Four primary schools will be shut down due to a significant drop in school-aged children in Hackney, despite the same number of schools already closing in the borough last summer.
Hackney Council agreed to permanently close four primary schools on Tuesday, despite a lengthy campaign from parents and teachers to try and save the half-empty sites.
St Mary’s Church of England Primary School and St Dominic’s Catholic Primary School will be closed at the end of the school year.
Meanwhile, Oldhill Community School will be closed and merged with Harrington Hill Primary School.
Hackney Council also agreed to shut Sir Thomas Abney Primary School and merge it with nearby Holmleigh Primary School, leaving campaigners feeling like the council had “pulled the plug” on them.
In a short but fiery cabinet meeting, Hackney councillors agreed to close the schools to help “safeguard the quality of education” in the borough.
Cabinet member for education, Anntoinette Bramble, insisted that the recent drop in pupil numbers was a London-wide issue rather than an issue specific to Hackney, explaining that if the council did nothing about the issue, it would be “leaving schools to suffer”.
The decisions come amid growing fears of “ghost areas” spreading across the capital as families continue to leave the capital due to the cost-of-living crisis and housing prices.
The majority of London boroughs have seen a significant fall in pupil numbers, leaving classrooms half empty and without crucial funding.
Cllr Bramble explained: “We do [this] because we are completely committed to our borough and we will continue to do that”.
Following one exchange with upset campaigners, the councillor said: “If it makes it easier to seem like I am the bad person that is turning everything upside down, I will take that.
“This is not a Hackney issue. This is a London issue. Up and down London there are local authorities who are in this position having to make these difficult decisions.
“The cost of living crisis isn’t just a Hackney issue, it is a London issue.
“Migration and people moving out of city centres isn’t a Hackney issue - it is a London issue - but Hackney has to respond to it, and if that means making difficult decisions, then that is what we have to do.”
She added: “Sometimes we are asked to make difficult decisions and we do that because we care”.
Hackney teachers have already warned The Standard that London could become a childless city and over a hundred staff could lose their jobs.
The council previously explained that Hackney lost 2,399 primary school-aged children between 2017 and 2024, while projections show that a further 2,637 children are expected to disappear from the area by 2035.
Almost one in four reception places in Hackney were left unfilled in October 2024, and since schools receive funding based on their pupil numbers, the decrease has left many schools cash-strapped.
The council had first announced plans to shut the schools in September 2024, explaining the move was “in response to the ongoing significant fall in pupil numbers across Hackney and the majority of London boroughs”.
Hackney has also warned that the plummeting school rolls have had a “severe impact” on schools' budgets, explaining that financial reserves across the borough’s primary schools “have been reducing at an alarming and unsustainable rate”.
Cllr Bramble also warned that the number of pupils in London boroughs “has been falling for some time and is likely to continue”.
There are currently over 3,900 empty places, roughly 130 empty classrooms, between the reception and year six age groups in Hackney, the councillor added.
Each school affected by the decisions will receive £30,000 to ensure they can get through the transition period, Hackney Council announced.
Hackney is not the only London borough facing further school closures. Islington Council has also put forward plans to shut two further primary schools on Thursday.
Islington is set to approve plans to close Highbury Quadrant and St Jude and St Paul’s Church of England primary schools. Both schools sit close to the Hackney border.
The Covid-19 pandemic, rising living costs, Brexit and the shortage of affordable housing have all been listed as reasons for the drop in children in the capital.
The Standard revealed last year that the number of babies born in the capital fell by a fifth in a decade, dropping faster than any other area in England.
A report from the Trust for London published earlier this month has also highlighted that the number of children in gentrified areas has dropped faster than in other areas of London.
It explained: “One of the biggest threats of gentrification is that it makes London so expensive families can no longer afford to raise children here.”
