Schools left in "term of paralysis" - Southwark failures laid bare by parents and teachers at education committee

A lack of communication and some actively harmful policy decisions form the council have made life harder for struggling schools and nurseries in Southwark.

Representatives of St Mary Magdalene Primary School, named by the council for potential closure, and Kintore Way Nursery School, currently facing closure due to a £1m budget deficit, attended the committee last night.

Both schools cater for large numbers of children with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

Both sets of parents, teachers and governing individuals explained how the council had not properly communicated with them whilst experiencing issues.

St Mary Magdalene Primary School was identified for potential closure in Southwark's 'Keeping Education Strong' strategy in May. In the following months, the school received delayed replies or not reply at all when attempting to engage with the council.

The school was left, as one of the school's governors described, in a "term of paralysis", while parents took their children out of the school due to fears of closure.

Thanks to Lib Dem support, the council has now confirmed St Mary Magdalene can set up a nursery in order attract more pupils and more funding, despite initially dismissing the proposal.

Kintore Way Nursery School is facing closure due to a £1m budget deficit caused by the government's funding model for SEN students which can bypass nurseries.

Other boroughs, including Wandsworth and Lambeth, have set up funding models to ensure that nurseries receive their fair share of SEN funding.

Southwark has failed to provide this support, despite Kintore Way first approaching the council for help in 2018 when the budget deficit was only £2,000.

The Labour cabinet member responsible for schools did not attend the meeting.

Commenting, vice-chair of the Education and Local Economy Committee Cllr Rachel Bentley said:

"Firstly, I am so glad a way forward has been agreed for St Mary Magdalene which could see the school saved. However, the lengths they have had to go to in order to get a basic level of engagement from the council is disgraceful. Sadly, we are seeing the exact same with Kintore Way – there are clear solutions that will keep the nursery open and the council needs to act now to make sure it does. Redundancy notices have already been issued and urgent action is needed.

Both these schools are successful, well-loved institutions in the community. We all understand the pressure on public finances but the council's the consistent lack of communication piles needless pressure on struggling schools and parents. This is repeatedly raised as a failure of this council across multiple departments. It requires a shift in culture that puts residents at the heart of decision-making – that shift cannot come soon enough."