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Two Westminster primary schools may be amalgamated as they battle falling pupil rolls and growing financial deficits.
Governors at Our Lady of Dolours and St Mary of the Angels Catholic Primary schools, which sit in the west of the borough towards Kensington and Chelsea, are proposing the two merge ahead of the start of the September term.
Parents from both schools have however started an online petition opposing the plans, warning of consequences including ‘crowded classrooms’ and a decrease in the quality of learning.
Under the proposal, Our Lady of Dolours would move into the St Mary of the Angels site due to its own building being deemed to be ‘unsustainable’ and with limited disability access.
Both schools report being in financial difficulties as a result of fewer pupils, with Government funding allocated on a per-child basis.
As of October 2024, Our Lady of Dolours reported being at 54 per cent capacity and St Mary of the Angels 80 per cent, culminating in estimated deficits this year of £550,000 and £186,000.
A public consultation on the proposed merger was run from mid-January until February 28. In the consultation, the Chair of Governors at each school, Ike Offiah (St Mary of the Angels) and Timothy Howard (Our Lady of Dolours), wrote the falling pupil rolls were forcing a rethink.
They wrote: “Both schools hold good Ofsted ratings and the Catholic Schools Inspectorate judged the Catholic life of both schools to be outstanding. However, in order to protect Catholic Education and to continue to provide a high-quality education that is well resourced and offers a wide range of opportunities, it is the view of the governors of both schools, the diocese and the Local Authority of Westminster that the schools should merge together to create a strong and sustainable Catholic school.”
All pupils from both schools are to be offered a guaranteed place under any merger, and the current head at Our Lady of Dolours, Mrs Sarah Alley, is earmarked to become the new headteacher.
The parents’ petition, which at the time of writing has received 137 signatures, however raised the ‘distress’ caused to some as a result of the proposal, with concerns including the potential impact on educational standards.
“The proposed amalgamation would push our school to operate at 130% capacity, leading to crowded classrooms and a likely decrease in the quality of learning,” the petition read.
“Moreover, only half of the pupils from Our Lady of Dolours practice as Catholics. This discrepancy might cause a significant change in the religious character of the STMA community.”
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has not seen the results of the Governor-led consultation from earlier this year.
The local authority, Westminster City Council, has now published plans to run on its own consultation on the proposed amalgamation.
Unless it is called in by opposition councillors, Westminster’s consultation will run for four weeks from April 24.
Both schools were approached for comment, though due to the Easter break no responses were received.
Falling pupil rolls are affecting schools across London, with the number of children attending Inner London primary schools forecast to drop by 12 per cent between 2023/24 to 2028/29.
Westminster is one of the boroughs worst-affected, with the LDRS recently reporting on three schools in St John’s Wood which are looking to merge as a result of similar challenges.
