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How will your primary change?

Last week Southwark Council’s ruling executive voted in favour of five proposals affecting the primary schools of Bermondsey and Rotherhithe.

The proposals arose from an independent review of primary schooling in the area, carried out last year. If they were agreed we could see one school close, two more massively increase in size and many more primary and nursery places added on.

A public consultation will begin on Friday for six weeks. The executive will receive the results of the consultation in April and will then decide whether to press ahead with the proposals, by publishing notices. The final decision would fall in the summer.

Here WILL PAVIA takes us through the effects of the recommendations school by school. 

Galleywall would close

THE SCHOOL would stop recruiting new pupils in August this year. On the 31 December the school would close, its pupils moving to neighbouring primaries. Efforts would also be made to employ teachers elsewhere, but redundancy costs of £230,000 are expected. In the first eight months of 2006, the empty buildings would be refurbished, and in September Southwark Park Primary School would move onto the site, for two academic years, until 2008, while its Southwark Park site is refurbished. A feasibility study is underway into providing a new primary school on or near to the Galleywall site, to meet a projected shortage of places expected in the area by 2009.

The fifty-place nursery on the Galleywall site would stay open for the duration, and from August 2006 it would gain 25 extra places.

PARENTS AT Galleywall have been demanding that the council address the school’s poor academic record for years but many feel that this medicine will prove rather too bitter.

“As parents we feel let down,” said Bridget Barrett, a parent of two as well as support worker. Galleywall parents have met and will be organising a petition to fight the closure. “There is only one reason that Galleywall is closing – and that’s academic.

The building might not be the best but that is a side issue.

“I think a new school opening here in 2009 would be absolutely brilliant but no guarantees have been given. And besides, the children here now are going to be the losers. They need stability.”

Mrs Barrett would prefer to see a fresh start for the school with phased construction work whilst the children were on site.

Southwark Park Primary: Two years of trading places

THE NUMBER of pupils admitted to the school would be temporarily increased from 45 to 60 children for the years 2005/6 and 2006/7.

From 31 August 2006 pupils, staff and all would move into the empty Galleywall buildings, by then specially cleaned up and refurbished, while works are carried out on the Southwark Park Road premises to permanently enlarge the school building to cater for the “two form entry”. Two form entry means the school could take full classes of new pupils each year instead of the current one-and-a-half classes.

In 2008 the school would move back into the refurbished premises as a two form entry primary school. 

Eveline Lowe Primary - Enlarged?

HERE TOO, admission numbers would be temporarily increased from 45-60 from 31 August this year for two years.

The school can cater for the extra children by using “hutted accommodation” put up in the grounds while rewiring work is being completed. There will be consultation and feasibility studies into making the school permanently larger, a “two form entry” school, taking two new classes each year, instead of one-and-a-half. 

Grange, St Joseph’s RC (Bermondsey), Riverside, Albion: Moving up to two form entry and adding on new primary places 

OFFICERS WILL study the feasibility of increasing each school’s size to provide two entry forms. Another study may also recommend increasing the number of nursery places provided. In light of the Canada Water regeneration, the council will also consider providing extra places at Albion, or at Peter Hills, or in a new primary school in the regeneration area. 

May provide new nursery places

COUNCIL OFFICERS will study the feasibility of providing extra nursery places at all of the schools below.     

Peter Hills CE: May get bigger

PROJECTIONS FOR Rotherhithe show an eventual shortage of primary places and the commission recommended that the council consider providing additional primary places here in the long term, or at Albion School, or at a new primary in the Canada Water regeneration are. A feasibility study will look at the possibility of providing additional nursery places.

Redriff, Alfred Salter: Least affected

BOTH THESE schools would remain unchanged by the five proposals currently under consultation.

Both already boast two entry forms recommended by the DfES, both offer a full quota of nursery places. Both are over-subscribed, and stand on the edge of Canada Water regeneration, but extra places are more likely to be provided at Peter Hills, Albion, or at a new school nearby.

Snowfields: Potters Fields move?

THE INDEPENDENT commission recommended that the school increase in size to two form entry, although this was not included in the council’s current proposals. The school site is only a third of the government’s recommended size for primary schools, and seven of the ten classrooms in the Victorian building are below average size. The council is considering moving the school to purpose-built premises at Potters Fields, which could happen in 2009.

TOWER BRIDGE Primary would also move to Potters Fields in 2009, in plans being considered by the council, with Snowfields and, potentially, Cherry Gardens Special School sharing the site. 

