Join Our Campaign – Our Estate Needs A Primary School

Posted on by stmartinsresidentslambeth

Thanks for everyone who came to our meeting on why our estate needs a primary school. Here’s how you can help the campaign

Summary

The meeting was help in Fenstanton School. It started at 7:15pm

Present: Gillian Roberts (Fenstanton headteacher), Cllr Olga Fitzroy (local councillor), Stephen Kearney (Chair), Chris Blake (minutes), 6 other residents

Apologies: Cllr Saleha Jaffer

Introduction by Gillian

There are falling primary school roles throughout the borough.  Lambeth has launched an informal consultation on next steps which runs until 18th August.  The Formal consultation starts sometime in September.  The decision made sometime in November.  We will know the result before Christmas

Lambeth’s current proposal is to close Fenstanton, Holy Trinity (on Upper Tulse Hill) and St Saviours (in Herne Hill).  Under the proposal this closure would take place in August 2026. 

At the moment this is just a proposal.  The school is trying to prevent this.  Gillian believes if other schools reduce their intake this should be enough to keep Fenstanton viable.

The school has tried to engage parents. It is harder than for other schools as many parents don’t speak English as their first language and may not know how to navigate a consultation.  They have been out in the community knocking on doors asking for residents’ support.  And they are working with partners [minute taker’s note: including the residents’ association which opposes the closure].  The school believes Fenstanton is the hub of the community. [minute taker’s note: and two of their students helped design our logo]

Fenstanton is a very diverse school.  50% of pupils have a pupil premium (at one point they would have been entitled to free school meals but now all primary school students in London have free school meals).  Just over 50% who speak another language, predominantly Spanish and Portuguese, also French and Somali.  Over 94% come from BAME background. 

Merging with another primary school is hard.  Merging with Jubilee Primary School on the Tulse Hill estate is hard due to gang rivalries, intervention to stop this needs to start at primary school.  Merging with Holy Trinity is hard as Holy Trinity is a faith school [minute taker’s note:  Cllr Olga says there is a requirement to keep the percentage of faith schools in an area roughly the same even if pupil numbers reduce]

If Fenstanton School is closed there is an issue about what happens to the building.  Nobody [minute taker’s note: including Cllr Olga]  wants the site converted into flats.  One option is to use part of the site for children with Education Health and Care plans. But that would work better if part of the site was retained as a primary school

Questions From The Floor

Stephen from Gaywood Close asked how many children come to the school from our estate.  Gillian said some children come from the estate, others come because they have a support network in St Martins.  So she knows of a family that were rehoused in Croydon but continue to send their children to Fenstanton because they have a support network at the school and friends and family on the estate.

Stephen from Baldwin House asked what would happen to existing students in Fenstanton were to close.  Gillian said that would be up to the local authority but she imagines they would go to Streatham Wells school. [Update: Lambeth Council has now said “Where a school closure has been formally approved Lambeth School Admissions would apply a process in accordance with the School Admissions Code, School closure 2.33. I can confirm all children on the roll at a closing school would be secured a school place at another Lambeth school, this would include children on the roll of a closing school who are not a Lambeth resident”. Thanks to Cllr Olga for chasing this]

Comments From The Floor

Alex has twins in Fenstanton.  She is a single mother who came to London from South America.  It is a perfect school as it is so close and so supportive of families who speak English as a Second Language. 

Gloria’s three children went to the school.  Now her two grandchildren go to the school.  It is part of the community. She also understands why people from outside of the estate go.  Her grandchildren live in Forest Hill but prefer to go to Fenstanton as that is near Granny

Lesley has worked at the school for a long time and has seen how it has changed, and changed for the better.

Next steps

Lambeth council are running an informal consultation until 18th August.  Everyone should respond and ask all their friends and family to respond.

Rita said two parents in her nursery who applied to Fenstanton in March and were told there were no spaces.  There were.  Cllr Olga will investigate.  If anyone else is affected by this please contact the residents association. [Update: Cllr Olga has now replied to say “officers confirm that all pupils naming Fenstanton as first choice were offered a place”]

Gillian and Cllr Olga will work together to try and find options to present to the council that address the issues of financial viability and pupil numbers.  Cllr Olga stressed she needed concrete proposals for an alternative to present to Cllr Ben Kind, the relevant cabinet member

Conclusion

Conclusion Cllr Olga said “I don’t want Fenstanton school to close. I realise doing nothing is not an option but I would love to support the school leadership and the community to find ways to keep Fenstanton open in any way I can”.

The meeting closed at 8:10pm

ENDS

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