower socio-economic background where the parents, through no fault of their own, are not able to fight… or understand what is actually happening…”
Helen Ingham, headteacher at Ivydale School in Nunhead, agreed that a lack of affordable housing was a problem, adding that communication from council officers had been lacking. She said: “I always think that communication could be better… I’ve attended many, many meetings where there’s been lots of discussion about this, and talk about strategy and talk about steps moving forward and then there being complete silence and things not happening or random things happening without any kind of a sense of a coordinated approach.”
For example, Ms Ingham highlighted Southwark’s attempt to reduce her school’s pupil admission number (PAN) last year, saying the consultation was “flawed”.
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The teachers also said pupil vacancies had caused “education tourism” in which parents, exploiting pupil vacancies, shuttle their children between different schools. “One of the things we’re starting to notice is that parents… because schools have vacancies across the borough… that it’s much easier for parents to just… you referred to it as ‘school tourism,” said Ms Ingham. “There’s a lot more mobility in terms of people just moving their child to another school and that being a relatively straightforward process,” she added.
Ms Williams-Pinnock compared the situation to a “laundry” where teachers “iron out” children’s needs, only to see them whisked away elsewhere.
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Ms Ingham said schools could consider making the process of changing schools “slower” so parents don’t act on “the spur of the moment”.
Asked by Cllr Cassandra Brown to what extent falling admission numbers were related to declining birth rates, as has often been cited by the council, Ms Ingham agreed it had had an impact. But she said birth rates were declining before her school opened a second building. Ms Williams-Pinnock said the council’s projections had been awry, over-estimating future school admissions even as birth rates were declining.
Deputy Leader, Jasmine Ali, said: “We absolutely recognise the issue of a lack of affordable housing; it’s a London-wide problem that is very much in focus in Southwark. We have started the highest number of affordable homes in London, and are on course with our target of 11,000 new council homes by 2043. This is a contributing factor to falling rolls, alongside the other national issues of a low birth rate, the fallout from Covid-19 and Brexit. I know this is an uncertain time for parents, but I can reassure them that we are developing a comprehensive strategy to tackle school budget deficits. We urge parents to support their schools and work with us, head teachers and school governors as we continue to provide an outstanding education for children in Southwark.”