The Russell School Meeting

Great to see so many people at the meeting with the Council where the plans were outlined to parents teachers and governors of The Russell school. Their plan is:

1. Sell Strathmore and all of The Russell Infants area to developers

2. Bulldoze all existing building and build one large new ('more efficient' ) building in the centre of the site.

3. The  combined new school will have a smaller overall footprint than the current Russell school does, and also less play areas for the children (despite parents being told by the school last October saying that they had been told by The Council that  'there was a clear assurance that greenfield space, playground space or environmental areas would not be diminished'. This is no longer the case)

4. There will also be an additional 120 children put into The Russell in 4 classes.

So more children in less space

It was also made plain that should The Russell School reject the plans, the existing school buildings would not be rebuilt (despite being described as not fit for purpose in the meeting) and we were a very likely candidate to be 'named' by The Council as having an extra class entry anyway, which would  involve 'plonking a portacabin on the playground'. This was described as the worst of both worlds - though the Head of Childrens Services was at pains to make clear this was not a threat, just a likely scenario. 

I don't think I am misrepresenting the plan but if some feel I am, do please send me your views which I will circulate on the e mail list.

Under questionning, Nick Whitfield acknowledged that the Council hadn't applied for central government funding (through the Priority School Building programme) principally because they were told they would only get one application succesfully through and the Kew school that got it in our borough was in a far worse state than The Russell. This seemed rather at odds with his earlier 'not fit for purpose' comments about The Russell. In fact the advice the council has been given appears to be wrong. 58 seperate local authorities got multliple applications through via the PSB system in 2012, including in London: Brent (2), Bromley (2) Camden (2) Greenwich (5) Harrow (8), Hillingdon (3) Lambeth (5)  and Newham (2). 

Many other parents also raised the issues of the disruption to children at the school while this continues. This is clearly of major concern to many parents.