Croydon’s desperate lack of school places has led to a clash between the council and residents and parents in Forestdale.
It is nothing short of a borough-wide crisis, as birth rates in the north of the borough have seen demand for primary school entry 50 per cent higher than expected.
Croydon has expanded five primary schools, opened a new school and put emergency “bulge” classes into a further 13 schools.
The council should have seen this coming. The children requiring nursery places in September were, after all, born at least three years ago. The impact of the economic slowdown – with fewer people leaving Croydon through the lack of available mortgages and the decline of the housing market – has been notable for longer still.
Smaller schools, with one-form entry, are often attractive to parents, with an intimate atmosphere where all children are known to staff, and a supportive and more cohesive community can be created. Council officials like bigger schools because they have the lower costs brought by economies of scale. Lower unit costs are even more important at times of austerity.
The emergency expansions are reducing the number of smaller Croydon schools. Some heads and board of governors are resisting expansion, much to the frustration of local residents who might be denied a school place as a consequence. In Selsdon and Forestdale, as their local schools resisted expansion, parents found their children only offered places in New Addington.
The small one-form entry school at Forestdale was rated by OFSTED this month as “good” with inspectors saying, “Pupils do well in reading, writing and mathematics regardless of their academic ability or starting points.”
Parents fear that this precious performance will be compromised by a doubling in the size of the school. The protesting parents who think that the school’s strength comes from its small size say “…its small community spirit is the not-so-secret ingredient that makes the school what it is. Please do not dislocate our contented community school.”
The Forestdale parents feel that they have been ridden roughshod by Tim Pollard, the Croydon councillor in charge of the borough’s schools, and his emergency expansion measures. They fear that the introduction of a bulge class is the first step to turning the school into a two-form entry.
At a Croydon Council meeting, in between being shouted down by Mayor Eddy Arram, Forestdale resident and grandparent Esme Atkinson said, “The process of introducing a two-form entry has resulted in a lot of ill-feeling” and that the consultation process was “quite appalling with the council failing to exhibit a duty of care.”
Tim Pollard: going ahead with expansion of Forestdale School, despite parents’ objections
Pollard explained that expansions were vital as demand for reception class places had spiked by 25 per cent in just two years in Croydon as a whole, with the economic crisis leading families “to stay in smaller houses”. He sees growing demand for school places for many years to come.
Kat Pond, the organiser of a document put to Croydon Council by objecting parents and residents, told Inside Croydon that she disliked the way that expansion had been treated as “a done deal” by the council during the consultation. Parents had found the consultation neither “timely nor considerate”.
Parents say that posted public notices on the consultation were “indecipherable”.
The paper to the council from objecting parents mocked some of the merits proposed. “Big is beautiful” is not an argument that has convinced the Forestdale parents.
The parents’ say that the council’s case is “repetitive and uses jargon waffle, eg ‘broader base for pupil tracking’. What does this really mean? And ‘larger peer group for children to draw upon’. And ‘greater pool of parents for PTA support and volunteers to come into school’.”
Other concerns raised have included the loss of green space at the school site, the prospective use of paths owned by a management company, and car parking, where there have already been difficulties with double parking in Pixton Way and some off-road driving by parents on to steep grass banks opposite the school.
At the council meeting, Pollard said that the original plans for the school when the estate was being built in the 1960s and 1970s were for a two-form entry. The council has decided to proceed with its plans despite the parents’ objections because of “the requirement for the Council to meet its statutory duty to provide sufficient school places”.
The next – likely hopeless – battle for the residents will be over planning permission for the doubling in the size of the school.
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Excellent article. Sums it up ! Say No To 2FE
Hello
The situation at Parish Church Infants & Junior Schools is similar. There was no notification to residents of the ‘public’ meeting several weeks ago and posters only went up on lamp-posts the following day. As the parent of a child at the school, I received details of the meeting which I passed to several neighbours who already suffer from the horrendous traffic and parking issues at school drop-off and pick-up times. Many valid points were raised at the meeting, such as the fact that there will be no extra playground space to accommodate the 120 extra children and fire regulations for buildings with upper floors (the plan is to build new classrooms above existing ones) as well as all the traffic problems.
Many of us raised objections via the council website and by writing in, but it now appears, as one lady at the meeting (and the lady in your article about Forestdale school) pointed out, that it looks very like a ‘done deal’. It is no surprise to any of us local residents that this appears to have been rubber stamped but it seems to me to be a shameful way for a local Council to operate.
Regards
Grace
I agree. I was at the consultation meeting for the Forestdale Expansion and what a waste of time that was. There is no such thing as democracy with croydon council. It doesn’t matter to them about the views of residents or parents. The parking is a major issue. The lady taking the meeting on behalf of the council was patronising to say the least anyone who starts a meeting with “do you mind if I sit down I’ve had a long day” and finishes it with “I’ve got to go I have a cab waiting as I live 2 hours away” says it all. I’d like to remind council officials that you are public servants and we have a right to challenge you. I have come across too many people like this during this sorry saga – they should be grateful for public sector jobs as quite frankly the private sector wouldn’t have you. The questions was asked that if, say, 90% objected would the expansion be stopped. The answer was “your voice would be heard” – clearly not. We were accused of being of a “not in my back yard” mentality. Not at all. Clearly it is unfair if you live in Forestdale and Selsdon and you can’t get a place in a school but the council were always going to come up against opposition when the statistics showed the demand was for elsewhere in the borough. This is the same council that wants to shut libraries and Surestart centres. The same council that thinks its okay to stick bulge classes in church halls. For me this sorry little episode just sums up what is wrong with this country. So much for the ‘big society’ where communities come together. Well Forestdale did come together as they felt passionate about something and they were treated with contempt as demonstrated by the mayor who shouted down a lady exercising her right to voice her views.