Following the unsuccessful but hard fought campaign to keep the Roe Green Strathcona site open LINK, including suggestions for additional educational use, there was speculation about the future use of the site. Recently Islamia Primary parents were told it would be offered to Islamia, a voluntary aided school which is due to leave its present Queen's Park site and requires larger accommodation to meet a strong demand for places.
Islamia parents have launched a petition to have the new two form entry primary school planned for South Kilburn to them, citing low pupils numbers at Carlton Vale Infants and Kilburn Park Juniors as not justifying their occupation of the site. They argue that Strathcona in Kingsbury is too far away from Islamia's present site in Queen's Park and the move and travel involved will impact on less well-off families.
Brent Council will point to an anticipated increase in pupil numbers in the future as the redevelopment of the South Kilburn estate continues. as justifying allocation to Carlton Vale and Kilburn Park. It would be an estate school serving the whole local community and minimise the need to travel, thus addressing climate emergency goals.
This is the petition LINK:
We the undersigned petition the council to Allocate the brand new 2FE school (that will be built as part of South Kilburn's regeneration area) to Islamia Primary School. There is no shortage of mainstream primary school places in the area, most primary schools in the area are operating well below capacity. However, Islamia is oversubscribed and needs a permanent new building to house its 420 children.
Islamia Primary School (established in 1983) is a two form entry faith based voluntary-aided school situated in Queen's Park, North West London.
Islamia Primary school's children have been served with an eviction notice from the Yusuf Islam Foundation. The school is at risk of closing down if a new site is not found soon.
Islamia's parents feel extremely anxious and have already outlined how the current proposal to use the former Roe Green Strathcona school site (which is over 6 miles away from the school's current location) to house Islamia's children is highly unsuitable, unaffordable, unsafe and impractical for current families. It will sadly leave behind the most disadvantaged and vulnerable families.
Brent Council has informed Islamia families that there are no options at the moment due to the shortage of land in the area.
Nevertheless, the council is in the process of delivering a brand new 2 Form Entry school as part of the current regeneration scheme in South Kilburn.
The future school is currently earmarked for Carlton Vale infants school and Kilburn Park school.Government data shows that these split site 2FE schools are currently operating well below their full capacity:
Kilburn Park ( NW6) currently has 110 pupils enrolled although it can accommodate 240 and Carlton Vale (NW6) has a capacity of 230 spaces, currently only 78 of those are filled.
Moreover, most neighbouring Brent schools are also operating well below their full capacity and can easily accommodate children from the demolished schools.
On the other hand, Islamia is a heavily oversubscribed and popular faith school and the hardest primary school to get into in Brent. There are currently 420 pupils enrolled and the school also has to manage a long waiting list.
Islamia is the only state funded Muslim denomination school in the area therefore, if the school closes down, this will have a detrimental impact on the lives of the Muslim children currently attending.
For these reasons, it is utterly incomprehensible why Islamia, an oversubscribed Brent school is not being considered for the new school.
Please secure the future of Islamia
Started by: Jamad Guled
This ePetition runs from 07/07/2022 to 18/08/2022.
395 people have signed this ePetition.
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