Boys’ faith school could open at former convent in Amhurst Park

Town Hall planners will soon rule on the application

A new boys’ school could open in a former convent in north Hackney in place of a girls’ school which has moved away.

The BC Trust has asked for planning permission to open the school in Amhurst Park inside what used to be Ursula’s Convent until it closed in 2017.

It has also asked Hackney Council if it can build a single-storey, 3.6-metre high temporary building with space for a synagogue and teaching, which would be removed after three years.

According to planning documents, the school has 90 pupils aged three to 11 and a capacity of 120, with 38 staff and volunteers.

Pupils live mainly in the Stamford Hill area and most of them walk to school, according to the travel plan.

The girls’ school, Beis Yaakov, has moved to Lordship Road, less than a mile from its former home.

Earlier this year, the planning inspector awarded costs against Hackney Council when a planning application for a change of use to house the girls’ school was delayed after the October 2020 cyber attack.

The inspector found there were delays in the council telling the school it had to resubmit its application.

When the application for the girls’ school was resubmitted in January 2021, the council “again failed to make any contact regarding the progress of the application despite numerous emails and phone calls”,  inspector Jonathon Parsons said.

The deadline for determining the application passed without contact from the council and Parsons ruled that the plans should go ahead.

Now the orthodox Jewish educational trust wants to use the former convent as a boys’ faith school or yeshiva, rather than a girls’ school.

Agent David Stebbing Architects said there are no proposed changes to the existing building or numbers of staff or pupils.

They wrote: “It is now just the case that the building will serve local boys rather than girls. To assist the school conversion to a yeshiva, a temporary building limited to three years is to be erected, which provides a synagogue space required and additional teaching/ancillary areas.

“Unlike a girls school, a synagogue is a necessity for a yeshiva. This synagogue is to be used solely by the yeshiva.”

In a design statement, they explained that the school is looking at ways to expand and “develop their site in the very near future”, adding: “In the interim, they need temporary space as soon as possible to assist conversion to a yeshiva.”

A previous application for a temporary building in the playgound was turned down over concerns about its size.

The new proposals are for a building three metres shorter.