Pupils at Pooles Park celebrate news the school will not be shut down and instead be turned into an academy

PUPILS at a Finsbury Park primary school screamed cheers of delight on Monday after they were told by teachers their school had been “saved” from closure – after an academy sponsor stepped in at the eleventh hour to take it over.

After months of uncertainty at Pooles Park School, and just four days after Islington Council signed off on a decision to shut it down at a meeting last Thursday, the Department for Education (DfE) announced the Bridge Trust would be stepping in to run it.

The Town Hall responded by warning that with the school in Lennox Road being kept open, another nearby school somewhere in the borough is now likely to close as pupil numbers – particularly in the Hornsey area where Pooles Park is based – continue to fall.

Whitehall Park, Montem and Duncombe primary schools are also in the Hornsey ward and each has a higher vacancy rate in their reception classes this year than the borough average of 20 per cent.

Islington’s education chiefs said they were “disappointed” by the announcement on Monday.

A spokesperson added: “The decision taken by the DfE means there will still be too many school places locally, which means these schools will continue to not be funded properly. The decision will now force us to consider the closure of another good local school.

“The DfE’s actions have compromised the council’s statutory duty, and moral responsibility, to ensure children can access an excellent education.”

It confirmed that staff at Pooles Park will keep their jobs, but their employment will be transferred to the academy sponsor.

Some within the council have questioned the management of school places across the borough, with schools in some wards struggling to fill places while other areas have seen families forced to send their children to neighbouring boroughs.

There are those who feel the best outcome would have been to close Pooles Park immediately following its ‘inadequate’ rating by Ofsted in November, which could have avoided the academisation notice.

But for the Pooles Park school community, the news was a reason to celebrate after weeks of trying to convince the council not to close it.

Paul Levy, part of the Parents Supporting Pooles Park Primary School, posted an emotional tribute to the other parents in their shared whatsapp group immediately after they received a letter from the Bridge Trust.

It said: “The letter you all received today should be kept in a safe place to be used as a life lesson for your children and grandchildren. You can not win every fight but you get nothing if you do not fight. Because of our campaign we have now secured the most beautiful school in Islington for children to enjoy for the next 127 years.”

He added: “This campaign is our legacy to the children in the vicinity of the school – ensure you pass this legacy on to your children.”

Parents had faced a nail-biting wait over the weekend to hear whether the DfE had approved the sponsor after the London regional board met on Thursday morning.

Previously parents had written to the government asking for The Bridge to be allowed to come.

It already runs The Bridge schools near Caledonian Road and Holloway and The Satellite School for children with autism in Archway. These parents felt the trust was a better fit for their school as it has a higher rate than the national or borough average of children with special educational needs (SEN).

A letter sent to parents on Monday from the chief executivce of the Bridge Trust stated she was “delighted” to have been approved.

Dr Penny Barratt OBE added: “This means that the school will not close. We anticipate Pooles Park working very closely with Hungerford School, another primary school already in our Trust.”

An Islington spokesperson said: “Any proposal to close a school is a difficult decision and a last resort when all other interventions have failed.

“But closing Pooles Park – which is less than half full and was recently rated Inadequate by Ofsted – would have supported the future of neighbouring schools which are all rated Good by Ofsted and face similar problems with surplus places.

“The closure would have improved their ability to deliver an excellent education to all their pupils, including those transferred from Pooles Park, while reducing their surplus places and improving their financial stability.”