  (Southwark News 10.2.05)

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Lambeth Schools: Best of British

Performance at Lambeth Local Education Authority (LEA) has improved by six percent, placing Lambeth in the top 6 nationally for 'value added' in the latest secondary school league tables. The 'value added' score measures the progress pupils make at school, taking in to account their starting point.

Lambeth's rating for five or more A* to C grades at GCSE has improved from 41.7 per cent in 2003 to 47.7 per cent in 2004. This year's improvement rate is the highest-ever recorded in Lambeth and compares favourably with the national improvement of one per cent.

Five schools - St. Martin in the Fields, Stockwell Park, Charles Edward Brook, La Retraite and Dunraven - stand out as having particularly high 'value added' scores, as well as two special schools - Elm Court and Lansdowne.

Archbishop Tension school shows the highest GCSE results improvements, up 17per cent, followed by steady improvement at Stockwell, Charles Edward Brooke, Dunraven, Lilian Baylis, Norwood and Bishop Thomas Grant.

"All the statistics this year show a remarkable improvement in the achievements of Lambeth schools, both secondary and primary, "said
Councillor Anthony Bottrall, Lambeth executive member for education.

"The continued improvements over the past four years reflect the excellent work of our teachers, support staff and officers. It is also a tribute to the LEA's advisory service, which was highly commended in our recent LEA OFSTED report." (Lambeth Life, Issue 10 - February 2005)

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Money for Schools

Lambeth has been included in the latest wave of Building Schools for the future (BSF) funding. The Department for Skills and Education (DfES) confirmed that Lambeth has received half the total of its original £275 million bid. The council is continuing to lobby Government for the remaining sum, which is vital to address the current shortage of secondary school places and to expand and improve existing schools.  (Lambeth Life, Issue 10 - February 2005)

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School Hall of Fame

Two Lambeth nursery schools have been awarded a place on a new OFSTED Honours list. Both Maytree and Triangle Nursery are named as schools that have received the watchdog's top accolade and have been praised as particularly successful in at least one of the Chief Inspector's annual reports.

OFSTED Chief Inspector David Bell said: "Our new internet 'honours list' stands as testament to the very high quality of education provided in our best schools, sometimes against considerable odds. I congratulate them for what they have achieved."  (Lambeth Life, Issue 10 - February 2005)

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Dubble win for Dunraven kids

A Lambeth School has been declared as having the best rap artists in the country after it won a national "Chocolate Rappas" competition, organised by Dubble Chocolate, Fairtrade and Comic Relief.

The two youngsters from Dunraven school are double prize winners, not only taking the 11-14 age category but also becoming Overall Winners in the competition. The talented duo were commended for their powerful lyrics about fair trade for third world farmers. Their prize includes a professional recording session with rap star Shysti, famed for her fast-rhyming, as well as a top-of-the-range Yamaha keyboard.  (Lambeth Life, Issue 10 - February 2005)

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Redriff’s Ryan wins sports award

RYAN JONES, an 11 year old visually impaired pupil at Redriff Primary School in Rotherhithe, was awarded The London wide ‘Junior Sportsman of the Year’ for disabled athletes at a Gala Dinner in the City Hall.

The award was presented by Danny Crates, a British gold medal winner in the Athens Paralympics.

Ryan who is in Year Six, has been participating in Football for the visually impaired at Arsenal and Tottenham, as well as athletics cricket and swimming. Ryan commented: “I am very proud – this has given me such a boost.”

Redriff School was also nominated and short listed for the category of ‘Inclusive Mainstream School’.

Headteacher Mickey Kelly, said “This is a fantastic achievement for Ryan – he is such a character, he is full of determination and drive, and he is a medal winner of the future. Despite his disability, Ryan participates enthusiastically and fully in all aspects of the school life – not just sport and PE. He is a great contributor to our school.” (Southwark News 24.2.05)

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Parents vent anger over primary

FEW ASSEMBLIES in Galleywall’s school hall could have been quite as charged as the meeting between parents, educational officers and politicians one week after it had been announced that Bermondsey primary was to close after years of drifting and inadequate support.

Parents told local MP Simon Hughes they were far from happy with the decision of his Liberal Democrat council colleagues to push ahead with the recommendations of an independent review and close the school in December 2005.

The review, headed by the director of the University of London’s Institute of Education, argued that in the light of the Department for Education’s refusal to fresh-start Galleywall, the large and failing Victorian school should be closed down. The idea being that the local education authority (LEA) could use the gap before today’s surplus of local primary school places becomes a deficit in 2009/10 to build capacity. Southwark Park School would move to the Galleywall site for a couple of years whilst their neighbouring site was expanded. A new school would then reopen on or near the existing site in 2009.

