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Councillor Sue Vincent |
Labour Politician: 'I had
to choose private school'
Councillor warns that places shortage makes children feel isolated
PARENTS are being forced to use private schools due to a shortage of places at Camden’s secondaries, a leading Labour councillor has claimed.
Sue Vincent, who lives in Bloomsbury, revealed on Friday that, despite believing in state education, she sends her daughter to a private school.
The one-time deputy council leader said her family had been forced into the decision because of the lack of secondary school places in the south of the borough.
Cllr Vincent said: “I never imagined it would turn out like this. I never thought I’d be sending my child to a private school but we felt, in the end, that we didn’t have a choice. I wanted to send her to one of Camden’s schools but there isn’t one we could have got her into.”
She was speaking at a meeting organised by the Dragon Hall community centre in Stukeley Street, Covent Garden.
Cllr Vincent said: “The admissions and appeals process does cause sleepless nights and not enough is thought about how it makes the child feel. It makes them feel isolated or left out, that nobody wants them.”
Asked whether she thought the problem could be solved by opening a trust school or city academy – built with the help of outside sponsors – she added: “It would depend who was behind it. If it meant we got a new school in this area and that parents still had a say in how the school was run then it might be a way to go. There would still have to be a fair admissions system and the right curriculum.”
Cllr Vincent said she knew of other families who had gone private or moved elsewhere – specifically Kentish Town – to find school places for their children.
Parent campaigner Polly Shields told how the pressure – supported by Holborn and St Pancras Labour MP Frank Dobson – to build a new school needed a boost after the initial excitement that surrounded a deputation to the full council earlier this year.
She said that the problem affected hundreds of families in southern wards such as Covent Garden, Bloomsbury and King’s Cross because the area was not covered by the catchment zone of the nearest school, South Camden Community School in Somers Town. Ms Shields said: “The campaign needs to keep its momentum. It is not something that is going to be built overnight but the problem is not going away.” She said campaigners were now targeting members of the Lib Dem and Conservative pact, in charge at the Town Hall since last month’s council elections.
The latest discussion coincided with suggestions that the Eastman Dental Hospital in Gray’s Inn Road, King’s Cross, could be a site for a new school.
University College London Hospital is thought to be ready to sell the building. Campaigners said council officials have visited the former hospital to assess the possibility of its use as a school.
New Tory education chief Councillor Andrew Mennear said that parents in a similar situation to Cllr Vincent should contact him as the Town Hall tries to work out how big the problem is.
He added: “Camden in the past has not kept a track of this but you can see that far more of Camden’s children go to Camden primaries compared to the numbers going to Camden secondaries.
“Many parents feel they have no option but to go private. We want to address this problem – we campaigned on this issue at the election – and I will be meeting the campaign in the next two weeks.” |
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