Support for St Mary Magdalene and St Stephen's Primary School

Our regular volunteers and local families will have heard that one of our school partners, St Mary Magdalene and St Stephen's CE Primary School, is affected by the reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) situation. At the time of writing we believe they are the only school in Westminster affected.

Located next to the canal just north of Little Venice, St Mary Magdalene school hosts over 150 pupils from nursery to Year 6, and recently merged with nearby St Stephen’s primary school.

Whilst a devastating setback just before the start of term, it is only a relatively small part of the school impacted. The Year 5 and 6 classrooms and facilities immediately surrounding these classrooms have been identified as being at risk. The St Stephen’s site (which had closed its doors in July) is still available to the school, providing an alternative teaching space for the 60 pupils affected. Whilst opening and maintaining a second site will involve considerable co-ordination and additional costs, all pupils do have a safe space available to them to learn in from the start of term on Wednesday 6 September.

As one of the Partnership’s longest standing school partners, many of our volunteers have given their time and skills at the school, and our members have made donations to specific projects and services, like the Library Bus, school uniforms and education materials. The school consistently accommodates corporate volunteers and welcomes every volunteer with open arms, regardless of how busy they are.

We understand that the school will be allocated a specialist technical adviser to assist them through the journey of remediation, and of course they will be supported by their local education authority, Westminster City Council and the London Diocesan Board for Schools (LDBS). The government will be meeting the costs of remedial building work, but schools and local authorities are expected to meet the costs of intermediate measures and contingency arrangements, for example transport between sites, additional staff to maintain separate premises etc.