The closure of a primary school in the Kidbrooke Village development is likely to be rubber-stamped next week – but the site could be turned into a school for children with special educational needs.
Holy Family Catholic Primary School was proposed for closure in January, after it was revealed that it had just 128 out of a possible 210 pupils.
The school is the first in Greenwich borough to close since the pandemic as the number of children in inner London schools falls.
Greenwich Council’s cabinet will meet next Thursday and is set to approve the closure, to take effect from this summer, despite a consultation in which 81 per cent of respondents were opposed to the plans.
Falling numbers with the associated loss of funding means “the school has no capacity to recover its financial deficit”, with a projected funding gap of £362,000 next year, council documents say. The school’s governors have agreed with the plan to close it down.
The site is owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, which has also agreed with the plan to close the school, but is surrounded by land owned by Berkeley Homes as part of the Kidbrooke development.
A response from the council to one objector – Charlie Davis, the Conservative parliamentary candidate for Eltham & Chislehurst – reveals that the site could stay in educational use.
“The archdiocese has engaged with the council on the potential use of the site for a primary SEN school, but discussions are very much in the early stages and no decision has been made,” the letter says. “No discussions have taken place between the Archdiocese and Berkeley Homes.”
The council is already planning to build a secondary SEN school on the other side of Kidbrooke, at Hargood Road.
While the area’s population is growing with the new development and other homes being built in the area, the council says that there are 248 spare places in the schools closest to Holy Family.
Catholic schools within a two-mile radius, including those in neighbouring Lewisham, have 250 spare spaces.
Holy Family was assessed as “requires improvement” by Ofsted, while its neighbour in Kidbrooke Village, Wingfield – which has 62 spare spaces – was assessed as outstanding. Ealdham school in Eltham, its other closest neighbour, has 70 spare spaces.
A year ago, London Councils, which represents the capital’s town halls, predicted that the number of pupils in reception classes across the capital would fall from 96,424 in 2022 to 89,121 by 2027.