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Consultation on school move was a rushed process
• THIS week myself and the other ward councillors for St Pancras & Somers Town called in the executive’s decision to co-locate Frank Barnes School for the Deaf with Edith Neville Primary School on the Edith Neville site in Somers Town.
Both Edith Neville and Frank Barnes are excellent schools with dedicated and inspiring headteachers.
Our concern is not that Frank Barnes should have a home in Camden, around which there is complete consensus, but that this decision should be taken in the face of deep reservations from the head and governing body of Edith Neville.
Camden’s consultation and discussion with Edith Neville has been scant at best, and at worst almost non-existent. In this rushed process there has been no time for the two schools to forge a common understanding about what co-location would mean in practice and how it would work.
By calling in the decision, what myself and colleagues were asking for was a pause for thought, prior to a decision taking place, to allow proper time for discussion between the two schools and agreement on the principles that would underpin working together on a shared site.
The scrutiny committee considering the call-in was packed with parents, pupils, teachers and governors from Edith Neville.
Like them I am disappointed that the opportunity was not taken to press pause; to allow both schools to feel comfortable with both the process and outcome.
Many warm words have been spoken and assurances given about how the voices of both schools will be heard and their views taken into account in shaping a new shared future.
There will be very many people watching – not least the parents, pupils, teachers and governors from Edith Neville – to hold the executive to account to ensure that these commitments are honoured.
Cllr Anna Stewart
Labour Leader of the Opposition
Solutions
• MONDAY night saw the latest chapter in Labour’s attempts to undermine plans for a brand new secondary school for Camden (a school which the Lib Dems promised and Labour failed to build in the 35 years they ran our borough).
In doing so they also undermined the future of Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children.
Thankfully, the deaf children at Frank Barnes School, and the unique education they receive, will be protected well into the future.
It is strange that Labour councillors now appear to be opposed to the relocation of Frank Barnes School at Edith Neville Primary, despite their own leader having joined the high profile campaign to keep Frank Barnes in Camden, and that being the recommendation of a cross-party group chaired by a Labour councillor.
I have a tremendous respect for the teachers, parents and pupils at Edith Neville School. Together they have built up a first-rate primary school that Camden should be proud of. The best way of preserving and enhancing this excellent school is not to turn back the clock but to sit down at the negotiating table and properly discuss how the relocation of Frank Barnes can be used to drive up opportunities for Edith Neville children even further.
Many councillors have been involved in this process, and I have worked closely with my colleagues Heather Johnson (Lab) and Lulu Mitchell (Con), with whom I sat on the Frank Barnes working group. We had to make difficult decisions, balancing the needs of many different Camden pupils.
If Labour genuinely want to help they should accept that Camden’s schools are not a political tool; respect the findings of this cross-party group, as the executive have done; stop scare-mongering, and offer some clear solutions.
Meanwhile, the council must properly listen to Edith Neville’s concerns and be much, much clearer about how their plans for the site will benefit Edith Neville’s pupils and families just as much as they will benefit Frank Barnes.
Cllr Matthew Sanders
Liberal Democrat,
Haverstock ward
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