“If the school had been given proper support by the local education authority, if it had been allowed a permanent head, if it hadn’t been forced to rely on supply teachers then we wouldn’t be sat here now wondering whether or not we are going to have a school here in a year’s time, “said parent and support worker, Bridget Barrett, to whoops of applause.

Last January things looked rather different when, after months of debate, council leader Cllr Nick Stanton promised parents that the school would stay open. Yet now he says two things have changed. Firstly, the school has failed to improve, and, secondly the independent review has offered a constructive and holistic approach to improving Bermondsey’s schools over the long-term. “The position is as the position is. The school was given more time to turn things around but the standard is still unacceptably low.“ He accepted that no efforts had been made since last January to recruit a permanent head but said few candidates would have been interested with the independent review casting a shadow over the school’s future.

Simon Hughes MP told parents: “I do not support this school continuing on as it is. It isn’t giving a good enough education to your children.” This was a point Labour’s Cllr Simmons reluctantly agreed with. “If I was being opportunistic I would say it should probably stay open but being honest I find it very difficult to see a future now for Galleywall. Just too many parents have lost faith in the school and enrolment numbers are too low.”  (Southwark News 17.2.05)

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Most Improved

YEAR 2 STUDENTS at St Mary Magdalene Primary School in Peckham, which along with John Donne Primary, also in Peckham, was listed among the most improved in the country in schools’ inspectorate Ofsted’s annual report, out last week.

Both schools came out of special measures, imposed on failing schools, a year ago. “Good staff is the key,” said head Mary Keeble. ” And having parents behind us.”  (Southwark News 17.2.05)

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School gets £1.2 million sports hall

A BRAND new school sports hall is to be built in Camberwell after a long, drawn out process in receiving funding.

Southwark has pledged that construction will shortly get under way to build a new 9 metre tall building to provide facilities in Brunswick Park Primary School, Picton Street.

With planning preparations dating back five years, permission for the £1.2 million project was granted in the summer of 2003, but it stalled when Sport England could only come up with £1 million.

Over the past eighteen months, the school has been involved in talks with the council to see if the funding could be secured, and Sport England recently came up with another £200,000 to give the scheme a belated green light.

Southwark’s executive member for education, Cllr Caroline Pidgeon, said: “We’re delighted that we’re almost ready to go with the construction of the sports hall, which will mean new PE facilities for use by Brunswick Park School and for the local community.

“This £1.2 million project is one of several going on in Southwark schools thanks to funding we secured from the Sport England Spaces for Schools and Arts programme.

“Others include an art studio which is shortly to be constructed at St Paul’s Primary School and an outdoor games area at Gloucester Grove Primary School which is already in use.”

St George’s Primary School pupils will also have access to the sports hall, which was originally planned to have house four badminton courts.

However, it was replaced by a two-court model when it became clear that building costs would be too high.   (Southwark News 15.2.05)

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School’s job lot

A WALWORTH school has set up a furniture recycling scheme to save money – and helped ease the borough’s unemployment situation in the process.

Townsend Primary School in Townsend Street is working with Greenwich based organisation Green-Works to do up cupboards, desk and chairs that have already been used.

The non-profit social enterprise has already reconditioned two classrooms, and another two are to be spruced up in the summer.

The recycling scheme saved the school £3,000, and enabled a new teacher to be recruited until Easter.

School bursar Simone Ahern said: “Everything we have got in our classroom has come from another office. It’s fantastic.

“The money we have saved has gone towards taking on a new teacher for the school. It’s very helpful.

“Last year we started off paper recycling and now taken it further.  Next year who knows what we will do?”

Green-Works secures vast quantities of redundant office furniture from large corporations and re-distributes it to schools, colleges, charities, community groups, hospitals and small businesses. In the process this multi award-winning initiative creates valuable employment and training opportunities in economically deprived area across the UK.

Furniture that is in a good enough condition to be re-used is sold to a registered charity, while decent parts go to schools like Townsend.

Any office furniture that cannot be re-used is broken down into component parts and donated to art and drama projects for both children and adults.

It has enabled artists to create all sorts of innovative sculptures or stage props – some of which have been displayed at the Horniman Museum in Dulwich.

To become part of Green-Work’s initiative call: 0845 230 2231, email mailto:info@green-works.co.uk(Southwark News 10.2.05)

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Executive push ahead with Galleywall closure

Southwark Council this week reneged on its promise to keep Galleywall Primary running, recommending that the school be closed at the end of this year, and its pupils transferred to other primaries.

