Humanists UK backs campaign to stop closure of non-faith school
The news comes less than a year on from the successful campaign that saved the non-faith primary school from being merged into a Church of England school
Humanists UK is supporting a campaign that aims to stop Southwark Council from closing the only non-faith primary school in its area, Charlotte Sharman Primary School.
The news comes less than a year on from the successful campaign that saved the non-faith primary school from being merged into a Church of England school, following “significant” public backlash.
Parents, teachers and the local community told Southwark Council that they wanted to keep Charlotte Sharman as a non-faith school. A petition to save Charlotte Sharman has already reached over 500 signatures.
While Southwark Council has revealed plans to close the school, it has not given reasons for its decision. The proposal would see pupils get distributed between other schools.
However, Humanists UK has pointed out that neighbouring St Jude’s Church of England Primary School has a much lower proportion of places filled by pupils at just 32% (69 children), compared with 79% (179 children) at Charlotte Sharman.
According to the petition launched in response to the proposed closure, there has been “a lack of proper consultation on this issue, and not enough alternative options have been explored”.
Kieran Aldred, education campaigns manager at Humanists UK, said: “Last year there was a huge campaign to save Charlotte Sharman Primary School as a school of no religious character, in the face of plans to merge it into a much less popular faith school. That was successful. But now Southwark Council is back, trying to do the same thing by other means, namely simply closing Charlotte Sharman entirely, rather than closing the faith school. They haven’t listened.
“Falling roll numbers is a real challenge for many primary schools across England, but when there is a local Church of England school in the same area with far fewer places being filled there is a question of why the local community school is the one being selected for closure.”
He added: “We hope that Southwark Council will look at all possible options to ensure the needs of families and children from all backgrounds are being met in decisions about school closures and mergers.”