|
Pupils’ loss
• I WAS surprised to see a councillor citing “Camden’s historical shortage of school places” as a reason for supporting the building of an academy at Swiss Cottage.
It was only in 1998 that St Richard of Chichester School was closed. Furthermore there are spare secondary places in neighbouring boroughs and that is before other academies being built come on stream.
This year saw a very low level of secondary appeals which would seem to confirm a low level of dissatisfaction with the way places were allocated.
Too many surplus places and some schools are bound to become economically unviable.
This will be seriously detrimental to the pupils in those schools. Pupils at the new academy may well be offered improved educational opportunities, but it will be at the cost of declining opportunities for pupils in undersubscribed schools.
ANTHONY STOLL
Bayham Street, NW1
|
|
|
|