Before the final decision is made, a public consultation will take place on the recommendation to close, but parents with children at Galleywall believe the writing is on the wall for their troubled primary.

A deputation of some twenty parents attended the executive meeting on Tuesday night to register their anger and disappointment to councillors who last year promised that if the school did close, there would be an immediate fresh start or a move to a new building.

That decision was made in January, while the Liberal Democrats were fighting to hold a seat in the East Walworth bye-election.

Labour’s education spokesman Andrew Simmons told the ‘News’: “A year ago they were saying: ‘We will make this work.’ If you’re serious about that, you should go straight out and say we are going to appoint a really good head. They wouldn’t let the school advertise for a permanent head. Less than half the schools staff are permanent staff. They are mainly agency staff. I’m sure they work hard but they don’t represent a future for the school and I don’t think the Local Education Authority did either.”

The decision by the council’s governing executive follows an independent review of primary school provision in Bermondsey and Rotherhithe.

The closure of Galleywall was one of five recommendations arising from the report, and while the consultation takes place, there will be a feasibility study on the possibility of providing a new school on or close to the Galleywall site in 2009.

Nine months after the school is closed the whole of Southwark Park School, including some that have been placed there from Galleywall, would move to the Galleywall site while Southwark Park school buildings are enlarged.

Council leader Nick Stanton denied that the recommendations contradicted previous policy towards the school.

“The recommendation is that we physically close Galleywall School, which we are consulting about at the end of this calendar year, Southwark Park School then moves into the Galleywall building in September 2006, you can do some repairs to Galleywall in between. So Galleywall re-opens nine months later, but it’s called something else. It’s called Southwark Park School. In July 2008, Southwark Park School goes back to its original location, and the question then is what happens to Galleywall School.”

He said the recommendations were the result of looking at primary provision in the area as a whole. “The report makes clear that there are sufficient places in other schools to take Galleywall’s pupils in. At the moment you can cope with the impact of closing Galleywall. If you leave it two or three years it would not be possible.”

Galleywall, he said, would close for logistical reasons in the general primary school shake-up (“Where else are you going to put Southwark Park School while it is being refurbished and enlarged”) because of its poor academic record and because of continuing instability at the school.

Shouldn’t the council have been able to solve these problems?

“Everybody, the previous Labour council as well, have been trying very hard over the last five years,“ he said. “There are schools that have been on special measures a few years ago that have turned themselves around – look at Charles Dickens Primary. We have to look at what we are doing to support these schools. They need to say, how come other schools have managed and we haven’t.”

If Galleywall does close, the council promised to provide practical support to parents to get their children into a new primary, as well as support for pupils, where necessary, from educational psychologists.

The nursery school on the site will stay open, and a feasibility study, looking at how to provide more nursery places in the area, will be carried out.

Caroline Pidgeon, executive member for education, said: “The possible closure of Galleywall School and provisions of alternative places for its pupils was recommended by the commission as the best course of action to ensure a higher standard of education for the children concerned. We will be consulting fully with parents, residents and other stakeholders over the coming weeks before any decisions are made.”   (Southwark News 3.2.05)

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Problems solved in Peckham

Students from Archbishop Michael Ramsey, Notre Dame, Geoffrey Chaucer, St Michael’s, The Charter and Catford Girls with officers from Peckham Fire Station.

They were given problem-solving activities including cutting someone out of a car and making a dam as part of a three-day leadership course organised by charity Common Purpose.  (Southwark News 3.2.05)

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Making a song and dance of it

Bermondsey children who now know how to produce an opera travelled to the West End last Thursday to admire some of their own work.

The children, from St Michael’s School, were given a thorough grounding in the operatic arts last term, as part of an English National Opera programme to garner new opera connoisseurs.

With the aid of a professional photographer art classes began to photograph scenes, objects and people that reflected their own lives; pupils in the music department began composing scores for their own opera with a top composer. All were inspired by the opera A Child Of Our Time, set at the beginning of the Second World War and currently showing at the Coliseum on St Martin’s Lane.

“The children were taught how to create music using words out of context, making them mean something different, and working with a mixture of pictures and sounds that is the essence of opera,” said David Laurence, head of music at St Michaels.

Last Thursday, sitting in £60 seats, the pupils watched a full dress rehearsal of A Child Of Our Time. They then progressed into the Coliseum exhibition room, where their photos were on display, to perform the musical pieces they had arranged.

“Our students are now confident they could produce an opera of their own,” said David Laurence.  (Southwark News 3.2.05)

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