Delight at Sulivan School Follows Councillors' Visit
Primary will now stay open throughout the summer term
It had been planned to close the school early, to allow for the installation of temporary classrooms in the grounds, which would have housed children from nearby New King's School while their own school was refurbished in preparation for the primaries' amalgamation.
However, the announcement by the new administration at Hammersmith & Fulham Council that it intends to review the decision on the schools' future means a change of plan.
"We anticipate that the temporary classrooms has now been put on hold and so the school can say open, " said Rosie,
Rosie was speaking after a visit on Monday morning visit from Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader (elect) of H&F Council and Sue Macmillan, Cabinet Member (elect) for Children and Education.
During the visit, Cllr Cowan made the announcement about the impending review. You can see a video of the announcement on YouTube along with the reaction of school head teacher Wendy Aldridge.
She says: " It was a very emotional announcement. I am very excited at the prospect that the new administration is going to do as much as it can to see if there is anything it can do to save our school.
"I am hopeful and excited."
The new administration says intended changes to its housing policy could see demand for primary school places rise in the local area.
The change in housing policy, signalled in the new Administration’s manifesto, places a greater emphasis on the need for new affordable homes to rent which could have a particular impact on the South Fulham Riverside development where 1,000 extra homes are being built.
A decision to merge the two schools was taken by the previous administration in Januarythis year in order to reduce the number of surplus places across the two schools by 15 per year group.
Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader-Elect of Hammersmith & Fulham Council, said: "We have a duty to ensure that the local community has sufficient, good quality places available."
Council officers will be reassessing the likely future demand for school places and a decision paper on whether to publish proposals for the two schools to stay open is likely to be presented to the next Cabinet meeting on June 23.
If proposals are published, all affected parties and the wider community will have the opportunity to make comments in response.
Rosie Waite says: "It is still early days and we won't have a final answer about the school's future until the end of July but in the meantime we will be announcing our results in a couple of weekes' time, and they are even better than last year's."
Key Stage 2 results, announced in December, positioned the school in the top 2% in the country, and in the same month Sulivan gained membership The Gold Club, set up by Mayor Boris Johnson two years ago. This is an annual scheme which identifies and celebrates those exceptional schools in London that are succeeding with all their pupils – but especially with the most disadvantaged.
You can read more about these achievements here.
June 3, 2014
