Bishop Stopford's, Starks Field and Suffolks face a closure consultation from November if Cabinet agrees on 14 October. Any closure is likely in summer 2027.
Enfield Council is proposing to consult on closing three of its schools: Bishop Stopford’s School, Starks Field Primary School and Suffolks Primary School. If Cabinet agrees on Wednesday 14 October, a six-week consultation would start in November.
The report to Cabinet says that any closure, if proposed and approved, would be likely to take place in summer 2027. (Enfield Council Cabinet report, KD6131)
When the plan first appeared on the council’s forward plan in August, it was described as a consultation on “closing, repurposing and redesignation”. We reported that notice at the time. The full report, published ahead of the meeting, is clearer. Each of its first three recommendations asks Cabinet to approve consultation “on the proposed closure” of one school “and alternatives to closure”.
No school has been closed. Cabinet is deciding only whether to consult.
What Cabinet is asked to approve
The report recommends that Cabinet:
- approves consultation on the proposed closure of Bishop Stopford’s School, Starks Field Primary School and Suffolks Primary School, and on alternatives to closure
- allocates up to £150,000 from the council’s general fund to run the consultation, including legal advice, materials and events
- delegates the consultation itself to the Executive Director of People
- notes that a further report will come back to Cabinet with recommended options for each school
The £150,000 has no existing budget. The report says it would be a funding pressure on the council in 2026/27.
Why these three schools
The council ran what it calls a pupil place viability assessment across its schools. It scores each school on its occupancy trend and on parental demand. All three schools came out as “high risk”.
The report’s own figures show how far numbers have fallen and are expected to fall:
| School | Built capacity | Pupils 2023 | Pupils 2026 | Projected 2029 | Change 2023 to 2029 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Suffolks Primary | 420 | 263 | 182 | 124 | -53% |
| Starks Field Primary | 420 | 228 | 187 | 155 | -32% |
| Bishop Stopford’s | 930 | 738 | 555 | 443 | -40% |
Bishop Stopford’s figures exclude its sixth form. The 2029 figures are projections, using the January school census and Greater London Authority forecasts.
The report gives a different reason at each school:
- Starks Field, on Church Street in Edmonton, has too many primary places around it. It is a community school run under a PFI contract.
- Suffolks, on Brick Lane, is in an area where the number of young children is falling.
- Bishop Stopford’s, a Church of England voluntary aided secondary on Brick Lane, is losing applications because there are spare secondary places across the borough.
Both primaries were built for two classes a year but now admit 30 pupils, a single class. The council’s table shows Suffolks with nine children in Reception in its 2026 figure, and Starks Field with 21. At Bishop Stopford’s, which now admits up to 120 a year against a built capacity of 186, the report says there are 60 pupils in Year 7 this autumn.
The money
All three schools are in deficit. At the end of the 2025/26 financial year the report records:
- Bishop Stopford’s: £1.2m
- Starks Field: £250,000
- Suffolks: £225,000
That is £1.675m between them. If a maintained school in deficit closes, the council has to cover the deficit itself. Across the borough, 14 maintained schools ended 2025/26 in deficit, with £6.7m owed in total.
The report also flags that the PFI contract at Starks Field could carry “material financial implications for the Council” if closure goes ahead. Those costs would fall on the council’s general fund.
The borough-wide picture
The report sets the three schools against a sharp fall in the number of children in Enfield:
- births fell from about 5,000 a year in 2016 to 3,578 in 2024
- Reception admissions fell from about 4,460 in October 2020 to 3,412 in 2025
- 865 Reception places and about 460 Year 7 places were unfilled in September 2025
- mainstream pupil numbers are forecast to fall from 47,523 in 2026 to 42,457 by 2030
The council has already cut 360 Reception places across 12 primary schools for September 2026. The report says that is not enough. Many schools already run one class a year or mixed-age classes, so there is little left to trim.
Where pupils would go
The report lists spare places at nearby schools, using DfE data from 21 September 2026.
Starks Field: 134 pupils in Reception to Year 5 might need a new place. Five schools within half a mile have 288 vacancies between them, including Hazelbury Primary (105) and Firs Farm Primary (65).
Suffolks: 134 pupils in Reception to Year 5 might need a new place. Five schools within 0.7 miles have 267 vacancies, including Carterhatch Junior School (107), 0.2 miles away.
Bishop Stopford’s: 163 pupils in Years 7 to 9 might need to move. The report lists Chace Community School, Heron Hall Academy, Enfield County School for Girls, Kingsmead School and Enfield Grammar School. Its text says these have 522 vacancies, but the figures in its own table add up to 640.
The school also has 78 pupils in Year 10, who would be in their GCSE year in 2027/28. The report says their parental choice would be prioritised. It lists 255 Year 10 vacancies across the borough, but several of the nearer schools, including Kingsmead and Enfield County School for Girls, show none.
If Bishop Stopford’s closed, Wren Academy would be the borough’s only Church of England secondary. The report accepts this would affect families who choose a school for its Christian ethos. The Diocese of London must be consulted, and it can refer a closure decision to the Schools Adjudicator.
The alternatives on the table
The consultation will also ask about options other than closure. The report lists:
- cutting each school’s admission number further
- federating with another school to share leadership and costs
- amalgamating with another school
- converting to an academy
- sharing spare buildings with another service
- adding special needs (SEND) places alongside a smaller mainstream school
It is sceptical about most of them. It says no academy trust has put forward a proposal for any of the three schools, and no detailed shared-use proposal has been received. Stakeholders are invited to put forward their own.
The timetable
| Stage | When |
|---|---|
| Cabinet decides whether to consult | 14 October 2026 |
| Consultation opens, with public meetings at each school | November 2026 |
| Consultation closes | December 2026 |
| Cabinet considers the responses | February 2027 |
| Statutory notices published, if approved, and six-week representation period | March 2027 |
| Final decision by Cabinet | March or April 2027 |
| Any closure takes effect | End of summer term 2027 |
What it means for you
If your child is at one of the three schools, nothing changes this term. The consultation would start in November and the earliest any school could close, on the council’s own timetable, is the end of the summer term 2027.
If you want a say, the report promises public meetings for each school, an online questionnaire, meetings with parents and staff, and translated materials. The consultation will be “approximately six weeks during term time”. There would be a second chance to object during the formal six-week representation period in spring 2027, if Cabinet decides to go ahead.
If you are choosing a school for September 2027, note that no closure would be final until spring 2027, after applications for next September are in, so ask the council’s admissions team how a closure would affect any offer. Our Enfield school term dates page has the year ahead.
If you want to follow the meeting, Cabinet meets at 7pm on Wednesday 14 October. The agenda and papers are on the council’s website, including the viability assessment in Appendix A. The officer named on the report is Neil Best, Head of Education Strategic Resourcing and Partnerships.
We will report Cabinet’s decision and the consultation when it opens.
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