The standard of schools in Kentish Town

Primary schools

Eleanor Palmer Primary School (CY)
• Ages 3-11.
• Ofsted rated as good (2007, 2003).
• Around a quarter of the pupils are learning English as an additional language (Ofsted).
• A smaller than average number of pupils are identified with learning difficulties or disabilities (Ofsted).
• Around a fifth of pupils are eligible for free school meals (Ofsted).

Kentish Town Church of England Primary School (VA)
• Ages 3-11.
• Ofsted rated as outstanding (2010 and 2007).
• Almost a fifth of pupils from asylum seeker/refugee families (Ofsted).
• Almost half of the pupils don’t speak English at home (Ofsted).
• A third of pupils from British white families (Ofsted).

St Patrick’s Catholic Primary School (VA)
• Ages 3-11.
• Ofsted rated as good and improving (2008).
• The school serves an area with some pockets of social deprivation and has a higher than average proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals (Ofsted).
• There is a very high percentage of ethnic minority pupils mainly of Black British and African [heritage] (Ofsted).
• There are above average numbers of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities (LDD), the majority of whom are slow learners or have behavioural problems (Ofsted).

Torriano Junior School (CY)
• Ages 7-11.
• Ofsted rates school as outstanding (2009 and 2006).
• Well above average levels of pupils eligible for free school meals (Ofsted).
• Well above average SEN (special educational needs), English as additional language, behavioural, emotional and social problems’ (Ofsted).

Torriano Infant School (CY)
• Ages 3-7.
• Ofsted rates school as outstanding (2009) and very good (2004).
• Poor developmental and social skills of many pupils (Ofsted).
• Very high proportion of pupils with English as a foreign language (Ofted).

Secondary school

Acland Burghley School (CY)
• Comprehensive 11-18.
• Ofsted rates school as satisfactory (2008), good (2004) – school is therefore worsening under these ratings.
• 39% of pupils achieved 5 A*-C at GCSE compared to borough average of 45%.
• Proportion of pupils receiving free school meals is twice national average (Ofsted).
• Proportion of pupils with special educational needs nearly four times national average (Ofsted).
• School’s good discipline in face of high levels of behavioural problems (Ofsted).

Key to school types

CY: Community School, maintained by the local authority (LA). The LA is the admissions authority – it has main responsibility for deciding arrangements for admitting pupils.

VA: Voluntary Aided school, maintained by the LA, with a foundation (generally religious) that appoints most of the governing body. The governing body is the admissions authority.

Kentish Town ward map

Topical and controversial issues in Kentish Town

Safter Neighbourhood Team (SNT) priorities

Summer 2010 (SNT meeting held 15/09/10)

Priority 1: Cycling
• Irresponsible cycling
• Cycle theft
• SNT police not confident that they have managed to reduce the amount of cycling through red lights or cycling on the pavement.
• Police intelligence on cycle thieves is low.
• No fund was available to spend on crime prevention methods.

Priority 2: Anti-social behaviour within social housing and estates
• A dispersal zone is currently in operation in Kentish Town.
• Started during the summer. 26 people dispersed to date.
• Police have not seen the youth disorder or violence the dispersal zone was meant to prevent.

Autumn 2010 onwards (SNT meeting held 17/11/10)

Priority 1: Licensing and drunken behaviour
• Monitor off-licence sales in local shops.
• My Shop on Fortess Road had its application for a later licence refused after it was caught selling alcohol to children (Camden Gazette 22/09/10).

Priority 2: Anti-social behaviour within social housing and estates
• Residents believe the dispersal zone should be continued until its original expiry date of January 2011.
• Residents believe dispersal zone acts as a deterrent if nothing else.

Voter apathy strikes Kentish Town by-election

The by-election was held after the death of councillor Dave Horan in September 2010.

Voter apathy struck the Kentish Town by-election yesterday as only about one in four people voted.

Lack of faith and trust in the candidates are just two of the reasons why residents did not vote.

Catherine Doyle, 50, said: “There is no point in voting… the government doesn’t care about ordinary people.

“It is always the people with nothing who get hit first. My sister needs 24-hour care. [The government] will cut this.

“None of [the parties] will do anything for me, my community or my family.”

One unnamed man outside the polling station in Kentish Town Church of England Primary School said: “I wouldn’t vote. Politicians are a pack of liars.”

