Forum Topic

St Paul's CE School Expansion Cancelled

Just heard that the plan for St Paul's CE Schoolto expand into Alexander House to allow for twoclasses in each year has been scrapped, thoughthe reason isn't clear - something to do withHounslow Council not being able to agree use ofthe building.Anyone know more?It's created a slightly odd situation where theircurrent reception year has 60 pupils, but nextyear's will only have 30.

Kyle Smith ● 4994d18 Comments

Hi,Yes this is very sad and seems to be a complete U-Turn in the publicised plans.Cllr Steve Curran is coming to speak to parents at the school about it, so hopefully we should know more...I would be interested to know how many Brentford 5yr olds have applied for reception places in September and how many places there will be available...?

Sara Ward ● 4994d

I am Chair of Governor's at St Pauls and I thought it would help to make sure that the facts were accurately listed. St Paul's is an oversubscribed school and for some years the Governor's have been trying to take it from a one-form entry to a two-form entry school - despite the physical limitations of the school site. We agreed to take the bulge class that we have on the understanding that Hounslow council would make available the unused part of Alexandra House to us, thereby allowing for the school to become two-form entry and better meet more of the demand for places. Unfortunately, over the last year it has been increasingly obvious that the space in Alexandra House would not be made available to us, despite Hounslow consulting on the expansion of the school, including using Alexandra House, as evidenced by their consultation notices recently posted on the school gates/railings. At a recent meeting with Councillor Curran and various officers from Hounslow it was explained to us that Hounslow could not move forward with the original plans and apologies were given by Hounslow to us for being unable to commit any further to the expansion of St Paul's at this time although they have made provision for expansion in the future should a solution on accommodation become available. A joint letter from Councillor Curran and I was sent out to all parents/carers earlier this week and Councillor Curran is arranging a meeting to speak to parents/carers as soon as is practicable. This leaves St Paul's in the difficult situation that it has just enough accommodation to cope with a single bulge class but is only able to offer one form of entry for the coming year. As there were 135 applications for the 30 places available in the reception class for September 2013 there are obviously going to be a number of disappointed applicants. St Paul's has at all times been willing to expand and would happily become a two-form entry school. However, this is not possible within the physical constraints of the accommodation available. The Governors will continue to strive to move the school to two-form entry and apologise that they are unable to do so at this time.

Glenn Greene ● 4993d

Where is Alexandra House please ?  Isn't this even more proof that Brentford is being over developed ?

Pat Kingham ● 4992d

It is where Age UK is based and used to be the Health Centre, just near the County Court.

Vanessa Smith ● 4992d

GlennThis is indeed disappointing news for everyone connected with St Paul's Church of England School.As we all know there is great demand for additional primary school places at the moment, particularly in successful and popular church schools. What reasons did Hounslow give for not making the space available ?

David Giles ● 4992d

Alexandra House is next to Morrison's. When the Council/School committed to use the AH facility, no one (apparently) thought to tell the users of Alexandra House -and there were wide reports of anger and confusion as the users of AH "discovered" their fate.Then, the commitment to use it went away-as it turned out that it's use had been promised by those without the authority to follow through. Anger an confusion amongst a different group followed...Now we get a commitment for expansion in the future, when space allows etc etc(see earlier post). or to put it another way, weasel fords with no material meaning.Add to it a Headteacher who retires this year, removing the leverage of a key person to champion someone doing something about the place.The building is surrounded by other Council buildings and Council parkland, so the Council could expand the site if they were minded to. They may be short of funds (aren't we all), but it's not like they're hemmed in on the St P's site, which other locations may be.And there were discussions regarding a major rebuilding of the site 2 years ago, but they fizzled away and came to nothing.All in all, it's a horlicks of a situation, but one I fear that will surprise no one.

Tim Barnes ● 4992d

Thanks for the detailed update Glen. Hope a solution can be found soon.

Kyle Smith ● 4992d

Thanks for the news i would also be interested if anyone knows the reasons for the u-turn.

