Expansion of St Gregory's School

Angie organised a meeting for herself and Councillors David Millican and Benjamin Dennehy to meet with the Headteacher at St Gregory's School, Terry Cooper, the Chair of the school's Governors, Council Officers and the developers in charge of building the school's extension, to discuss the school's expansion plans. She wanted the meeting in order to discuss the concerns of local residents about the impact of this on the immediate area around the School.

At the meeting, two key issues were raised. The first was around the catchment area for the school and residents' concerns that it would be looking to attract pupils from a wide area, beyond Ealing. The school gave assurances that pupils from Ealing would always be given priority, and that although Faith Schools do not have the same catchment areas as Local Authority Schools, they anticipate accepting no more than a handful of pupils from further afield – including siblings of pupils already there.

The other main issue was traffic problems for residents in the local area. On this, the Headteacher gave his assurances that the school was working hard with the Local Authority to address this problem, which he agreed was a longstanding one.

What the meeting agreed was that Council measures to prevent cars from stopping to drop off and pick up children outside the school could make a significant difference, and Councillors Millican and Dennehy said they would push for much firmer enforcement.

After the meeting Angie said, "It was a good meeting, and although we need to see that residents' concerns are met, I have encouraged the school to set up regular meetings with its neighbours so that these issues can be discussed more openly. These are always going to be problems for local residents because of the sheer number of schools in the immediate area, but I hope the Council will take firm enforcement measures to control the school run outside the gates of St Gregory's and that this can help to alleviate the residents' very understandable concerns."

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