A teacher has revealed the unprecedented distress being suffered by staff caught up in the London school closures crisis.
“I have never seen so many of my colleagues in tears,” said Carly Slingsby, 37, who has been teaching at St Dominic’s Catholic Primary School in Hackney for seven years.
Her school is one of four in the east London borough due to close at the end of the academic year, which will leave up to 200 staff unemployed.
The problem is not unique to Hackney, with Islington council set to close two schools on Thursday night and Lambeth closing four this year.
Ms Slingsby, who lives in Ealing, said: “For me it’s been really difficult because I’ve had my class for three years. It’s quite unusual to have that happen in primary schools.
“We really are a little family in that classroom, so it’s been tough to see that get pulled apart and watch these kids being moved away from each other.”
Since the closure was announced last September, the school has lost more than 100 of its 210 students, leaving some teachers with classes as small as four pupils, she said.
Ms Slingsby has led an anti-closure campaign for her school, working with parents, teachers and organisations including the London Renters’ Union to urge council and cabinet members to take action.
She said students became “mini activists”, writing letters to the mayor of Hackey , Caroline Woodley, and her deputy urging them to intervene to save their school.
Teachers have been on strike for 19 days in opposition of the closure and a lack of redeployment and voluntary redundancies.
Ms Slingsby said: “I have no personal life. My life for the last few months has just been this battle to keep the school open.”
She is an executive member of the National Education Union, branch secretary for Hackney and a representative at her school.
Ms Slingsby said teachers were offered a 10 per cent retention rate if they stayed until the end of the school year last September, but the offer was pulled in January this year.
She said: “I have never seen so many of my colleagues in tears … you'll start talking about the children or you'll start talking about what you're doing next term and you just suddenly start crying because it hits that, well, that's the last term, that's it, this school will cease to exist.
“We’re all putting on a happy face and we have to because we’re with children. We’re just helping them manage getting ready for their transitions, preparing them for going to their new schools.”
Other schools closing in Hackney this year include St Mary’s Church of England Primary School, Oldhill Community School and Sir Thomas Abney Primary School.
Many of Ms Slingsby’s colleagues have started securing jobs. She will now start searching for her next school, but the window for applications is soon closing as teaching vacancies usually open from March to May.
Hackney council said school closures were due to a significant fall in pupil numbers due to lower birth rates, the cap on housing benefits, and an increase in families leaving London due to the housing crisis, the cost of living, Brexit and the pandemic.
Councillor Anntoinette Bramble, Hackney’s deputy mayor and cabinet member for education, said: “Like many other local authorities across London and the country, we face incredible pressures in trying to maintain balanced budgets, and cannot afford to maintain schools that are not financially viable.
“Families going through the transition will find a new place for their child where they will receive just as much care, love and support as they have in the past.”