Voter turnout for by-elections in Kentish Town has been decreasing over the years. In the 2006 by-election the turnout was 31 per cent of the electoral roll. In 2008 it was 28.7 per cent. Yesterday’s turnout was 26.02 per cent. Turnout for the main council election in May this year was 64.1 per cent.

Ana Diaz, 49, said: “I can’t see very well. It is difficult for me to go [to a polling station] and vote. No one understands that I have a disability.”

Ms Diaz was last in a polling station a few years ago. She added: “Nobody helped me so I left. No-one’s interested. What’s the point if I can’t express my opinion.”

Melissa-Juliette Obra, 19, said: “I didn’t know about [the by-election]. If I knew more about it then I would vote.”

Labour candidate Jenny Headlam-Wells won the vacant seat with 1,411 votes – 53 per cent – beating Nick Russell from the Liberal Democrats, Will Blair from the Conservatives and Naomi Aptowitzer from the Greens.

Interview with Councillor Meric Apak

The government’s plan to cut the housing benefit budget by 10 per cent will lead to “political cleansing” of traditional Labour voters, a Kentish Town councillor has warned.

The housing benefit cut will also result in approximately 14,000 people being made homeless in Camden, according to Labour party councillor Meric Apak.

Mr Apak said the plan to cap housing benefit at £400.00 a week from next April is “shocking and immoral”. He believes this will force primarily Labour voters out of Camden and perhaps out of London altogether.

He said: “Personally, I believe this is an attack on Labour. It’s an attack to drive those voters out of this area. If [the government] cleanses the area of Labour voters then that’s a back door for the Tories to get in.

“If that’s not, dare I say, political cleansing, what is I don’t know.”

Mr Apak said the vast majority of those made homeless will be private sector tenants.

He added: “The myth is that it’s the council housing and social housing sector which is abusing the system.

“In fact, the vast proportion of housing benefits is actually spent on the private housing sector because we haven’t got enough social housing for council tenants or for [other] people.”

Private sector tenants will be affected by the cap on the Local Housing Allowance (LHA), the housing benefit for tenants renting privately.

From April 2011, the maximum LHA rates payable will be capped at £250.00 per week for a one bed property, £290.00 per week for a two bed, £340.00 per week for a three bed, and £400.00 per week for a four bed.

A survey conducted by London Councils shows that approximately 60 per cent of 270 landlords would not lower the rent by any amount if the tenant could not pay the full rent due to changes in LHA entitlement.

If the shortfall in rent were to rise to over £20.00 per week, almost all landlords said they would evict the tenant or not renew the tenancy at the end of the period.

London Councils also suggests that around 82,000 households London-wide – a quarter of a million people – may be forced to leave their current accommodation under the government’s plan.

Around 16,000 people are currently on Camden Council’s housing waiting list. Mr Apak said the spending cuts will limit the Council’s ability to increase housing stocks.

Tea dance licence controversy

This story came from the Licensing Panel B meeting held from 7.00pm on 12th October 2010.

A licence allowing over 50s tea dances to be held at a school in Kentish Town has been met with stiff opposition.

Twenty eight local residents submitted complaints to Camden Council when a licence was sought to play music at tea dances at Acland Burghley School every week. Two residents’ associations – Burghley, Lady Somerset and Oakford Roads, along with Churchill Road – also lodged complaints.

Conditions have been attached to the licence, limiting the number of events. But residents attending the Licensing Panel meeting at Camden Town Hall last Tuesday say this is not enough.

Tanya Datta, 38, of Burghley Road said: “We are astonished that the Council has allowed this through with the strength of local opposition to it.

“The meeting revealed that we can expect up to 120 people to come through our area at the weekend on top of all the other things the school does.”

Residents argue they may be unable to park outside their homes and the school is already heavily used by sports clubs during the week.

The licencees, Jayne Rowe, 43, and Artur Dabrowski, 33, say their events are aimed mainly at the over 50s.

Ms Rowe said: “I sympathise with the residents about the problems they are having locally with noise, school children, drugs, inebriation, and even a murder.

“But those are things which happen already and are not likely to be increased as a result of anything we’re doing.”

The licence stipulates that events can be held every Saturday afternoon but a maximum of 12 evening or Friday or Sunday daytime events are permitted per year. All events must finish by 10.30pm and attendance will be limited to 120 ticket holders.

Ms Rowe said the licence covers what she wants to do and is not concerned by the conditions.

Family flees as baby buggy set alight