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We have
options for school site
• Thank you again to the CNJ for continuing to
report on our Campaign for a Secondary School in Holborn and
St Pancras.
As we said in our deputation to Camden Council we will work
with them to identify potential sites for the new school.
However, no formal list has yet been drawn up. The Eastman Dental
Hospital site in Gray’s Inn Road would certainly suit conversion
into a school, and it is ironic that it stands across the road
from Kingsway College that was originally built as a secondary
school and then sold off because inaccurate projections years
ago declared that central London was going to be a family-free
zone.
Yes, the Eastman could make a great school, but no approach
has been made to University College London Hospital by the campaign
and this is only one of several sites we are looking into.
There is a site with substantial educational use formerly belonging
to the British Museum near Drury Lane that also has potential.
The Post Office site at Mount Pleasant also looks interesting.
Finding a site is clearly something we can achieve. We are pursuing
all leads and are actively looking for new suggestions.
The sort of site that we’re looking for is one that will
take five to six forms of entry, supporting around 1,000 students.
We’re not ruling out a split site – an upper and a
lower school.
We understand the pressures on land and the commercial value
of buildings, particularly in this area of London, set against
the potential extra costs of dividing a school between two sites.
One of the significant differences between our campaign for
a secondary school now and earlier campaigns for the same school
dating back over 30 years is that the internet and our website
(www.whereismyschool.org.uk) make communication and information
flow so much wider and faster.
Campaign parents are able to find and exchange facts to draw
up a convincing case for Camden much more easily and accurately.
More people can get involved in the campaign much more easily
than in the past. We aim to work together as a community and
succeed where others have failed. Our children need and deserve
a local school.
Polly Shields
Millman Street, WC1 |
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