A Catholic girls’ school in Archway will be taken over by an academy chain after a steady decline in student numbers left a black hole in its finances.

In a letter to parents this week the Diocese of Westminster announced that Mount Carmel School for Girls will close in September 2017 and immediately reopen as a mixed, non-denominational academy or free school.

During the past 18 months the school has worked with the Town Hall to seek a solution to the fall in the number of pupils applying for places, but it has concluded that Islington simply does not require more girls’ places. In fact, future projections suggest the need for more boys’ places.

The school is also understood to have suffered from the relatively high number of good quality Catholic girls’ schools in north London, such as La Sainte Union in Highgate.

In his letter the Diocese’s director of education, John Paul Morrison, told parents: “This has not been an easy decision and one that has implications for Catholic education across north London. The reality is the school in its current format is no longer viable despite being a good school by Ofsted’s standards.

“The truth is that there are currently 314 vacant places in the school and financially this had made the current arrangements untenable. Mount Carmel’s current arrangements do not fit the profile required by the wider community.”

Pupils and staff currently at Mount Carmel, rated as “good” by Ofsted in 2014, will transfer to the new school. Islington Council said that if parents want their children to continue a Catholic education Mount Carmel will find them a new place at an alternative nearby school.

Islington’s education chief, Councillor Joe Caluori, said it was “frustrating” that, under legislation brought in by the former coalition government, the council cannot itself take over the school.

However, the Town Hall would seek to influence the process so that a school provider with experience and knowledge of education in Islington could be found to run it, he said.

Cllr Caluori told the Tribune: “I accept the decision the Catholic Diocese has made that Mount Carmel isn’t viable with so few pupils, but that is no comment on the quality of the school itself.

“Our projections show that we will need more secondary school places in the future, especially for boys.”

• Keywords
  SECONDARY SCHOOLS
• Geographical keyword
  DUNCOMBE ROAD
• Persons keyword
  Mount Carmel School of Girls