School closure protests earlier this year

NEARLY a third of pupils from two Islington primaries that were closed down this summer have moved to Hackney schools, costing Islington Council more than £300,000 in funding.

A Freedom of Information request by the Tribune revealed that 55 out of the 187 pupils displaced by this summer’s closure of Highbury Quadrant and St Jude and St Paul’s primary schools have moved across the borough border.

These figures only represent pupils in Years 1-5.

As councils receive around £6,000 per pupil from the government to fund primary education, this means a £330,000 loss to Islington’s education budget.

National Education Union co-lead in Islington Pippa Dowswell told the Tribune the closures were an “own goal” for Islington Council.

“They would argue that it will have cost them more to keep the schools open, but it’s not an insignificant amount,” she said, adding: “I think it’s absolutely tragic that these two schools have closed. Those children now have to go out of borough to get their education when they could have stayed in a small class, where children would get the attention they need and they would have an opportunity to flourish.”

Both Highbury Quadrant and St Jude & St Paul’s are close to the borough border, meaning a Hackney school may have been nearer, and therefore preferable, for families than another Islington school once those two closed.

The decision to shut schools was in response to a falling birth rate and dwindling pupil numbers in Islington, where St Jude & St Paul’s was the school with fewest children and Highbury Quadrant the only school in the borough with a “requires improvement” Ofsted rating.

School budgets are largely related to the number of pupils on roll, so the closures were an effort to redistribute children among fewer, but fuller and therefore better-funded schools.

Ms Dowswell added: “The whole process of closing those schools took up a lot of time. I feel the energies of the council should be spent fighting for a change in the funding formula – fighting for small class sizes to be valued, rather than doing something destructive.”
Islington Council’s children and schools chief, Labour councillor Michelline Safi-Ngongo, said:

“Across London schools are facing challenges – pupil numbers are falling, and budgets are being squeezed.

“Closure is always an absolute last resort, and we carried out an extensive consultation in which we listened really carefully to all of the feedback and suggestions from teachers, parents, carers, and children.

“There is a long-established pattern of pupils crossing borough boundaries to attend school. For example over 1,700 Hackney-resident pupils attend Islington schools, with more than 900 going in the opposite direction (January 2025 figures).

“Parents have the right to choose where their child goes to school, whether in Islington or elsewhere.”