Oasis Academy Putney now on course to close

The Department for Education has granted in-principle approval to close Oasis Academy Putney, the most significant step yet in a process that began with the school’s formal closure proposal in February.

Oasis Community Learning, the academy trust that runs the school, confirmed the decision in a letter to families on Thursday morning. The trust said the DfE “has agreed that Oasis may continue to explore the possibility of closure,” with a more detailed government review now under way and a statutory listening period to follow.

In plain terms: the closure has cleared its biggest hurdle. A final decision is still to come, but the listening period that precedes it is, under DfE guidance, about how the closure happens, not whether it does.

The decision affects 112 pupils on the school’s roll, their families and the staff who work there. It also leaves a purpose-built primary on Putney Common, opened in 2017 and rated Good by Ofsted as recently as December 2024, on course to shut its doors in July.

What happens next

The DfE will now examine the case in more detail, including value-for-money and equality assessments. A listening period of at least four weeks in term time will follow, in which families, staff, unions and community groups can put their views on what the closure should look like. The Secretary of State will then make the final decision.

That final decision is not a formality, but it is rarely reversed. The four Wandsworth primaries that have closed or transformed since 2023 (Broadwater, Christchurch, St Anne’s and Goldfinch) all reached this stage and all proceeded.

As we reported in February, Oasis Academy Putney is closing this summer and pupils will need new schools by September.

A good school caught in a wider crisis

The school has been operating at around 27 per cent of capacity, 112 pupils against space for 420, despite a Good Ofsted rating and key stage 2 results well above the national average. Quality teaching could not save it from the maths of school funding.

We set out the wider picture in October: the borough’s school-funding death spiral, driven by falling birth rates, families leaving inner London and a funding formula that hits hardest the schools with the most disadvantaged pupils. Three other Wandsworth primaries (Griffin, West Hill and Falconbrook) are running below the council’s own stated minimum of 22 pupils per class.

What families can do now

Our February guide for Oasis families covers the Wandsworth admissions process, support for children with Education, Health and Care Plans, and cross-borough transfers. The contacts below remain the right starting points.

• Oasis Academy Putney: queries.putney@oasisuk.org for questions about the closure or family support
• Wandsworth admissions (school places): admissions@wandsworth.gov.uk or 020 8871 7316 (Monday to Friday, 9am to 1pm)
• SEND families, Wandsworth Information, Advice and Support Service (WIASS): wiass@wandsworth.gov.uk or 020 8871 8065

When the listening period is announced, families and community groups should make their views known. It is the last formal step at which the school community is asked anything.

A new council, an old crisis

Aled Richards-Jones was confirmed as the new leader of Wandsworth Council on 13 May, taking over after a hung result in the 7 May local elections. His cabinet will not be formally appointed until the council’s Annual Meeting on 27 May. The new administration inherits the school funding crisis along with everything else, though the closure decision itself rests with the Secretary of State, not the council.

In February, the then cabinet member for children’s services, Cllr Judi Gasser, was asked at a scrutiny committee whether she could commit to no further closures. “I can’t make that commitment,” she said. “Some of the schools are struggling, some of the smaller ones. So I can’t promise you that. I wish I could, but I just can’t because there are not enough people having babies.”

Wandsworth Council was asked for comment on the in-principle decision and on the new administration’s position on school closures.