AZ-Neu

London schools are struggling to stay open as pupil num­bers plummet with rising rents and sky-high house prices, coup­led with the cost-of-living cri­sis, among the fac­tors squeezing fami­lies out.

Between 2012 and 2021 there was a 17% decrease in Lon­don's birth rate, accoun­ting for 23,000 fewer ba­bies in the capi­tal, accor­ding to data from Lon­don Councils.

Worst-hit central borough Camden has the se­cond-lowest birth rate in the coun­try, while the ave­rage house price in the area is more than £1m. Over the past four years it has an­noun­ced that four pri­mary schools are set to close.

One of those, St Dominic's in Gospel Oak, has about 40 pu­pils left. It is due to shut at the end of the school year but staff are won­dering whe­ther they can meet the buil­ding's ener­gy costs until then, accor­ding to the Natio­nal Edu­cation Union's (NEU) Camden branch se­cre­tary.

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