Consultation opens on the future of Viking and Downe Manor schools in Northolt

Could the future of Viking Primary School and Downe Manor Primary School affect your family? Ealing Council opened a six-week consultation on 5 October about the organisation of the two Northolt schools. The survey is available through the Have Your Say Ealing platform.

The most important point is that the consultation is not a decision to close a school. The council is seeking views from parents, pupils, staff, school governors and residents. Only after the responses have been considered will the council’s cabinet decide whether to publish a formal proposal for change.

One of the options is the council’s preferred model: closing Viking Primary School and merging it with Downe Manor from September 2027. Under that scenario, every child enrolled at Viking when it closed would be offered a place at Downe Manor. However, the consultation also includes keeping the current arrangements and other ways of reducing the number of unused school places in this part of the borough.

Who the consultation affects

Families whose children attend either school, staff and governing bodies are the groups most directly involved. Other residents can also respond, particularly where the options may affect travel, access to places, support for children with additional needs or the role that the schools play in the local community.

The council says the review reflects a decline in the number of children starting primary school across Ealing over the past decade. Because school funding is linked to pupil numbers, unused places can increase pressure on budgets, staffing, facilities and the breadth of the curriculum.

How to prepare a response

Before completing the survey, residents should read all the options rather than focusing only on the preferred one. A response can describe practical effects such as journey time and safety, the ability to keep siblings together, continuity of specialist support, capacity at Downe Manor and the place of each school within Northolt. Specific examples are likely to be more useful than a simple statement of support or opposition.

What happens next

Opening the consultation is a new stage in the process that began with the council’s decision in September. After six weeks, officers are expected to collect and assess the responses. The cabinet will then decide whether to publish a statutory proposal. That publication would be another formal step, not an automatic result of the survey.

Parents do not therefore need to decide to change school now solely because the council has identified a preferred option. They can instead use the consultation period to compare the alternatives and explain their child’s needs. The council says participants’ views will be considered before any further decision.

The consultation will run for six weeks from 5 October. The form is hosted on Have Your Say Ealing and can be reached from the council’s official announcement. Once the consultation closes, the responses will be presented to the cabinet. Until that happens, no change to the organisation of either school has been approved.