Westminster Council is to hold public consultations on whether five Westminster primary schools should be amalgamated in two separate merger proposals, as they battle falling pupil rolls and growing financial deficits.
Governors at Our Lady of Dolours and St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary schools, which sit in the Bayswater and Westbourne wards in the west of the borough, are proposing the two merge ahead of the start of the September term.
Parents from both schools have however started an online petition opposing the plans, warning of consequences including “crowded classrooms” and a decrease in the quality of learning.
Under the proposal, Our Lady of Dolours would move into the St Mary of the Angels site due to its own building being deemed to be “unsustainable” and with limited disability access.
Both schools report being in financial difficulties as a result of fewer pupils, with Government funding allocated on a per-child basis.
As of October 2024, Our Lady of Dolours reported being at 54 per cent capacity and St Mary of the Angels 80 per cent, culminating in estimated deficits this year of £550,000 and £186,000.
A public consultation on the proposed merger was run from mid-January until February 28. In the consultation, the Chair of Governors at each school, Ike Offiah (St Mary of the Angels) and Timothy Howard (Our Lady of Dolours), wrote the falling pupil rolls were forcing a rethink.
They wrote: “Both schools hold good Ofsted ratings and the Catholic Schools Inspectorate judged the Catholic life of both schools to be outstanding. However, in order to protect Catholic Education and to continue to provide a high-quality education that is well resourced and offers a wide range of opportunities, it is the view of the governors of both schools, the diocese and the Local Authority of Westminster that the schools should merge together to create a strong and sustainable Catholic school.”
All pupils from both schools are to be offered a guaranteed place under any merger, and the current head at Our Lady of Dolours, Sarah Alley, is earmarked to become the new headteacher.
The parents’ petition, which at the time of writing has received 137 signatures, however raised the “distress” caused to some as a result of the proposal, with concerns including the potential impact on educational standards.
“The proposed amalgamation would push our school to operate at 130 percent capacity, leading to crowded classrooms and a likely decrease in the quality of learning,” the petition read.
“Moreover, only half of the pupils from Our Lady of Dolours practice as Catholics. This discrepancy might cause a significant change in the religious character of the STMA community.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has not seen the results of the Governor-led consultation from earlier this year.
The local authority, Westminster City Council, has now published plans to run on its own consultation on the proposed amalgamation.
Unless it is called in by opposition councillors, Westminster’s consultation will run for four weeks from April 24.
Both schools were approached for comment, though due to the Easter break no responses were received.
Falling pupil rolls are affecting schools across London, with the number of children attending Inner London primary schools forecast to drop by 12 per cent between 2023/24 to 2028/29.
Westminster is one of the boroughs worst-affected, with schools in the Abbey Road and Regent’s Park wards also looking to merge as a result of similar challenges.
Governors at three schools in St John’s Wood have said they will proceed with plans to merge despite a consultation finding 83 per cent of respondents were against the proposal.
The decision has received a frustrated response from several parents, with one saying they are “frankly astonished” at the update.
The co-chairs of governors at one of the schools wrote they understand the news “may not be welcomed by all”, though that they believe it offers the best way forward.
The proposal now goes to Westminster City Council to hold a formal consultation.
Barrow Hill Junior School, Robinsfield Infant School and George Eliot Primary School announced plans last year to form a new St John’s Wood Primary School.
Under the proposal, the new school would initially be based between George Eliot and Barrow Hill before the lower school would move from George Eliot to new facilities on the Robinsfield site.
A letter to parents in December said the proposal was due to a falling number of primary school-aged children wanting to attend community schools across Inner London.
The pupil rolls at each school were given at 82 per cent of capacity at Barrow Hill, 85 per cent at George Eliot, and 75 per cent at Robinsfield.
“Making this change now — before we might be forced to due to budget pressures — keeps the future in our community’s hands, allowing it to be shaped by our collective choices and preferences,” the letter read.
Parents have however queried the need to bring the schools together in a merger, raising concerns over what it would mean for their kids’ educations, whether Barrow Hill in particular is facing a deficit, and uncertainty regarding the data provided to validate the proposal.
A consultation ran until January 24 this year, the results of which have now been published.
According to the consultation report, 190 written responses were received across the three schools.
Answering a question on whether they agree with the proposed amalgamation, 83 per cent of people selected they either “tend to disagree” or “disagree”, against 12 per cent responding positively.
Of those who selected “agree”, seven were parents, one a child, six staff and one “other”.
Barrow Hill received the most engagement and opposition, with 95 per cent of its 110 responses against the proposal.
The consultation report noted the main themes in the Barrow Hill responses included concerns over the impact on education, pace of change, denial of choice, the rationale for the proposal, and the consultation process.
On the rationale, the report stated: “Many responses questioned the rationale for the proposal, given the number of new homes being built in the area and the impact of VAT on private education both having the potential to raise demand. Some questioned the need for a rebuild of Robinsfield, and others whether the council had ulterior motives in removing children from the site. There were a lot of responses which raised concerns about the wider impact of the proposal on local residents and businesses.”
George Eliot meanwhile received 38 responses, 64 per cent of which were opposed to the merger, and Robinsfield 42, with 72 per cent against and 19 per cent in-favour.
In updates posted to the schools’ websites, governors wrote they have given support to the local council to proceed with the next stage of consultation.
One parent, who has a child at Barrow Hill, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “Out of 190 people who responded only 15 people ‘agree’ (six of these 15 are staff), yet the governors are going ahead with this proposal. This was clearly a fake consultation.”
Another parent, with a child at Robinsfield, said the community feels ‘blindsided’ by the proposal, with the sense the consultation was done at a time that intentionally fell within the school holidays.
“The community needs to be heard, not silenced,” they said. “Give us what we want, which is the amalgamation of Robinsfield and Barrow Hill. Why was the possibility never put on the table for us to vote on?”
A third parent added they were dubious about the fairness of the process from the start.
“I have just read the consultation results and am frankly astonished that the overwhelming views of parents and other stakeholders have been ignored and the governors are moving ahead with the proposed merger. We were informed the process would be fair and governors would be reflecting the views of all the stakeholders when coming to a conclusion.”
Jeff Masters and Gabbie Joseph, Co-Chairs of Governors at Barrow Hill, wrote in their update: “This was a very difficult decision, not least because of the many legitimate concerns parents and carers have raised. You will see in these documents there is little question that parents and carers who responded to the consultation are opposed to the proposal in its current form.
“However, having explored alternatives, we believe the proposal still offers the best available route to a sustainable future for our school. We understand this decision may not be welcomed by all.”
Nicola Bustin, Chair of Governors at Robinsfield George Eliot Federation, wrote: “We acknowledge that some of you may not be happy with this decision and we are truly sorry for any distress it may cause. We appreciate the significance of this news for families and staff and we are committed to supporting the leadership team in addressing practical and logistical concerns you may have if this should go ahead.
“I know that some of you have expressed concerns as to the disruption you feel your children may suffer, but let me assure you we will do everything we can to minimise this. We remain fully committed to providing quality education and care to your children.”
The council will run its consultation for four weeks from April 22.
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