A primary school that parents feared would be wound down will be able to take on a reception class next year after all.

Bowes Southgate Green primary school in Wilmer Way, Southgate Green, has been told a key funding stream it receives from Enfield Council will continue to be provided.

The confirmation came in a letter sent to parents on Tuesday (August 27) from Sarah Turner, chief executive of the academy chain that runs the school, Enfield Learning Trust.

It follows weeks of uncertainty after the council said bulge funding – guaranteed money for a reception class of 30 pupils at the school – would no longer be provided.

The council said it would instead fund the school on a per-pupil basis, meaning the money would depend on how many children were admitted to the reception class.

But on June 25, after being told bulge funding would stop, Enfield Learning Trust informed parents it would not admit any further reception pupils to the Southgate Green site from September 2020.

The move sparked fears from a parents’ group, Bowes Southgate Green Parents Action Group, that the school would gradually be wound down.

Rob Worth, who is a member of the parents’ group, welcomed the news that bulge funding would continue – but said more needed to be done to secure the school’s future.

Mr Worth said: “It is a small victory that keeps us alive for another year. It shows what a bit of pressure from parents can do.

“But we still need to secure a long-term future for the school. This is a big project.”

Bowes Southgate Green – an offshoot of the older Bowes Primary School, in Bowes Road – was set up in 2014 on a site leased from Broomfield Secondary School.

It was designed as a stop-gap measure to deal with the extra demand for primary school places in the area.

And at the time, Enfield Council was considering plans for a new primary school at nearby Grovelands Park.

But with no sign of progress on building a new school at Grovelands, the parents’ group fears there will be a shortage of primary places in the area when the short-term lease with Broomfield School expires.

In December last year, a council planning document for nearby Walker Primary School said there was an “acute need” for more primary school places in the borough.

And projections made by the Greater London Authority in 2018 show a growing demand for primary school places in Southgate Green over the next ten years.

Parents hope that if a new school is not built at Grovelands Park, a long-term lease can be secured at the Broomfield site.

The letter from Ms Turner to parents adds: “We have yet to complete on the extension of the lease but this is also imminent.

“We are continuing with our discussions with Enfield, the Department for Education and Broomfield to find a permanent, long-term plan for the school.”

More than 1,100 people have so far signed a petition to save Bowes Southgate Green.

The petition is available here: https://www.change.org/p/london-borough-of-enfield-save-bowes-southgate-green-school

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