Several demonstrations were held aimed at trying to convince Islington to keep the school open

A GROUP of parents is taking Islington Council to court over its decision to close their children’s school.

Acting on behalf of parents at St Jude and St Paul’s Church of England primary school, two families have initiated legal action against the council for what they say was a “flawed” decision to close the school at the end of this academic year.

“We feel there was information that was overlooked, especially when it came to the financial status of the school, and in doing so they haven’t done a fair and transparent process,” explained SJSP mother-of-two Andri Andreou.

The families have applied for a Judicial Review of the council’s verdict – a type of court proceeding in which a judge reviews the lawfulness of a decision made by a public body.

Islington Council voted to close St Jude and St Paul’s and nearby primary Highbury Quadrant in April as part of its “School Organisation Plan”, a project to reduce its more than £10million schools budget deficit caused by falling birth rates and pupil numbers in the borough.

St Jude and St Paul’s is one of 17 Islington primaries running with a deficit and is the smallest school in the borough in terms of pupil numbers, which was the council’s rationale for closing it.

But they “massively picked the wrong school”, Ms Andreou said, noting that SJSP has one of the lower deficits and had already submitted a three-year plan to the council to reduce it.

Between finding out about the possibility of closure in November and the final verdict in April, the school also informed Islington that it had reduced its deficit of around £150k by more than a third, bringing it to around the £100k mark.

Islington’s report on the closure said there was doubt as to whether these figures could be “safely relied on”, as they had changed so quickly.

But Ms Andreou said: “The figures were changing because the school were responding to the fact that we needed to make these changes.”

SJSP is unique, she added, because it benefits from the Mildmay Trust, a charity that supports extra music lessons, school trips, laptops and child care for the local community.

Details about the Trust were “either left out, glossed over or deliberately manipulated” in the council-produced report that informed the closure decision, Ms Andreou said, and this is part of why parents are challenging it through legal action.

This will not be the first time Islington goes to court over its school closure plans.

Last August a dispute over whether Finsbury Park primary Pooles Park should be allowed to become an academy to avoid closure went all the way to the High Court and cost the council almost £90,000 in legal fees.

Pooles Park was eventually spared, doing little to help Islington plug its budgetary black hole.

Islington Council said it cannot comment on a legal challenge, but referred us to a press release that said closing schools was a last resort.

It added: “The council’s priority is to ensure that every child in Islington, regardless of their background, has access to a high-quality education in a sustainable, well-resourced school.

“St Jude and St Paul’s Church of England Primary School has a 46 per cent vacancy rate and the lowest pupil numbers of any primary school in the borough.

“The long-term trend of declining pupil numbers, combined with the way schools are funded nationally, makes it increasingly difficult for these schools to continue operating and to provide their pupils with the high-quality educational experience they deserve.”