Parents say the school in Finsbury Park has been unfairly assessed and say it must be kept open

SCHOOL leaders at a Finsbury Park primary school labelled ‘inadequate’ in a recent Ofsted inspection have called for a reassessment after issuing a complaint with the government’s school inspection body.

Parents at Pooles Park in Lennox Road say they have been told the school has already made a formal complaint about the findings of a two-day inspection in November, which it had failed in a number of key areas including leadership and reading.

They are now in the process of calling for an internal review of their complaint – and have told parents they want the school reassessed.

Parents – who were warned at a meeting last month the school could be closed by Islington – have said their children are “devastated” by the report and insist there is “no way” the school can be failing. Last month they presented Islington Council with a 133-signature petition calling for the school to remain open and be reassessed.

At that same meeting, parents were told of a plan to replace the entire board of governors and had applied to the Department for Education for approval to put in an Interim Executive Board (IEB).

The chain of events looks set to the see the school become an academy with a bidding process for academy sponsors already under way. But supporters of the school say academisa­tion would cause upheaval and would therefore negate the need for an IEB; something they are against.

Paul Levy’s 10-year-old son Uchenna joined the school when he was five; he was non-verbal autistic, still in nappies and had an eating disorder. Now, his life has been turned around, largely thanks to the school, he said.

“You can’t shut him up,” said Mr Levy, proudly describing how not only is Uchenna now talking, but loves school and regularly beats all other pupils in the weekly times tables challenge.

Adrianna makes her view clear

Explaining that parents felt “shocked and extremely upset” when they heard the school had been rated inadequate, he said they “vehemently disagree with Ofsted’s one word rating”.

He added: “We do not want the school to close nor for the current staff to leave or for the culture of our school to change.”

Last month, Islington National Education Union’s Ken Muller said Pooles Park needed “support by sympathetic professionals and resources” rather than “being labelled as a failing school” and closed or turned into an academy.

He highlighted the damaging effect of Ofsted inspections in the light of the death of Ruth Perry, a headteacher in Reading who took her own life following an inadequate rating from the schools inspection body.

More widely, the NEU wants to see Ofsted scrapped and the introduction of peer assessment between schools.

Pooles Park is understood to have one of the largest numbers of pupils with special educational needs (SEN) in the borough, with few if any exclusions that parents could think of.

Liudmyla Hunko, whose nine-year-old daughter Adrianna joined the school a year ago as a Ukrainian refugee, said: “My daughter was really depressed and I was depressed. Now she calls her teacher her second mum. It’s like a family for us. Every adult knows my child. The best thing that happened to her this year is that school and that’s what they want to close down now?

“It’s shocking. I can’t believe it. We’re not ready to start all over again. We don’t want to change the school or the teacher.”

An Islington press officer said: “Islington Council and the leaders of Pooles Park Primary School are determined to give every child and young person the best start in life, including an excellent education that gives them the opportunity to thrive and fulfil their potential, as we work together to create a more equal future.

“While we are all disappointed with the outcome of Ofsted’s inspection assessment, we accept their findings. As is the standard procedure, the Department for Education has issued an academisation order for the school. However, this could be a lengthy process and this particular out­come is not guaran­teed, therefore no final dec­isions on the future of the school have been made.”

They added: “Right now, our top priority is the quality of education the children receive and so the school leadership and Islington’s education team are working very closely on plans to immediately improve education standards and address the issues identified in the report.”