FAMILIES took to the streets for the second week in a row yesterday (Thursday) as they vowed to fight on against primary school closure plans.

This time protesters from St Jude and St Paul’s (SJSP), a Church of England primary near Newington Green, marched from the school gates to the Town Hall asking councillors for a rethink.

Islington announced last week that the school and Highbury Quadrant Primary were both being considered for closure due to a lack of pupils. A final decision is due in February.

Governors at SJSP – which also receives additional funding from local charity the Mildmay Trust – said last month that they were looking to turn the school into an academy to “remove the risk to its future”.

Rebecca Neale, who has a son in Year 6 and a daughter in Year 2, told the Tribune: “It’s so upsetting to even think that we’re going through this process. It’s a shock and it’s quite traumatic.

“I can’t imagine explaining to my child that her school is going to change.

“They [the council] don’t realise what they’re doing to these children. We don’t want to go down without a fight.”

Ms Neale said that SJSP teachers have been “amazing” at supporting her children, who have special educational needs and disability (SEND), including through a sensory room where children can go when they need a calm environment.

More than a quarter of students at SJSP receive SEND support, compared with a national average of 14 per cent.

Obobo Kelly Osahon Morrant, whose Year 5 daughter Isabella also has SEND, told the Tribune that she will likely have to home school her if the closure goes ahead.

She said: “We won’t cope. She’s just very, very happy there. It would affect me and her a lot if we didn’t have that school. We’re like one big family.”

In terms of pupil numbers, SJSP is the smallest school in Islington with 113 children and on a downward trend ­– which is the council’s main focus for closing it. Schools receive a set amount of money per pupil, so falling rolls make it harder for them to balance their books.

The school’s financial deficit – around £150,000 – is another reason cited by the council, although 12 other Islington primary schools also have a deficit and SJSP’s is not one of the highest.

Three other schools have already closed in Islington due to a lack of pupils: Montem in Finsbury Park, Blessed Sacrament in Caledonian ward, and Vittoria in Barnsbury.

Parents and pupils took their protest to the Town Hall to oppose the closure

SJSP is Islington’s only church school in the immediate vicinity – the next closest is around a 30-minute walk away – which means parents who prioritise the religious element of their children’s education will either have to travel much further to school, or transfer them to a church school across the borough border in Hackney.

Highbury ward Green councillor Caroline Russell told the Tribune: “The thing that I am most worried about is that the way the closures are happening, some children are going to end up travelling much further to school than should be the case.”

Cllr Russell said the problem of falling rolls is down to years of austerity, the cost of living crisis and lack of housing geared toward families – both in Islington and London as a whole – but that there are no “easy answers”.

An Islington Council spokesperson said: “We have worked closely with St Jude and St Paul’s for some time to explore alternative solutions and the proposed closure of a school is always the last option.

“We are currently consulting parents, teachers and school governors about the future of the school, and we welcome their views and feedback on the proposal.

“We will consider all views put forward during the consultation period, which ends on December 16.”