Town Mouse on Pimlico Academy

The school on the site of the late Pimlico Comprehensive has been a success but there's no space for a primary school on top, says Clive Aslet

Town mouse; country life
town mouse new
(Image credit: Country Life)

Strange how quickly the Olympics can be forgotten. Golden resolutions to do more for sport faded as quickly as the fireworks from the closing ceremony. Or so it seems from Westminster City Council's decision to let Pimlico Academy sacrifice a netball court to new buildings (although it will retain three netball courts and the running track).

The academy occupies the site of the late Pimlico Comprehensive, an award-winning but hated structure that has now been razed. Immense pains were taken by local groups to defeat a Private Finance Initiative and ensure that the new architecture would be humane. It is. The buildings are light, airy and welcoming.

The whole academy project seems to have been a success. Discipline is strict, standards have risen. Pimlico is a standard-bearer for Education Minister Michael Gove. It now wants to expand by opening its own primary school on the same site. Hold on. We already have good primary schools. The academy has barely enough space for its existing pupils, let alone a further 420. Despite plans for a space in the undercroft, tinies would have to share the same limited play space as 18 year olds. I'm not so sure I like the idea.

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Country Life is unlike any other magazine: the only glossy weekly on the newsstand and the only magazine that has been guest-edited by HRH The King not once, but twice. It is a celebration of modern rural life and all its diverse joys and pleasures — that was first published in Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee year. Our eclectic mixture of witty and informative content — from the most up-to-date property news and commentary and a coveted glimpse inside some of the UK's best houses and gardens, to gardening, the arts and interior design, written by experts in their field — still cannot be found in print or online, anywhere else.