School closures/mergers in September 2024

Overview of decision process

On 11 December, Hackney Cabinet agreed on the proposals to close or merge six schools in Hackney, as a result of the significant decrease in their pupil numbers. 

The schools that will close in September 2024 are:

• De Beauvoir Primary School
• Randal Cremer Primary School

The schools that will merge in September 2024 are:

• Colvestone Primary School and Princess May Primary School, onto the Princess May site. This means that Colvestone will close in August 2024, with all pupils offered the option of moving to Princess May if they so choose
• Baden Powell Primary School and Nightingale Primary School, onto the Nightingale site. This means that Baden Powell will close in August 2024, with all pupils offered the option of moving to Nightingale if they so choose

Read the report that informed the decision.

Note: This page is for informational purposes only. For more details about the project and next steps please check the agenda and the Cabinet report for the 11 December meeting (item 10) and agenda and decisions of the September 25 Cabinet meeting (item 8). 

On 25 September, Hackney Council’s Cabinet decided to proceed to publishing statutory proposals to close / merge a number of schools in the borough: 

• Proposal to discontinue Randal Cremer Primary School under s15 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006
• Proposal to discontinue De Beauvoir Primary School under s15 of the Education and Inspections Act 2006
• Proposal to discontinue Baden Powell Primary School and amalgamate the student body with Nightingale Primary School
• Proposal to discontinue Colvestone Primary School and amalgamate the student body with Princess May Primary School
• Proposal to increase Nightingale Primary School from 1 form of entry (1FE) to 2 forms of entry (2FE)

A four-week representation period of statutory consultation began on 6 October, during which all those interested were able to object or make comments. The closing date for receipt of responses to the representation period was 3 November 2023 at 5pm.

View the Statutory Notices and Full Statutory Proposals. 

The Council’s Cabinet met in December 2023, to take the final decision on whether to proceed with the proposals.

Support for families, children and staff

Pupils, families and staff affected by the upcoming closures are able to access targeted support to help them during the transition. 

Since the beginning of the year, officers and school leaders have been working together to manage the transition and find the right solutions for families and staff impacted by the decision. 

Find out more about the support available.

About the proposals

Hackney Council considered proposals on closing or merging six primary schools, as a direct result of the significant decrease in pupil numbers which has caused some schools to face serious financial and sustainability pressures. No changes will be made until September 2024 at the earliest.

Snapshot 2022-23

• 58: number of primary schools in the borough
• 2,900: overall number of reception places in Hackney in 2022-23, the equivalent of 97 classes
• 634: number of vacant reception places in 2022-23, the equivalent of 21 classes
• 589: ‘missing’ number of reception-aged children compared to 2014 - the equivalent of 20 lost classes 
• 5%: healthy reception vacancy rate 
• More than 20%: current overall reception vacancy rate 
• £6,484: the amount each primary school in Hackney loses per pupil vacancy in 2022-23 
• £4.11m: funding missing in 2022-23 from school budgets in Hackney as a result of vacant reception places
• More than £30m: the 2022-23 overall loss in funding for the 58 primary schools in Hackney across all year groups, compared to what they would be entitled to if running with all classrooms full 

State-maintained schools lose money for each empty school place, every single year.  

It means less money for staff; less money for resources and equipment; less money to pay bills and to carry out maintenance work; and less money for extracurricular activities. 

This income loss means it is no longer practical for some schools to function as effectively as possible in response to the needs of their children, and means that in time the education and offer to their pupils and staff will suffer as a result. It is our duty, as a Council, to ensure all pupils receive the very best education, and that all schools in Hackney remain strong and stable. 

There are 58 primary schools in the borough, and the Council considered proposals of closing two schools and carrying out two mergers of two schools each.

The potential changes are in no way a reflection on the work of the schools’ staff and leadership, or on the quality of teaching.

Proposed closures

Schools to close in September 2024 are:

• De Beauvoir Primary School
• Randal Cremer Primary School

Proposed mergers 

A merger (also known as amalgamation) brings together two or more schools to form one school - on one site and under a single leadership.

Four schools in the borough are currently considered to potentially merge into two schools on one of the existing sites. 

