Worst primary school in a borough with no headteacher for five years to close

By Robert Firth, Local Democracy Reporter

Southwark’s worst primary school that has been without a permanent headteacher for over five years is set to close.

Councillors are due to rubber stamp plans to shut Cobourg Primary School in Walworth from September at a meeting next week.

Pupils at the school will move to Camelot Primary School in Peckham from the next academic year under the proposed merger.

Cobourg is the only primary school in Southwark to be rated “requires improvement” two times in a row by Ofsted.

At its last inspection in March 2022, inspectors said inconsistencies in teaching at the school remained despite improvements in some subjects.

According to a council report proposing the school’s closure, it has failed to appoint a “substantive headteacher for more than five years,” leading to “ineffective and inconsistent” leadership.

Provided councillors sign off the plans next week, Cobourg will become the fifth inner South London school to not reopen in September.

Townsend Primary School and St Francesca Cabrini Primary School, both in Southwark, and St Martin-in-the-Fields High School for Girls and Archbishop Tenison’s School, both in Lambeth, have already revealed they won’t reopen for the 2023/24 academic year.

A drop in pupil numbers has been blamed on these closures. Like other schools in Southwark and Lambeth, Cobourg Primary has struggled to attract enough students in recent years.

The school has space for 390 pupils but just under half, 46 per cent, of places are currently unfilled. Applications to attend the school have halved in the last five years.

But Southwark councillor Jasmine Ali said the decision to close the school wasn’t “driven by the falling school rolls crisis” in a council report.

Cllr Ali, Labour member for Rye Lane, said the school’s Interim Executive Board (IEB) had concluded that merging the school with the ‘good’ rated Camelot Primary would improve education for students at both schools.

The IEB – which is made up of experienced education professionals – replaced Cobourg’s governors in June 2022 after they failed to improve standards at the school.

Cllr Irina von Wiese, education spokesperson for the council’s Liberal Democrat opposition, said the Labour administration needed to do more to make the borough affordable for families.

She said: “Pupil numbers are falling because normal families cannot afford to live in our borough and they will continue to do so until we make serious progress in providing genuinely affordable housing in Southwark.”

Cobourg Primary School and Camelot Primary School were contacted for comment about the merger but failed to reply before publication.

Pictured top: Cobourg Primary School in Walworth will close from September 2023 (Picture: Google Street View)