After weeks of silence over the future of seventeen primary schools, Southwark Council has now told the News it will ‘ask’ to see if they can set up an interview with the authority’s education boss – leaving anxious parents still in the dark.
The council has said they will share a briefing paper with the News but that it won’t be able until next week at the earliest.
At a May 16 meeting at St Francesca Cabrini Primary School, in Honor Oak, (pictured) which is itself facing closure, parents were reportedly told by a Local Authority representative that up to seventeen schools could close due to Southwark’s declining birth rates.
For two weeks, the News asked the council to confirm whether this was true or not – and the inquiry was left unanswered. This paper also asked for an interview with Cllr Jasmine Ali, Southwark cabinet member responsible for schools, but again received no answer. Finally, it was suggested this week that an interview would be requested.
One parent at St Francesca Cabrini Primary school spoke of her frustration at feeling uninformed by the council, saying: “The pain is that us parents are now looking for schools in Southwark but we don’t know if they might close.
“The school must have had an inkling that numbers were falling and if they’d told us, parents could have done something about it but they told us absolutely nothing.”
The Local Authority figure speaking at St Francesca Cabrini Primary school also allegedly said birth rates wouldn’t bounce back until 2034, with admission numbers unlikely to recover before 2038.
According to Southwark Council’s ‘State of the Borough Report 2022’, the birth rate has decreased every year since 2010. In 2020, there were just under 3,600 live births compared to 5,100 in 2010.
However, until there is confirmation from the council, it is unclear whether this could result in primary schools permanently closing their doors.