THE HOLBORN SCHOOL campaign sprang from the experience of a group of local primary school parents who recognised the need for local secondary school places for their children.
The area of Camden south of the Euston Road has outstanding nurseries and primary schools. This has always been a family area, and every year more young families are drawn to live here. The problem for a population of around 31,000 residents is there is no local secondary school.
Campaigns for a local secondary school has been span many decades and many generations of parents and children. This campaign began on 2nd November 2005 when group of Y4 & 5 parents and our ward councillors met in the Band Room at Coram’s Fields. Their concern then, as it will be for local parents now, was that there was no secondary school for their children to go to at Y7. All parents could hope hope for is to find a place place at a school, often far away in many other boroughs, that was left over after local children got their first options.
It took more than 10 years of campaigning before national political will and ever-changing government education policy made it clear that we would never be allowed our school. It was a strange time. Every time we exceeded the requirements and got close to winning, government policy changed. By the end of the campaign most of the children of parents involved were at secondary school, university or life beyond education.
It’s now time for a new generation of parents to wait for government education policy to change, for politicians to recognise the unfairness subjected to children at outstanding primary schools south of Euston Road who deserve their own local secondary school with strong links to the community and our local primary schools.
Until that time, the research, knowledge, enthusiasm and commitment, assets and this website remain available for the next campaign.