Parents with children who have missed out of places at Kentish Town CoE Primary School gather outside the gates

Published: 2 May, 2013
by TOM FOOT

A PRIMARY school rated “outstanding” in a recent inspection has been forced to rip up its admission policy after an unexpected surge in families applying through a nearby church.

The dramatic rise in admissions to Kentish Town C of E Primary School through St Benet’s & St Silas Church – up from three last year to 22 this year – has stopped nine children in the nursery with older siblings getting a place in September.

The current criteria – prioritising parents signing the church register over those with children already at the school – has been changed for next year.
But parents of the ousted children have started a “Justice for the Kentish Town 9” campaign.

They have held a series of meetings with school governors, the council’s education bosses and Town Hall schools chief Cllr Angela Mason.

They are urging the council to pay for an extra classroom in the school this year.

Instead, they have been given “home-schooling” packs from the council and some are considering withdrawing their older children from the school altogether.

The parents, who did not want to be named individually, said: “We all have children in the nursery and have siblings in the school. They have got uniforms. They are already part of the school family. It is too late now to reapply for other schools.”

Speaking outside the school gates on Friday, they told the New Journal their children had been unfairly pushed out by “middle-class” families “working” the admissions system to their advantage.

Under the current system, children who signed in on the Sunday Mass church register 12 times over 12 months got priority over children with siblings at the school.

Church warden Carol Fry said: “The criteria has now changed because we were aware that there were a lot more children than normal. The school and the church had a meeting with governors to make sure that we wouldn’t have this problem again.

“The criteria will be coming to church twice a month over two years – but children with siblings will have priority.”

She added: “I hold the register and I was absolutely rigorous. I sit at the back and make sure they don’t sign and go off again.”

Ms Fry dismissed concerns that a new system had been put in place following the loss of Father Richard Arnold, who died last year.

But outside the Kentish Town school’s gates, questions were being asked about whether the parents were actually religious.

Some were Christians, but attending other churches closer to their homes.

The “Kentish Town 9” include one mother who has three children at the school, while another has a child with a registered disability.

“We can’t be in two places at once,” one said.

Speaking outside the school gates on Friday, the family recalled “tearful” meetings with the council and how their sons and daughters were distraught at the prospect of being taken out of school or separated from each other.

They are considering teaming up with the “Tufnell Park 6”, six children in the Eleanor Palmer School’s nursery, who have been denied entry to the “outstanding”  school.

They are also considering an appeal to the school’s adjudicator.

Cabinet member for children, Councillor Angela Mason, said: “I have had two meetings with the parents with siblings who were not successful in getting a place and have every sympathy with them.

“I am seeking further discussions with the diocese to look at how we can avoid these problems in Camden schools and retain a local sense of community.

“Officers have also been in touch with all the parents to do as much as we can to find alternative options that will work for them.”

Father Peter Anthony, the Junior Dean of St Stephen’s House, Oxford, will be taking over St Benet’s from July 11.