Saturday 29 October 2011

Tidemill Academy/Deptford Lounge delays drag on

As the construction of the public realm works in front of the new Deptford Lounge/Tidemill Academy grind slowly onwards, it's not yet clear when the relocated library will be ready for use. The library in Wavelengths was closed some weeks ago and at the time, Crosswhatfields reported that according to the library staff, it would reopen on Monday 31 October.

However the ground floor of the Deptford Lounge certainly looks pretty empty right now; unless they are planning a 24-hour shelf construction and book stacking exercise I'm not sure how they are going to pull that one off.


The new building was due to be ready for occupation in 'autumn 2011' so I guess there's still time for them to sneak it in before winter officially hits us.

Progress is definitely slow at Tidemill Academy, however. Originally planned to start this academic year in the new building, they are now not expecting to move until after christmas. But according to a story in the Evening Standard yesterday, the academy is planning to shut the school two weeks early in order to carry out the move, leaving parents with the difficulty of organising child care during this period.

The school has organised a playscheme for the two week period, according to the story, but parents will have to pay £100 per week for each child they send there; a shocking amount of money for anyone to have to shell out just two weeks before christmas, never mind the parents of children living in 'one of the most deprived parts of London' as Tidemill's own website describes it.

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