Montem Primary may merge with another school

RUMOURS are swirling in Islington’s playgrounds that the council is set to mount a formal challenge to a decision by the Department for Education (DfE) not to shut down a school.

The Town Hall this week confirmed it had sent a letter to the DfE asking for “their rationale” behind the decision not to close Pooles Park Primary School last year – and instead give the green light to it becoming an academy.

Islington Council had voted to close the school in Lennox Road, Finsbury Park, in June due to falling pupil numbers and an “inadequate” Ofsted rating.

Primary school admissions have been plummeting for several years as parents of young children turn their backs on London due to a lack of decent-sized affordable housing in the capital.

The decision to keep Pooles Park open has put Montem Primary School, in Hornsey Road, in line for a merger with another school.

The council this week said it would not release details of its correspondence with the DfE because the letter is “legally privileged”.

After the DfE announced in the summer that Pooles Park would be saved and become an academy, the council said another school would have to close as a result.

Months later the council targeted Blessed Sacrament and announced the potential merger of Montem and Duncombe primary schools.

In a recent report about amalgamation of the two schools, Islington acknowledged there were concerns at both schools around Islington conducting a “transparent decision-making process” in the run-up to any possible merger.

Council chiefs have until April to make a final decision about how to proceed next academic year, and education chiefs have made no secret of their feelings about the DfE’s decision to academise Pooles Park, describing it as “disappointing” and “undermining”.