Garden Suburb Junior closes on 31 December and reopens with the infant school as Garden Suburb Primary on 1 January, with 60 places a year group instead of 90.

Garden Suburb Junior School is to close on 31 December 2026, and reopen the next day as part of a single school with Garden Suburb Infant School. The merged school will be called Garden Suburb Primary School and will take children from 4 to 11.

The decision is in a record published by Barnet Council on 14 September, in the name of the executive director of children’s services. It approves three things: the closure of the junior school on 31 December, the extension of the infant school’s age range from 4-7 to 4-11 from 1 January 2027, and the amalgamation of the two into “a single two-form entry community primary school” from the same date.

Nothing moves. Both schools already share one site on Childs Way, NW11, one governing body and one leadership team.

Falling rolls are the reason

The council’s consultation document is direct about it. “Like many schools nationally, Garden Suburb Infant and Junior Schools are experiencing falling pupil numbers,” it says. “Because a large part of school funding is based on the number of children on roll, this has placed increasing pressure on the schools’ finances at a time when costs, particularly staffing costs, continue to rise.”

The Department for Education’s register of schools shows how much room is spare.

Bar chart comparing places and pupils at the two Garden Suburb schools: the infant school has 246 places and 173 pupils, the junior school has 360 places and 315 pupils
Chart by Barnet Live
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  • Garden Suburb Infant School: 246 places, 173 pupils on roll.
  • Garden Suburb Junior School: 360 places, 315 pupils on roll.

The new school will offer 60 places per year group from Reception to Year 6, which the council says is 30 fewer per year group than the two schools offer between them. It adds that Reception to Year 3 “already reflect this reduction in pupil numbers”, so for most of the school the change formalises what has already happened. A staff restructuring and the move to two-form entry were both under way before this proposal.

The document says the quality of teaching is not the issue. Both schools are rated Good by Ofsted: the junior school at an inspection on 18 May 2022, the infant school on 12 July 2023. “This merger is about protecting that quality for the future,” it says.

What the council says changes for children

The consultation document sets out the case for one school rather than two:

  • consistent leadership from Reception to Year 6
  • a curriculum planned to run from age 4 to 11 without a break
  • SEND support that follows a child through the school rather than stopping at the move from infants to juniors
  • one set of policies across Early Years, Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2
  • one budget, with less duplication and more of it spent on teaching

Unusually, the same document also argues the other side. Separate schools let staff build deep expertise in one age group, it says, smaller schools can mean staff know pupils very well, and the move from infants to juniors “can help prepare children for later school changes”.

The consultation has already closed

The legal process ran through the summer and is nearly finished.

  • A six-week informal consultation ran first.
  • The statutory notice was published, and advertised in the local press.
  • A four-week representation period ran from 22 June to 20 July 2026, open to anyone.
  • The decision was due on 11 September 2026.
  • If approved, Garden Suburb Primary School opens on 1 January 2027.

One caveat matters. The council’s decision register still lists the status of this item as “For Determination”, and the report behind it is restricted, so the published record shows the decision the council was asked to take rather than a confirmed approval. The statutory notice and the consultation document are both public. We will report the confirmation when the register is updated.

What it means for you

  • If your child is at either school, they transfer automatically. The consultation document says all existing children at both schools move onto the roll of the primary school on 1 January 2027.
  • The site, buildings and journey do not change. The document says there will be “no reduction of space available to the children and no impact on travel arrangements”.
  • If you are applying for a Reception place for September 2027, the school you are applying to will be Garden Suburb Primary, with 60 places in the year group. The national closing date for primary applications is 15 January 2027. See our Barnet planning applications page for other council registers, and the council’s admissions pages for the form.
  • If you have a child in Year 6 now, they finish at the school that opens in January under the new name, and secondary transfer is unaffected.
  • Neither school’s website carried a statement about the merger when we checked on 24 September, so ask the school office directly if you want the detail on uniform, name changes or term dates.

The schools are in Golders Green ward. The statutory notice was signed by Alison Dawes, director of school access, skills and corporate services at Barnet Education and Learning Service.

Sources: Decision record: Outcome of the Formal Consultation on the Amalgamation of Garden Suburb Infant School and Garden Suburb Junior School; statutory consultation document; statutory notice; Get Information about Schools entries for Garden Suburb Infant School and Garden Suburb Junior School; Ofsted reports for the junior school and the infant school.