Hawley school development proposals

Overview

Hawley is a nursery and infants’ school in Camden Town and is the only infants’ school in Camden without a linked junior school. Hawley Infants’ School has been on its current site for more than 100 years and is popular, with a village feel.

However, the school and its classrooms are very small compared with other infant schools, the play area is cramped and there is not enough space for children to play team games.

 The existing school site is surrounded by sites with planning permission for large developments, which are likely to cause disturbance and disruption to the school.Hawley would be overlooked and overshadowed once these developments are finished.

There isn’t enough room on the existing site to expand the school and its intake or create more play space. This means that when pupils reach seven, parents have to look for other primary or junior schools. This can be stressful for parents and separate children from their friends. In 2010-11, children who left the school for a junior place went to eight different state schools in Camden or had to attend independent schools and other borough’s state schools.

The present school building also needs £224,000 worth of repairs.

Why your views matter

We are consulting you on the proposal to:

• enlarge Hawley Infants’ School and
• raise the age limit so that the school can take junior aged pupils.

This consultation is not about the possible redevelopment of Hawley Wharf itself and you are not, at this stage, being consulted on what a new Hawley Primary School building would look like.

What happens next

Your response will be considered by the Director of Children, Schools, and Families, in consultation with the Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families.

A decision will be made on whether to publish a formal notice on the proposed changes to the school.

Should the Director and Cabinet Member for Children, Schools and Families decide that we should publish a notice, this would be displayed at the main entrance to the existing site and at the proposed site, advertised in a local paper, made available in the local library and on our website. A further six weeks would then be allowed for further comments on the proposed changes

At the end of the second six-week period, the Cabinet will review all comments received before deciding whether the proposals should be agreed. This should happen in May 2012. The decision will not include approval of a design for the school building as this would form part of a separate planning process.