As parents and pupils continue to fight to save them, the future of Highbury Quadrant and St Jude & St Paul’s primary schools will be decided later this month

TIME has run out for the public to weigh in on the proposed closure of two Islington primary schools but parents say they have “not given up yet”.

Later this month, councillors will make a final decision on whether to shut Highbury Quadrant and St Jude & St Paul’s primary schools, whose communities have been campaigning against the plans.

Islington Council has said declining pupil numbers, which leads to dwindling funding for schools, means there are “no credible alternatives” to closure. But Highbury Quadrant parent Alicia Perez believes otherwise, and has taken solutions into her own hands.

Ms Perez said she had been in touch with Councillor Michelline Safi-Ngongo, Islington’s children’s chief. She said: “When I spoke to her she said, ‘If you bring [alternative] proposals we’ll be happy to look into it.’

“I’m just a parent – they have experts being paid thousands of pounds and then they ask this from parents – we have absolutely zero experience. This is ridiculous, but it felt to me like a hopeful thing to do.”

Ms Perez penned three alternatives to closure: merging the two at-risk schools; establishing a federation between Highbury Quadrant and another school, meaning they would share teachers and other resources; and renting surplus classroom space to community organisations to increase revenue.

Each of her suggestions, seen by the Tribune, are fully costed and Ms Perez has been working on them day and night.

“I have become ill with the stress – I’ve lost so much sleep you cannot even imagine,” she added.

“The council could try my proposals, and if they don’t work, then fair enough, no one can claim they haven’t tried. But we haven’t seen anything being done to try and save our school.

“Even until the day that the decision is made, we haven’t given up yet.”

Up the road at Church of England primary SJSP, parents have similarly submitted suggestions around a merger of the two schools, although their preference would be for Highbury Quadrant’s students to move to St Jude & St Paul’s building, which is newer and wheelchair accessible.

The school is also in the process of trying to become an academy to avoid closure.

If successful, it would mean government funding for SJSP’s pupils would no longer go towards Islington’s education budget, and therefore do little to help the council’s budgetary problems.

As well as fighting to show the council there are viable alternatives to closure, parents continue to argue there will not be enough local school places for their children.

SJSP mother Andri Andreou told the Tribune that during the four-week public consultation on the closures, the council agreed to send parents a list of alternative schools within a one-kilometre radius of their home addresses. She was sent a list of seven schools – five in Hackney and none of them church schools. She asked the council to extend the radius to one mile, which added two church schools to the mix.

Ms Andreou said: “So they’re telling me I’ve got two church school options – one of those is full, and the second one has just faced a discrimination case against a SEND child. I’ve got no faith in sending my child there. They talk about parental choice, but if I’m an Islington parent choosing to send my child to a church school in Islington, you can’t actually offer me anything within 1.5 miles of my house.”

Both at-risk schools are close to the border with Hackney, and Islington Council has repeatedly said there are many places available in the neighbouring borough for Islington pupils.

But Ms Andreou added: “They have no jurisdiction over Hackney schools. They’re offering us schools that they have no oversight of and Hackney are closing schools too.”

Schools are run by local authorities but funded by central government at a fixed amount of around £6,000 per pupil, so while closing two schools with budget deficits would help the council balance its education budget, Islington would also lose funding if pupils move to Hackney schools.

Cllr Safi-Ngongo said: “Highbury Quadrant primary has a 55 per cent vacancy rate and a long-standing budget deficit. St Jude & St Paul’s has a 46 per cent vacancy rate and the lowest pupil numbers of all primary schools in the borough. The long-term trend of declining pupil numbers makes it increasingly difficult for these schools to be viable.

“No decision has been made yet but if the decision is made to close the schools we will provide dedicated support to help parents and carers find the right school for their children. Nearby schools have sufficient places to accom­modate all pupils without increasing class sizes to unsustainable levels.

“Any parent who approached us with alternative ideas, we strongly recommended them to take them to the school as it is the responsibility of the school and school governors to work with parents on those ideas.”