Ashmole Primary Proposal Rejected...
As you may have seen in this week's Enfield Independent, the Department for Education has rejected Ashmole Academy's proposal to build a two form entry primary school on their site. As Ashmole say in their statement. "...DfE has many applications and can only approve a limted number of applications across the country." They say they will consider in the next few weeks whether to reapply later this year.
It is worth noting that this process is entirely outside the control of Enfield and Barnet councils. Views differ on the desirability of free schools and academies but it must be hard for councils to plan sensibly to meet shortfalls when they have little idea whether substantial projects which would affect the shortfalls, such as Ashmole, will go ahead. There was a proposal to add an extra form to Osidge. This was shelved a few months back; might this be resurrected in the light of the Ashmole decison?
.... but the Broomfield site gets a temporary reception class
In the same article Enfield council is quoted as saying it will open a new reception class under the management of Bowes Primary School to meet demand for reception places in the area from September 2014.
It is reported online (for example by Bowes & Bounds Connected at
that the class will be located in temporary facilities at Broomfield School in Wilmer Way before moving to a permanent home. There has of course been talk of a temporary school for some time but the location is probably not where most of us were expecting it to be.
While it is probably wise not to read too much significance into the location, it is worth noting that the council's own figures suggest that the biggest shortfalls in primary provision will be at the southern end of the South West Enfield area. This is explored further below.
GRA Position Statement
The Grovelands Residents' Association committee has issued an Initial Position Statement on the issues surrounding the Grovelands School proposal, the Bourneside Sports Ground and the adjacent land. This is an amended version of that originally circulated by e-mail to members before our 18th June meeting, in the light of comments and suggestions made at that meeting.
Where are Primary School Places Most Needed?
South West Enfield is a substantial area and there is undoubtedly a need for additional primary school places across the area (166 places by 2019/20). However, detailed analysis suggests that the projected shortfall is mainly concentrated at the southern end of the area, around the North Circular Road. To our knowledge the council has not presented plans which address the emerging problems in that part of South West Enfield.
We obtained figures from the council for the projected shortfalls in reception provision in South West Enfield, broken down into three areas:- Winchmore, Bowes/Southgate Green and Boundary. These are based on population projections by the Greater London Authority. What we found was that the projected shortfall in Winchmore was comparatively small (31 places y 2019/20). The bulk of the shortfall was in the Bowes/Southgate Green (64 places) and Boundary (71 places) areas. The percentage shortfall of 44% in Boundary (basically the area south of the North Circular between the A10 and the Palmers Green railway line) is particularly large. Other projections for the primary population as a whole suggested that even within Bowes/Southgate Green the growth was sharpest at the southern end. This picture is broadly consistent with the pattern of development we can see along the North Circular Road. Note that these figures take into account most planned expansions (such as Garfield) and developments (such as Cat Hill). They do not take into account extra places arising from the temporary class on the Broomfield site or Ashmole, if it happens.
We also obtained similar figures for West Central Enfield, which is the area within which a Grovelands school would (just) fall. This covers the rest of Southgate, Oakwood and the Highlands area. This area shows an even smaller shortfall than Winchmore (just 13 places by 2019/20). So it looks as if the overall shortfall in the area near Grovelands is much lower than the shortfall further south.
Of course this does not mean that there are no problems in the Southgate area. The campaign by the South West Enfield Action team has made it abundantly clear that parents in the Fox Lane and Lakes Estate areas have difficulties in getting their children into the primary schools that they want. Arguably this is as much to do with the way the admissions system inflicts multiple penalties upon those not living near a school as it is about actual school locations. But whatever the reasons, for any parents in this position, it is an extremely worrying time, whether they live on the Lakes Estate or around Tottenhall Road. The concern is that although concentrating resources on adding another school to the existing primary "cluster" around Southgate Station might help with one problem, it could leave much bigger potential problems around the North Circular unaddressed.
The council no longer uses the three way split of South West Enfield but it is clear that simply using the overall figures for South West Enfield as a whole masks substantial and important differences. In our view the council needs to set clearly out how it intends to tackle the issues of underprovision around the North Circular. Local schools for local children across the whole of South West Enfield please!
For the full analysis, including the detailed numbers and some helpful maps, please click this button:-
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