Help Our Children Have The Best Start!

In the heart of Grove Park lies Grove Park Primary School.

Built in 1952 as part of the Montgomery estate, it has served our community’s children for more than 70 years. It has grown from a one-form entry to a two-form entry as the demand for places grew and today it counts more than 440 pupils across seven years. Grove Park Primary School is for all these children the start of their educational journey. Many go on to Chiswick School, our community’s other big school, some to other state secondary schools and about a third to private secondary schools. But they agree on one thing: in interviews with year-six children we hear how much they love Grove Park - their friends, their teachers, all they have learned.

Governors and leadership ask what we think is Grove Park’s comparative advantage, what is its chief selling point. Besides the outstanding educational outcomes it is kindness! There is a sense of caring and kindness throughout the school. The ethos of TREE - trust, respect, empathy, and enthusiasm - underpins learning, play, behaviour, everything that happens at the school.

Why is the school important to the community? First of all, it is important that local children have an outstanding school to give them a good foundation in education. Secondly, having an outstanding school in the area is a clear draw for people looking to move to London or more specifically to Chiswick. Real estate agents promote Grove Park pointing to, among other assets, the outstanding primary school. And as a result prices increase, properties are competitive and much sought after. The school is also an important community asset because of what it can offer the community: a hall for events, a playground for parties, a flat with small rooms for meetings or tutorials. These assets can be hired from the school at competitive rates.

But in recent years the impact of inflation and the relatively declining government grants to the school have presented increasing challenges. In just a few years the school has had to reduce its staff costs by more than £100 000. In the last two years alone, teachers have been rewarded well-deserved pay rises, first 5% then 6.5% but these were largely unfunded by the government and the school had to make cuts in order to return balanced budgets. While the school is very well managed there are increasing pressures on staff and it becomes ever more difficult to deliver the care and educational services needed to remain an outstanding school.

The school will need additional support to sustain it over time. Additional resources would be needed for short or long-staff, maintaining or repairing facilities, equipment for sports or the arts, and other items and services which are needed to support the outstanding educational - and caring - record of the school.