The schools that will merge in September 2024 are:

• Colvestone Primary School and Princess May Primary School, onto the Princess May site. This means that Colvestone will close in August 2024, with all pupils offered the option of moving to Princess May if they so choose
• Baden Powell Primary School and Nightingale Primary School, onto the Nightingale site. This means that Baden Powell will close in August 2024, with all pupils offered the option of moving to Nightingale if they so choose

Merging schools that have seen large decreases in pupil numbers can bring significant benefits, including:

• Increased specialist expertise from a wider teaching team
• Stronger finances
• Increased resources
• Increased potential for school improvement

Why is this happening?

These closure and merger plans are a very last resort. However, they are a direct result of the significant decrease in the number of local reception-aged children. 

It follows a year-on-year decrease in numbers, a trend being seen in the majority of London boroughs. Factors that account for this decrease include falling birth rates, families relocating outside London (as a result of the pandemic and other factors including housing costs, the return to Europe of families as a result of Brexit). The Greater London Authority (GLA)’s projections available for Hackney indicate the surplus reception places will rise up to 23% in 2025-26, and then slowly decrease and stagnate at 20% until 2031-32.

In autumn 2014, there were only 10 unfilled reception places out of the 2,865 available in Hackney (0.35%). By autumn 2022, this number rose to 634 unfilled reception places out of the 2,900 available in Hackney (21.86%).
 

Factors considered by the Council when considering possible alternatives and solutions to the ongoing decrease in the number of school-aged children in Hackney included: 

• Schools most financially at-risk   
• Number of vacant places
• Physical size of schools and suitability of sites to host a merger
• Geographic partnership options (such as the existence of other schools within walking distance)
• Whether new neighbourhoods and new-build estates will create significantly more need for school places in the future 
• Current Ofsted grading and projected outcomes of pupils 
• Community impact

The schools that the Council decided to look at saw their total number of unfilled reception places go from 6 out of 270 in 2014 (2.22%) to 101 out of 225 (44.88%) in 2022.  

In 2022-23, maintained Hackney primary schools lost on average £6,484 for every surplus place. That means that in 2022-23 there was around £650,000 lost funding just from the six schools’ 101 unfilled reception places.

Significantly smaller class sizes might sound like good news, but the opposite is true, because this reduces the amount of money the school receives from central government. 

This is because many costs are driven by the number of classes in a school, whereas funding levels are driven by the number of pupils.

Schools receive funding from the government based on the number of pupils they have.  

Now some schools are facing a significant income loss. This means they have less money to:

• Pay salaries
• Provide the good quality of education that we expect for our children
• Provide extracurricular activities
• Access the most modern equipment and resources

It also means that some schools, especially small schools on larger sites, can no longer afford to continue to pay for maintenance, and escalating heating and lighting costs.

More than 90 percent of the borough’s schools are Ofsted-rated ‘outstanding’ or ‘good’ and are considered some of the best in the country. We are proud of our children and young children, who are among the first in the country for reading, writing and maths. 

If no action is taken it is inevitable that quality of education and outcomes for Hackney children are at risk and the Council will be liable for the costs of schools worst affected by falling rolls as they move into debt or increase their deficit and eventually close for financial reasons. The Council has a legal duty to ensure that schools provide high quality places for the children. We need to ensure all our schools continue to provide excellent education for our children, with the very best resources and facilities.

The Council, simply, can’t do nothing. In 2022-23 alone, primary schools in Hackney were set to lose more than £30m in funding compared to what they would have been entitled to if they were running with all classrooms full.

More than two thirds of Hackney’s maintained primary schools have budgeted for an in-year over spend at the end of the 2023-24 financial year. This trend is expected to continue as roll numbers continue to fall. The October 2023 census shows even fewer children joining reception in Hackney compared to the Greater London Authority’s earlier forecast, with three additional reception classes remaining unfilled this year (92 children). 

We know schools have very close ties to their local area and communities, that’s why closing schools is one of the most difficult decisions we can make, and not one we would ever choose to do unless we had no other choice. But the quality of education for our children, and strength of the whole school system in Hackney, must take priority. 

What has the Council been doing to try to help these schools?

To best respond to the challenges that a changing pupil population brings, Hackney Education has put in place an Education Sufficiency and Estate Strategy, which sets the 2021-2031 priorities for the Council. Finding long term solutions to manage the falling rolls, together with the primary schools affected the most, is an important part of this strategy.

