Floreat Brentford Primary School to Close

School trustees blame difficulty in securing permanent site for shock move

Floreat Brentford School is set to close at the end of this summer term in a move that will come as a shock to the parents of the 70 children that currently attended the school.

A request has been made by the Board of Trustees to close the school and the Department for Education (DfE) have given agreement in principle to this request. This means that the school is set to close in July.

Children at the school's nursery

The school’s trustees are blaming the failure to secure permanent premises for the school despite promises that they would be provided whereas the leader of Hounslow Council has said this is another case of the government’s free school programme not working.

There is to a four week period during which parents and other stakeholders can put forward views on the closure process. During this time, parents who have expressed a preference for a place at Floreat Brentford for their child in 2018/19 will be given the opportunity to state another preference. The local authority start work next week to work with these parents, along with those with children already at the school who wish to find alternative places.

Opened in 2015, the primary school has faced what it describes as insurmountable challenges in temporary accommodation and a lack of certainty that the proposed new school would be available. The Floreat Board has therefore decided to request that the school closes by mutual consent with the DfE.

The Floreat Trustees commented, “Sadly, despite being strong educationally, the site issues around Floreat Brentford have proved insurmountable – both the untenable challenges around the temporary site, and the protracted failure to provide us with a permanent site.

“The school is currently housed in two separate units, sitting under high-rise blocks at opposite ends of a retail parade and opening onto a busy public highway. Our pupils, who are aged 4-7 years, move between the units throughout the day. There is no outside space and so the children take a walk of up to ten minutes each way to spend playtime and PE lessons in a local park.

“This is clearly not sustainable and was only ever intended to be short term. Despite tireless efforts to secure a permanent site, the build programme has been beset with delays and is still not confirmed. Floreat Brentford should be a burgeoning two-form entry school by now, but with space restricting us to just three class groups, funding levels are critically low, making it increasingly challenging to provide a safe school and the quality of education that is our hallmark.

They say that the circumstances of the closure are unique and will not impact other schools in their group which are housed in permanent accommodation.

The council’s Admission Team say they will work with the Trust, their families and local Hounslow schools to manage the relocation of the 70 children that are currently on the school roll at Floreat, and also support the families who have made an application for a reception place at Floreat for September 2018. They will be contacting all parents individually to discuss their personal circumstances and find the best possible solution.

Cllr Curran, Leader of Hounslow Council, said, “The school has taken advice from the DfE, which has agreed in principle that it is in the best interests of the children to close the school and find them other suitable places in the borough. Sadly, this is another case of the Government’s free school model failing and letting down our children, which is unacceptable to us.

“Our school admissions service has stepped in to help and through working with our local head teachers, we are confident we will find the best solutions for all our children. Cllr Tom Bruce, Cabinet Member for Education, and I would be very happy to meet with all parents who have children in the school, or who had planned on selecting Floreat Primary School for their child for September 2018.”

February 9, 2018