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Forget the children but let grass grow
• ANDREW Mennear is a principled councillor. He may feel he is "setting the record straight" in his letter (School facts could be better, Oct 26), but there are a few facts he missed out.
He is right to say data supporting the need for school places in the south and the north-west of the borough was reported to the Schools Organisation Committee in March. But what was also reported then was the following: "(the BSF programme) will require considerable analysis...In order to strengthen the analysis of projections and patterns of parental preference, we may need to undertake some detailed surveys to support the statistical analysis".
At that meeting, the committee recommended that this detailed survey of parental preference be carried out as soon as possible.
No such survey has been done. Instead, a 'questionnaire' for parents is being put into the borough's freesheet, 'Your Camden'. Do we really think that such a vital decision for the borough's children can be supported by such a cheapskate 'consultation' device?
Cllr Mennear states that 54 per cent of children attending the five Camden primary schools in our area got places in Camden secondary schools this year, suggesting that the problem is not as great as our campaign knows it is.
But of that 54 per cent, nobody knows how many of those children are siblings of children at their chosen school, thus gaining a place automatically.
Nobody has mentioned how many gained automatic entry because of their special needs. The true figure for children not in these categories is much lower.
The other conveniently forgotten fact is that around a third of Camden children living in this area can't get into a Camden primary school, so are forced to go to primaries in (mostly) Westminster.
These children are not taken into account at all by this statistic, and yet it is highly likely that they too can't get a Camden secondary school place.
All this was pointed out to the Schools Organisation Committee in March by our campaign, which is why the committee strongly recommended the need for a detailed survey of parental preference. The idea that "there is no conflict with Quintin Kynaston school" (which is 400 yards from the proposed school at Swiss Cottage) is disingenuous.
At the moment, the school prioritises children from Westminster primary schools, as is that borough's policy. However this school is currently consulting on whether to attain 'trust' status, which would enable it to opt out of Westminster's policy and set its own admissions.
If this happens, the two schools' catchments will overlap almost exactly.
Meanwhile, we in the south of the borough fall outside the catchment area of any secondary school. Is this fair?
We are told "the site search did not identify any appropriate, affordable site south of Euston Road". Readers will know that there is an appropriate site - our campaign has suggested the Eastman Dental Hospital which is big enough and would be appropriate.
The key word here is "affordable", and we all know that land in Holborn is not cheap. But there are ways through this - could the council strike a deal with UCLH, the hospital's current owner?
The expansion of South Camden Community School by 60 places will not solve the problem for families living south of the Euston Road.
Quite apart from the fact that these places will immediately be absorbed by the proposed 60 place a year primary school in the King's Cross development, the new catchment area will be a only a few extra yards on the existing radius around the school.
It will still not cover the majority of the families in our area.
We urge the council to do the detailed survey that it promised six months ago. The children of this community have needed a secondary school for decades - we will not stand by and watch the council make this huge mistake.
POLLY SHIELDS
Holborn and St Pancras Secondary School Campaign
Millman Street, WC1
• ANYONE reading last week's letter from the Executive Member for Schools, Cllr Andrew Mennear, might have got the impression that the majority of council members in the new administration were sympathetic to the educational challenges faced by children and families living south of the Euston Road.
One of Camden's best local primary schools, Christopher Hatton, has been fighting plans from aggressive developers to double the height of the school's boundary wall, very close to the nursery playground.
Twice in the past two years, Camden have refused permission and the planning inspector has rejected the appeals by the developers on the grounds that the proposals would harm the education of pre-school age children by robbing them of light.
But in the committee last week, did the new councillors show any concern about the education of children in the south of the borough?
Not a bit of it. The only thing they were interested in was whether the proposed building would have a green roof, recycled materials or a grey water recycling system.
The welfare of Camden's children and the environment of the school were incidental in their desire to be seen to be green.
The message is: forget the children in the south of the borough, so long as there is some grass growing on a building.
CHRIS GILES
Vice chair of governors, Christopher Hatton School
Grafton Crescent, NW
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