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It was all over the local papers with
headlines such as 'Schools set for merger' and 'Failing schools to shut
down within two years'. Whether you focus on the optimistic note of the
first or the more sombre tone of the second, Tuesday 20th January was in
many ways a sad, but perhaps not completely unexpected, day for Church of
England Secondary education in Barnet.
Tuesday was the day when Barnet Council
announced their plan to close Christ Church School in 2005, and St Mary's
Hendon in 2006 and re-open a brand new combined school in September 2006.
The proposal is to open a twelve-form entry school on two semi-autonomous
sites, one of which would be on Woodhouse Road, in front of the present
Christ Church School site, and the other of which would be on the Hendon
Town Hall site.
Barnet Council's reason for closing
Christ Church School (and St Mary's) is that they have both been in
'special measure' for nearly four years and the council is not prepared
for the situation to continue any longer. Essentially, 'special measures'
means that schools watchdog 'OFSTED' has been keeping a particularly close
eye on standards at the two schools and checking on teaching levels more
frequently than they would normally. In many ways the closure proposal is
a particularly hard blow for Christ Church where new head teacher Paul
Salter has been in post for less than a year and many improvements in
standards were already beginning to be observed.
The council is equally convinced of its
own position. As Gillian Palmer, Chief Executive Officer for Barnet
explained: "If we allowed the situation to continue it could easily
be possible for 100 children to have spent all their secondary years in
special measures". The roll for September 2004 actually only has 33
children opting for Christ Church School as first choice. Of these, only
one comes from one of the many excellent C of E primary schools in the
borough. The Minister for Education has required of Barnet Education
Authority that they take 'firm and decisive action', the alternative being
action by the Minister himself. Additionally, both schools are
experiencing serious difficulty recruiting the right staff. The feeling is
that running costs for a new combined school would be lower and the larger
school would be able to offer salaries that are more attractive to
prospective teachers.
Three different proposals for how
the new school will look are being put forward:
1) An upper school on one site and a
lower school on the other site
2) Two mixed schools operating in parallel on the two sites
3) A boys' school on one site and a girls' school on the other site
Consultation papers are published week
commencing 26th January 2004 and a process of appeal is in place. Anyone
wishing to appeal against the Council's decision or make alternative
proposals must do so by mid-March in time for the final decision which
will take place in mid-July 2004.
The Diocese of London has
given outline approval to the plans being proposed by Barnet Council for
the merger of the two schools.
The church council at
Christ Church has supported the school at Christ Church in a number of
ways over the years. The church council regrets that the situation has come to this
conclusion and, in particular, is sad at losing a school with which it has
had links for many years. However, the members of the church council will
work with the council's proposals and will prayerfully look forward to a better future for C of E education in
the borough.
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