Informal consultation reveals strong support for Strathcona School but formal closure consultation to go ahead

A report going to the next Brent Cabinet meeting reveals overwhelming support for retention of the Strathcona school which the Council has earmarked for closure but recommends that Cabinet go ahead with formal consultation on closure:

RecommendationL Cabinet approves a period of formal consultation, through publication of a statutory notice, on proposals to:·change the age range of Roe Green Infant School from 3-11 to 3-7·reduce the school’s Published Admission Number (PAN) from 150 to 120 for September 2020·implement a phased closure of the provision on the Roe Green Infant School Strathcona site.

The Council's handling of population projection data and its competence at planning school places was questioned by respondents with many asking why the authority had created large 3-5 form entry schools. There are calls for the scrapping of the controversial new Ark primary school due to be built on the car park of York House on a busy road in Wembley Park.

The Council was criticised for not promoting the school enough and questioned as to why it was choosing to close high quality provision.

Concern was expressed oveer the impact of closure on individual pupils and their families.

Brent Council responded that the closure was due to falling demand and not about the quality of education.

Full Consultation Report (Click lower right square to enlarge)