Enfield school closures: three named in consultation plan

Enfield Council has named three of its schools, Bishop Stopford’s School, Starks Field Primary and Suffolks Primary, in a proposal to consult on “closing, repurposing and redesignation” in response to falling pupil numbers and rising demand for special educational needs provision. Cabinet is due to decide on 14 October whether to launch the consultation. (Enfield Council forward plan, KD 6131)

The notice, first published on the council’s forward plan on 7 August, describes a “proposal to consult on closing, repurposing and redesignation three Enfield schools in response to falling pupil numbers and increasing demand for SEN provision”. It is listed as a key decision affecting all wards, brought by the council’s People Department, and the report to Cabinet will come in two parts: a public part titled “Consultation on Closure, Repurposing and Redesignation of Bishops Stopford’s, Starks Field and Suffolks Schools”, and a confidential part covering the prospective costs of the proposed changes.

No decision has been taken to close any school. What Cabinet will decide in October is whether to open a formal consultation, and the notice does not say which of the three options, closure, repurposing or redesignation, is proposed for which school.

The three schools

All three are named on the Department for Education’s register of schools, and its records show how many of their places are filled:

Bishop Stopford’s School is a Church of England voluntary aided secondary on Brick Lane, taking pupils aged 11 to 18. The register records 554 pupils on roll against a capacity of 1,165, so a little under half of its places are filled. (DfE register, URN 102052)

Starks Field Primary School is a community primary at 167 Church Street, Edmonton, for ages 3 to 11, with 187 pupils recorded against 218 places, around 86 per cent full. (DfE register, URN 134307)

Suffolks Primary School is a community primary for ages 2 to 11, with 182 pupils recorded against 240 places, around 76 per cent full. It stands on Brick Lane on a neighbouring site to Bishop Stopford’s. (DfE register, URN 102005)

The pupil counts are the DfE’s most recent published figures, collected at the spring school census.

What it means for you

If your child attends one of the three schools, nothing changes now: this is a proposal to consult, not a closure decision, and the new school year starts as normal. Closing a local-authority maintained school requires a statutory process, including publishing proposals and a formal representation period in which parents, staff and the community can object or comment, under the Department for Education’s school organisation statutory guidance.

If you want a say, the consultation would only open if Cabinet approves it on 14 October. The papers for that meeting will appear on the council’s democratic services site beforehand, and the forward plan names Neil Best, the council’s Head of Strategic Resourcing Partnerships for Education, as the officer contact (Neil.G.Best@Enfield.gov.uk).

Why this is happening, on the council’s own account, is falling pupil numbers and growing demand for special educational needs places. The consultation documents this autumn should set out the case school by school, and we will report what they say when they are published.