Decision details

Westminster Council to determine if it is to publish a statutory notice proposing to amalgamate St Stephen’s and St Mary Magdalene’s Church of England (CE) Primary Schools. 

To publish a statutory notice proposing to amalgamate St Stephen’s and St Mary Magdalene’s CE Primary Schools.  A notice to publish would entail:

2.2      Part 1: Notice in accordance with 15(1) of the Education and Inspection Act 2006 that Westminster Council intends to discontinue St Stephen’s CE Primary School on 31 August 2023.

2.3      Part 2: That Westminster Council will seek to incorporate pupils from St Stephen’s CE Primary School into St Mary Magdalene’s CE Primary School to be located on the St Mary Magdalene’s school site with a planned Published Admissions Number of 30 pupils from Reception entry September 2023.

3.        Reasons for Decision 

3.1      The impact of falling rolls across the borough and the number ofschools in financial deficit present several challenges. It has therefore been necessary toconsider making changes to the number of school places available locally to ensure that local authority-maintained schools in Westminster remain viable. Provision that can be well resourced and is of high quality enables schools to continue to thrive and offer the opportunities that children deserve: a strongcurriculum with excellent teaching, enriching activities and a joyful experience at primaryschool. The joining of the schools will provide pupils with a full and enriched curriculum as the school will be fully subscribed and fully funded per pupil.  The governors of both schools are clear that now is the right time to move to becoming a single primary school in order to secure sustainable and high-quality education for their children now and into the future.

3.2      The two schools do not have enough children to fill two forms of entry from September 2023 with vacancies across all year groups. The average class size at St Stephen’s excluding nursery is currently approximately 11 pupils per class, and 19 pupils per class at St Mary Magdalene’s. The national average class size for Key Stage One in 2021-22 (including Reception) was 26.7 pupils and the average for Key Stage Two was 27.6.

3.3     The informal consultation led by the governing bodies of St Stephen’s and St Mary Magdalene’s has been carried out in partnership with the Church of England Dioceseand in liaison with the local authority. The local authority plays a key role in enabling schools to meet the challengeof ensuring that all children and young people in Westminster achieve the best possibleoutcomes and canflourish if schoolsare workingin effectivepartnerships. The local authority also seeks to ensure that steps are taken to address excess surplus capacity in primary schools in Westminster.