Carlton school

• ON Sunday Camden Council leader, Georgia Gould, appealed to the government for funds to deal with the “devastating pandemic”.

We, all residents of Gospel Oak, appeal to her to delay the “devastating decision” to close Carlton school in nine months’ time.

Among many reasons for this appeal is that it is essential for pupils to be given sufficient time to catch up on their missed learning.

The recent Ofsted report on the effects of Covid-19 highlighted the fact that many children not only missed out on six months of learning but also “regressed”.

For some children at Carlton the “regression” is much more serious. In many homes English is not, or only sometimes, the major spoken language.

This means that children’s use of English will be severely reduced compared with when they are at school; and likely to regress.

Thus for many Carlton children the “catch-up period” may be even more problematic. This issue is not covered in the consultation and appears not to be recognised. The next six months need to be given over solely to “catch up”.

To risk missing out at the primary stage learning basic skills in literacy and numeracy will severely hamper further learning.

Yet the next six months is the very time when parents, children, staff, and the community will be worried about changes in schooling and, for staff, possible loss of employment.

We are in a further period of lockdown and have already been living with the threat of closure for over a year. We appeal to Cllr Gould to delay this “devastating decision”.

SAJIDA BEGUM
Parent

DALU CHOWDURY
Former Head Teacher

MICK FARRANT
Former Chair of Governors

SUSANNE KORD
Former Governor

SHODA RACKAL
Parent

JOHN LANDAU
FRANCES RIFKIN
Residents