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Another London primary school could shut at the end of the school year as pupil numbers continue to plummet in the capital.
Lambeth Council has put forward proposals to merge St Bede’s Catholic Infant School and St Bernadette Catholic Junior School into a single site as the number of schools shutting across London accelerates.
Lambeth has already put forward plans to close or merge another six primary schools due to a sharp drop in the number of children in the borough.
The south London borough is facing a “stark challenge from falling enrolments,” with nearly 1,000 fewer children going to primary school in the area compared to 10 years ago, the council previously pointed out.
The borough has previously said that the drop in pupil numbers in London has been caused by Brexit, the cost of living crisis and the birth rate in the capital dropping by a third.
Lambeth is not the only borough facing an exodus of families and children. Hackney Council agreed to close four primary schools last week as classrooms were left half empty, having already closed the same number last summer.
Days later, Islington Council also closed a further two primary schools.
Campaigners have also raised concerns that the issue could “fan out” into outer London boroughs, causing further schools to close. Newham Council is currently looking into plans to cut over 400 school places across 14 schools.
Under the changes put forward by Lambeth Council, St Bernadette Catholic Junior School would close, and St Bede’s Catholic Infant School would be extended to cover older year groups. There are 235 pupils across the two schools.
The number of pupils in each year group at St Bede’s will remain at 30 in Reception, Key Stages 1 and 2, and 25 in its nursery.
All pupils currently attending St Bernadette will be offered a place at St Bede’s if the school is shut down, Lambeth Council said.
Announcing the plans, Lambeth warned that the falling birth rates across the borough and London as a whole mean that there will continue to be a drop in demand for school places in the coming years.
Since schools are directly funded by pupil numbers, the council explained that unfilled places mean that school budgets are slashed, damaging the standards of education that can be offered.
If the plans go ahead the two Lambeth schools will be merged on a single site from September 2025. The final decision on whether to merge the two schools will be in June 2025.
The council added that it believes the decision “is necessary to safeguard the quality of education in Lambeth for the future”.
