COUNCIL chiefs faced further questions over what they are doing to save a primary school from closure at a public meeeting in the Town Hall on Wednesday night.

Parents told officers and councillors that they did not want Pooles Park School in Finsbury Park to close – and questioned why there had not been more support after a poor Ofsted inspection last year. The response from the council remains that no final decision has been made with a consultation survey still running.

Schools supremo Councillor Michelline Ngongo told parents “no one is happy to close a school” and called them a “painful” experience for pupils, parents, staff – and the politicians.

She warned without enough pupils it was financially unsustainable to keep Pooles Park open.

Sarah Callaghan, director of learning, said children at the school were attaining lower grades on leaving the school when compared with other schools with a similar demographic – but that the school resisted change.

She added: “When you’re saying ‘why didn’t the local authority do something’, sometimes it’s very hard if you’re saying ‘this isn’t good enough’ and somebody doesn’t agree, and has a completely different view. Schools are responsible for their own outcomes.”

Parent Jan Dixon, whose daughter Maya left the school seven years ago, disagreed. She said: “Ofsted doesn’t measure nurturing because it doesn’t measure mental health of your pupils.

“Honestly, that school gave the best start in life to my child, because that school is like a family. We were running away from something and it nurtured us back to life.”