Parents Georgia Collins and Naomi Hunte with children from St Dominic’s outside the school on Tuesday

THEIR children’s tears was the first time parents knew something was wrong.

Mothers, fathers and carers at St Dominic’s primary school in Gospel Oak had received a text message on Friday to warn them of an important letter that their pupils would be bringing home.

When they read it, they learned the school might be closing down at the end of the academic year.

Those who have spoken to the New Journal this week told of a mixture of frustration, worry and resignation as some are mulling over whether to stay and campaign to keep the Catholic school in Southampton Road open – or attempt to get their children into other schools.

The Diocese of Westminster, which is responsible for administering the school, and Camden Council, which oversees state-education in the borough, issued a joint statement blaming falling pupil numbers, causing funding shortages.

A six-week consultation has opened on a possible closure, before a final decision will then be taken whether to close it at the end of this school year.

Georgia Collins, who was collecting her children outside the gates on Tuesday, was one of those taken aback by the news late last week.

“I was shocked to be honest. My son is absolutely gutted. It says nothing has been decided but if not why send the letter out in the first place?,” she said.

“I’ve been thinking about whether I should look for other schools, but my son says he doesn’t want to go to any other school and that he likes his teacher.

“His friends are here too and when they have been together since nursery that’s really difficult. People are upset and they were crying on Friday when they came out.”

The consultation document, published online on Tuesday by the Diocese, said it was with “deep regret” that it was seeking views on whether to close the school.

It said falling rolls meant the school was under its capacity,

The consultation contradicted the letter sent to parents, which erroneously said that the schools capacity was 315 pupils. In fact it is 210 – which has been confirmed by the council to the New Journal. However there are only 121 pupils at the school – a shortfall of 89.

The problems with pupil numbers follows the closure of St Aloysius, another Catholic primary school in Somers Town which shut in 2019 due to a falling demand for Catholic education.

St Dominic’s first opened in 1869

Less than half a mile away, Carlton School shut in 2021, merging with nearby Rhyl to found Rhyl Community Primary School after a drop in children attending the school.

St Dominic’s, which is next to the Priory Church, was opened in 1869 with the current building welcoming students in for the first time in 1932.

Major building work at the school was carried out between 2012 and 2014, with refurbishment of the nursery taking place in 2017.

The letter said that school governors, led by chair Margaret Harvey, had reduced costs as much as possible.

Some staff who have left in recent years have not been replaced, the New Journal understands.

At its last inspection in 2014, St Dominic’s was rated good by Ofsted. More than half of its pupils are eligible for free school meals.

The school has promised that places will be found at other schools, if the closure goes ahead.

But some parents have said they have found a shortage of available places. Nearby Fleet and Gospel Oak primaries both nearly full according to the latest data provided by the Town Hall.

There are three other Catholic primary schools in Camden, Rosary in Belsize Park, St Patrick’s in Kentish Town and Our Lady’s in Camden Town. If all parents opted to try and get their children to continue in Catholic education, there is no guarantee of enough spaces being available.

St Dominic’s closure could mean the loss of 30 jobs, according to council officials.

Parents at the school were given a letter at the end of the school day on Friday

Dave Dawson has a son in reception – the third generation of his family to attend the school. Also Dave’s mother is a teaching assistant there.

“It’s bad for both of them. I worry about my mum as she is at an age where she can’t retire and there’s not as many teaching assistant jobs as there used to be,” he said.

“It’s very sad, I went here myself and my daughter has only just left too. We are stuck because we know the last thing you want to do is to pull your child out of school but we are looking already.”

His friend, TJ O’Leary, who has a son in Year 5, said: “You don’t want to move them at that age, because it’s disruptive for Year 6 when they have their SATs exams, and then they have to move again for secondary.”

An online petition has already gained nearly 750 signatures within a few days of being set up by a mum of a boy at the school.

Three meetings took place at the school yesterday (Wednesday) as the consultation was launched.

Parents were unhappy afterwards saying their concerns were not addressed – including governors’ claims that the school has sought to generate new income.

They say opportunities to rent out their playground, or leasing the school hall for private hire have not been looked into.

The Diocese of Westminster, according to accounts published via the Charity Commission, has made an annual surplus of several million pounds since 2016.

Ms Collins said: “We know that some of the classes have fewer children in than they should. But why are we only hearing about this now? If there are funding problems, we could have raised money, we could have put on events.”

Ms Collins along with another mother Naomi Hunte are organising a Halloween fundraiser at the school, which they are funding themselves.

Ms Hunte said: “We had a fundraiser for Ukraine and raised £500, if we had a year we could raise a substantial amount.”
Gerald Clarke, head of the Camden branch of the National Education Union said: “It’s not a huge surprise. We have known that the pupil numbers in that part of Camden are down, hence the closure of Carlton.

“We have got members there and the staff will hopefully be offered redeployment or redundancy and that’s something we will support them through, as we did with St Aloysius.”

He added it came against the backdrop of the Diocese of Westminster’s ambition to turn all of their primary schools into academies in its own academy trust, mimicking the Camden Learning “family of schools” model.

Both the Diocese of Westminster and Camden Council chose to issue a joint statement.

Camden’s education chief Marcus Boyland declined to comment, as did Ms Harvey and Jennifer O’Prey who is executive headteacher at St Dominic’s and St Patrick’s primaries.

The statement said: “If the proposal went ahead, all pupils would be offered places at alter­native local schools – including local Catholic primary schools.

“The governors’ decision to consult on closing the school has primarily been made because the number of primary school-age pupils locally – and across London – has significantly reduced.

“Despite the steps taken by school governors and leadership of St Dominic’s to actively market the school to increase enrolment, the pupil roll has been below 50 per cent and falling over the past three years, adding significant financial pressure on the school.”