Despite overwhelming rejection of amalgamation at the informal consultation stage, the Brent Cabinet today approved moving ahead to a formal consultation on the merger of Malorees Infant and Junior School. The schools are in Brondesbury Park ward.
Patrick Martin, speaking on behalf of NEU members said that in their view an amalgamation would add nothing of benefit to the schools. They already operated as a Federation with staff teaching across the two schools with a single governing body and senior management.
Operating as a 2 form entry primary school as a result of amalgamation would result in a loss of funding of up to a annual £186,000 and this for a school already in deficit. They were being asked to agree a voluntary 5% cut in the hope of refurbishment. This would impact on the educational provision for pupils.
A previous successful bid for a multi use games area (MUGA) had been stopped when plans for a rebuild seemed to be likely. Rebuild as an option seemed to be in doubt given the economic situation and resulting building delays and increased costs.
Gwen Grahl, lead member for schools, was unable to be physically present and was then unable to connect online so Muhammed Butt, Council Leader, read out her statement.
She startd by offering to meet opponents of the amalgamation and said that its advantages included access to the DfE Schools Rebuilding Programme for both the infant and junior school.
Merging the schools would provide financial resilience and a robust case had been made by the Governing Body. She acknowledged the alarm and anxiety of parents and NEU members but said there would be no redundancies or worsening of conditions of service. There was no danger of academisation as had happened at Byron Court. The merged community primary school and foundation junior school would reopen as a maintained primary school: Malorees Primary School.
Shirley Parks, Director of Education, Partnership and Strategy, took questions in the absence of Gwen Grahl. She said that the funding reduction took account of changes in the national formula and assumed a new building.
Changes in the local area, including the situation regarding Islamia Primary and the attraction of a new building would mean the school roll would probably increase [funding is per pupil]. The schools were now in the active DfE rebuilding programme for consideration between April and December this year.
There had been parental concern that because the two schools were currently separate that a small number of infants were unable to get a place in the junior school. As one school they would be guaranted a place.
The Governing Body was confident that it could manage the funding reduction over a period without impact on staff
Amalgamation would ensure that the new school would help build one community and the school would only have one Ofsted inspection [one for each part of the school at present] relieving stress on staff.
Interestingly, the documentation revealed that there was no parent governor on the Governing Body at present. This is similar to the Byron Court situation where parents were not fully represented on the governing body.
The extent of the land for the two schools
Cllr Muhammed Butt concluded by assuring the delegation that there were no plans to build homes on the Malorees land. The Junior School Foundation would transfer their land to Brent Council. The situation at Kilburn Park, also a Foundation School, was different as the redesignation of the land for non-education purposes was a result of the South Kilburn regeneration.
On the issue that a 200 plus on-line petition against amalgamation had not been included in the documentation, Butt said that this was because it had not come via the usual route. It had been checked and the issues raised had been addressed in the Cabinet report.
There were no questions or comments from Cabinet members before they voted to go ahead with a one month formal consultation.
If amalgamation goes ahead (likely whatever the outcome of the formal consultation) the combined school would open as Malorees Primary School at the beginning of Summer Term, 2026.
