Southwark non-faith school that survived CofE amalgamation attempt now threatened with closure

Less than a year on from the successful campaign to save the only non-faith primary school in its area from being merged into a Church of England school, Southwark Council is now instead proposing to close the school entirely.

The proposal to merge Charlotte Sharman Primary School, the only school of no religious character in its ward, into a Church of England school, was dropped after significant public backlash and a campaign supported by Humanists UK. Parents, teachers and the local community made it clear that they wanted to keep Charlotte Sharman as a non-faith  school.  

But now, Southwark Council plans to close Charlotte Sharman instead. However, it is unclear why Charlotte Sharman has been proposed to be closed while the neighbouring St Jude’s Church of England Primary School has not. The Southwark Council proposal would see the pupils distributed between other schools, but Charlotte Sharman Primary School has a higher number of pupils and proportion of places filled (179, 79%) than St Jude’s (69, 32%). 

In response to the proposed closure, a petition to save Charlotte Sharman Primary School has been launched which has already reached over 500 signatures. The petition mentions that there has been a lack of proper consultation on this issue, and that not enough alternative options have been explored. Local residents are also being encouraged to respond to the consultation, which closes on Monday.

Humanists UK’s Education Campaigns Manager Kieran Aldred 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. 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.’