St. Francesca Cabrini primary school may close permanently

[Dogkennelhillbilly]

alice Wrote:

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> Could someone list the special schools that are in

> southwark? Putting children with diverse sen needs

> together is not a good idea.

It entirely depends on the kid and their needs. Kids have not been helped by a dogmatic insistence on either "mainstreaming" or segregation for all SEN kids.

[Sally Eva]

plus +++ hundreds. The quality of the school is what matters not its description

[alice]

KMC Neither Beormund School nor Newlands Academy are for children with learning disabilities.

DKH just across the border Kelvin Grove has an excellent ASD 2 class unit within the school where pupils can increase gradually the time spent in ms classes.

[legalalien]

An update

https://www.southwarknews.co.uk/news/two-weeks-of-silence-over-17-schools-and-now-council-will-ask-for-interview/

[legalalien]

The oversupply of school places in Southwark was discussed at this week’s Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Commission - details at https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/ieListDocuments.aspx?MId=7373 including a link to the YouTube video of the meeting. It’s worth a watch.

Council are now openly acknowledging that there is a problem and it’s implicit in what they say that there will have to be further school closures. Seems that GLA demographic projections for London have been way off the mark - but I do find it strange that councils seem to have followed those blindly without looking at their own admissions data... there is mention of the fact that they have been managing PAN reductions over the last ten years - why keep building schools if you are seeing numbers fall?

Worth keeping an eye on the commission’s investigations. For example I’m mystified as to how Rotherhithe primary was recently rebuilt and expanded at great cost https://southwarknews.co.uk/news/education/albion-primary-rotherhithe-unveiled/ when it receives a fairly damning rating of its financial and operational controls https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/s107953/Internal%20Audit%20Annual%20Report%202021-22.pdf (page 37) and seems to be running with a significant annual financial deficit. Maybe the idea is that the new building will help it attract more pupils?

[sweetgirl]

James barber was part of the driving force behind the Harris primary East Dulwich

Any thoughts James?

[legalalien]

For info, the formal decision on closure of the school is to be made at the cabinet meeting on 6 December - more info here

https://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/mgAi.aspx?id=65537&LLL=0

For those wondering about the future of the building, the report says

“The councillors made suggestions for the council to keep the building for education purposes. This was explored by the education team, although it is not straightforward as the school building doesn’t belong to the council.”

Southwark’s strategy for the oversupply of places in the borough is also on the agenda for the 6th, I think that deserves its own thread with a separate title.