Primrose Hill primary school agrees to take an extra class of children

Very good news and part of the Council's overall efforts to tackle the primary places issue in Belsize and the North-West of the borough generally:

The governing body of Primrose Hill primary school last night agreed to take an additional class of Year 1 children in September 2010. This arrangement will provide permanent school places for all the children currently at Courthope Education Centre plus 3 others who have temporary school places at Emmanuel.

The children at Courthope are those who were without the offer of a reception class place on 9 July 2009. At that time there were 64 children with no school place after every available place in a Camden primary school had been taken into account.

The Courthope centre was set up to enable Camden to meet its statutory obligation towards these children. The families involved live mostly in wards in the NW of the borough. There are currently 25 children at the centre who are due to move into Year 1 this September.

Primrose Hill primary school will receive funds to improve the school buildings, create an additional classroom within the existing buildings, and fund the teaching posts for the new class for the next 6 years. Part of the proposal is to bring the old school keeper’s house back into use as a resource for parents, which should bring a benefit to the whole school community.