Regeneration leaving schools empty of kids, say head teachers

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Surging rent prices and a shortage of affordable housing are leaving primary schools in a borough struggling to fill places, head teachers have warned.

Southwark head teacher Makeda Williams-Pinnock blamed collapsing pupil numbers at her school on the regeneration of Elephant and Castle.

She said it was impossible for families to afford to live near her school – noting that the housing benefit cap for a single person with kids didn’t cover the monthly cost of local accommodation.

Speaking at a Southwark council education meeting on Monday, Ms Williams-Pinnock, head teacher of Victory Primary School, in Rodney Road, said: “All I can see growing in my locality is lots of bright, shiny buildings because the indigenous population has been decanted far and wide.

“Although a section of social housing was promised to them, they’ve actually been priced out of the market. I did a quick Google search today and the average one-bedroom flat across the road from my school is £2,500 per month.”

Housing benefit for single parents with kids in Greater London is capped at £442.31 per week, or £1,769.24 per month.

Ms Williams-Pinnock added that parents of many kids previously at her school had worked at Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre and were forced to relocate following its closure in 2020.

She said: “My school is in the middle of a regeneration area. That has had a huge impact on the amount of children who have entered my school from the day I became head teacher.

“With the closing of the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre, if you think about all the cleaners, the shop assistants, the chefs, the waiters etc, they’ve had to relocate as well because they have to go where they can find employment.”

Fellow Southwark head teacher Helen Ingham said parents were being forced to pull their kids out of her primary school in Nunhead after being rehoused in outer London boroughs like Barking and Dagenham.

Ms Ingham, head teacher of Ivydale Primary School, in Ivydale Road, Nunhead, told the meeting: “We’ve seen families who have been rehoused, but have been rehoused out of the borough because there isn’t sufficient appropriate housing for them to be rehoused in the borough, let alone close enough for schooling to be maintained. For example, being rehoused in Dagenham or further.”

Ivydale Primary School in Nunhead opened a second building in 2017 with the expectation of catering for four classes, but reduced to three classes within 12 months.

Ms Ingham said there was an “exodus” of families from London during the pandemic, which had caused pupil numbers to drop further.

Pictured top: Victory Primary School in Elephant and Castle (Picture: Google Street View)