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 Youngsters from Fleet primary, Hawley infants and Frank Barnes schools who took their protest to the Town Hall last night (Wednesday). From left, Georgina Williams, Maria Christofidis, Saskia Shuker, Florence Clapcott, Ruta Vysniauskaite, Bessie Gorman, William Grint (in wolf mask), Georgia Grint and Krishan Parmar |
SAVE SCHOOL, SAY 'GHOULS!
Children’s Halloween trick forces Town Hall into rethink
CHILDREN played the ultimate game of trick or treat last night (Wednesday) when they knocked on the Town Hall door of senior councillors and spooked them into making promises over the future of an award-winning school for deaf pupils.
Instead of the traditional Halloween bartering for chocolate and sweets, primary school youngsters flooded the public gallery of a council cabinet meeting in witches’ hats and cosmetic blood to fight for Frank Barnes School in Swiss Cottage.
It has faced uncertainty since Camden announced plans to seize its land in Adelaide Road, demolish it and replace it with a city academy for older students.
The proposal is all part of the Town Hall’s grand plan to reorganise education in the borough with the help of a £200 million grant from government.
Caught off-guard and faced with rows of mini-draculas holding 'Save Our School' banners, Liberal Democrat councillor John Bryant, who runs the council's children's services department, was left to make his boldest pledge yet that Frank Barnes would not be sidelined in the overhaul.
He said that any proposal would ensure “equivalent or better provision than the provision at Frank Barnes now.”
Cllr Bryant later hinted that the Camden would find extra funds if more money was needed to safeguard the school's future when a final decision is made in February.
Protesters said it was the first time Cllr Bryant has made such an assurance in public despite months of negotiations and maintained that it might not have been made at all if it hadn't been for their dogged campaign.
Governor Mike Katz said: “We won't be going away. If London, one of the richest cities in the world, can't maintain a centre like Frank Barnes, which is internationally recognised, then what hope is there for deaf children anywhere in the country.”
When he finished a deputation to councillors, the children cheered and raised their hands and shook them left and right – the signing formation for applause.
The campaign leaders are more than aware that while the children enjoyed Halloween at the Town Hall and clearly left some experienced councillors rattled by their passionate pleas for help as much as their fright night face-paint, no pledges have been firmed up as official council policy.
The school could end up being merged with Blanche Neville in Muswell Hill or tacked onto an existing Camden primary as a unit for a smaller group of pupils.
Governors and parents instead want Camden to stump up money to build a new centre, possibly on the same site as Torriano School in Kentish Town.
Mr Katz added: “Building Schools for the Future (the government's grant scheme) should be about education across the borough, not just hearing pupils. If they are talking about ?200 million, surely there is four or five million to build somewhere for Frank Barnes. What we don't want is a small unit where about eight students are left and feel alone. There should be a deaf school for deaf children.”
William Grint, ten, who lives in Swiss Cottage and goes to Frank Barnes, signed the message: “Don't close the school – everyone'll leave and it's not fair.”
His sister Georgia, ten, who helped organise the protest, added: “I don't like the idea of his school being smashed down. I know it will be but it might not be built up again. Then the children of Frank Barnes won't have a school to go to. They can't go to a school with hearing students because there aren't any deaf staff.” |
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