School leaders and the Council have been doing everything they can to manage the situation, including by combining different year groups in some schools, formally reducing and capping reception places, reorganising their staffing to make savings and supporting schools with their financial management. But this hasn’t solved the problem.

The Council - alongside other London councils - asked the government for help by giving schools additional one-off funding to manage their falling rolls while numbers stabilise; and we also asked for greater powers to manage school places in free schools and academies, which are independent of the Council, in order to pool pupil place-planning resource. 

Government updates on the amount of funding per pupil nationally have simply not been enough to sustain schools with large vacancy rates, especially now with the rising costs of energy and materials putting even more pressure on budgets.

Since the beginning of the year, the Council has been working closely with the six schools included in the proposals and will continue to do so, offering them additional support to manage the process. 

What has the Council done to support children and parents/carers since the proposals were first announced?

The Council has offered the affected schools information to provide to parents and carers from the beginning of the process in March 2023, and schools and Council staff held a series of meetings during the previous school year to talk to parents/carers directly about the plans.

All parents have been informed directly about the proposed changes via information packs distributed in March 2023:

• De Beauvoir Primary School information pack
• Randal Cremer Primary School information pack
• Colvestone Primary School information pack
• Princess May Primary School information pack
• Baden Powell Primary School information pack
• Nightingale Primary School information pack

All the information about the project has been published online, and the project’s page has been updated at key moments in the calendar, including by adding a list of FAQs and a leaflet for wider audiences, as well as links to other relevant pages.

There have been multiple events organised in each of the schools in scope where participants were able to ask questions, following a format agreed in advance with the leaders of the schools. 

Headteachers of the schools in scope have been provided with regular updates and information from the Council to share with parents / carers and members of staff. 

An informal consultation process took place from 5 June to 16 July 2023, gathering feedback on the proposals. The key themes raised in the early engagement period were raised again during the consultation and are addressed in the response and commentary in the September 2023 report. On 25 September 2023, the Council decided to publish statutory proposals to close two schools and merge four others into two. 

The proposals were published on 6 October 2023, which marked the beginning of a 28-day representation period of statutory consultation during which any person could object to or make comments on the proposals. 

The feedback received during the statutory notice period was analysed and reviewed by an independent third party, Kwest, and the report included in an Appendix to the Cabinet report presented at the Cabinet meeting on 11 December. 

The Cabinet report advised that, despite the vast majority of the statutory notice comments being against the proposals, the Council should still proceed with the proposed changes, as the objective reasons behind the proposals have not changed, and the decreased demand for primary places across the borough is projected to continue for years to come, impacting more and more the financial viability, sustainability and quality of the Hackney education system as a whole.

A school closure will be a difficult and upsetting decision and process for many. That’s why we are doing everything possible to limit periods of anxiety and uncertainty for children, families, staff and communities.

Following the Cabinet’s decision, officers will work together with the headteachers of the affected schools to finalise detailed, bespoke support packages that will help the transition for all the staff members, pupils and families directly impacted. This will include: 

• direct financial and logistical support for schools
• staff support, including: employment and skills training, support searching for alternative roles, staff wellbeing, pensions and benefits advice
• pupil transition support, such as: one to one support for families to find an alternative school with an dedicated admissions officer, drop ins / workshops, financial support for families towards the purchase of a new school uniform, special support and transition arrangements for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

There are numerous good or outstanding primary schools with vacancies within walking distance of the schools that may close. The Council will work closely to support families to make a planned transition to a new school for the start of the new academic year in September 2024. Families may also seek to secure a place at an alternative school via the ‘in-year’ admissions process if they wish. 

If a child has an Education, Health and Care Plan, their SEND key worker will work with the family directly to consult and determine another school that can meet their needs. Children with SEND but without a plan will be supported to ensure special transition arrangements are in place to help the move go smoothly.

In the case of a merger, all children will be transferred to the merged school if that is what the families want. This means they will remain with their friends. The Council will support families who do not want their children to attend the merged school to explore other options. We want to carry out changes in a way that minimises disruption and distress to children and families, communities and staff.

Transition plans will be developed by the executive headteacher and the headteachers of both schools, considering issues raised during the consultation and asking parents what they would like to happen, as well as learning from what has been effective for other schools that have gone through this process.

What will happen next?

The implementation date of the decision if not called in is 19 December. 

No closure or merger would take place before September 2024.

Timeline

NOTE: this timeline may be subject to changes