F Joseph ● 4991d

Perhaps LBHounslow don't want to dig into the huge reserves of cash they apparently have washing about in the coffers.

Jennifer Selig ● 4991d

25 million to be exact

Gill Hutchison ● 4991d

Glenn Greene wrote" As there were 135 applications for the 30 places available in the reception class for September 2013 there are obviously going to be a number of disappointed applicants."Where have all these children come from?  The recent developments around the area all appear to be flats - so are these children being brought up in flats?

Sarah Felstead ● 4991d

Are they being "bussed-in" from other areas?  Grove Park Primary School is being considerably expanded and most of the new intake will not be local Chiswick children I understand.

Jennifer Selig ● 4991d

Now we are all so crammed in I don’t never understood why some new developments do not have a ring fenced admissions exclusion around them to fill places in less popular schools.  One example which springs to mind is Isleworth and Syon.  This school is repeatedly over subscribed with local children from The Syon Estate and Brentford who have attended feeder schools in the area and formed friendships.  Up pops a development at the top of Wood lane (and another in Thornbury Road) and the developers can use as a selling point almost guaranteed admission to I&S because of their proximity to the school.  Hounslow Manor on the other hand might have places available and a catchment area around the new development might fill these with less heartache to the existing community.  Or maybe the admissions policy/school popularity has changed recently….?

Sarah Felstead ● 4990d

Now we are all so crammed in I don’t understand why some new developments do not have a ring fenced admissions exclusion around them to fill places in less popular schools.  One example which springs to mind is Isleworth and Syon.  This school is repeatedly over subscribed with local children from The Syon Estate and Brentford who have attended feeder schools in the area and formed friendships.  Up pops a development at the top of Wood lane (and another in Thornbury Road) and the developers can use, as a selling point, almost guaranteed admission to I&S because of their proximity to the school.  Hounslow Manor on the other hand might have places available and a catchment area around the new development might fill these with less heartache to the existing community.  Or maybe the admissions policy/school popularity has changed recently….?

Sarah Felstead ● 4990d

Sarah, there are no 'feeder' schools, and I can assure you we have boys at I&S from a very wide area, you must also take into consideration not all parents will want single sex education, or, dare I say it - have daughters.

Vanessa Smith ● 4990d

Hi Sarah,Given that a three bedroom terraced / semi-detached house in Brentford currently costs at least £350K, which requires an income of at least £75,000 assuming sensible lending criteria, then yes, many children are being brought up in flats.The idea that all these new flats are inhabited only by "young professionals" seems to be a common misconception.Short of banning people who earn less than £75K from reproducing, it's hard to see how to avoid children being brought up in flats - other than requiring developers and/or the council to build more affordable family homes, which I'd certainly support.Mind you, given that pretty much the entire population of Hong Kong are brought up in flats without any obvious ill effects, I'm not sure its a problem provided provision of parks, playing areas and sports centres is good. We're lucky to have a reasonably nice playground next to St Pauls school which many of the children there use after school.Certainly out of the small number of children in my child's class whose parents I know I can think of one from The Island, two from Ferry Quays and two from Brentford Lock.

Kyle Smith ● 4989d

The Guardian has a story on the launch of the GLA Schools Atlas with an interactive map showing where the change in population of 4-10 year olds is forecast to occur.http://www.theguardian.com/education/2013/nov/07/london-school-age-population-jump-2017No prizes for guessing that Syon and Brentford wards are the pressure points in Hounslow with a 50% rises expected between 2012 and 2017 !Any more news of the bus garage site ?

Tim Henderson ● 4741d

I would be interested to know if the reason why Hounslow 's Labour Council has refused to expand St Paul'S Church of England School has anything to do with Labour's long standing hostility to faith schools ?A few years ago when the Church of England Diocese of London offered to take over the then much troubled Hogarth School in Chiswick, the Conservative Councillors voted for the Church's proposals but the Labour Councillors voted against it.  Labour were then, as now, the majority party on the Council and there is still no Church of England School in Chiswick.

David Giles ● 4740d