By Poppy Brady, in the West Midlands From The Voice

Kajans was set up under free school legislation but Department for Education (DfE) says pupil numbers are ‘too low’

ANGRY parents and members of the community refused to let Government officials enter a Birmingham school this morning after being told Kajans Hospitality & Catering Studio College will close in August.

The two officials from the Department of Education were sent packing at the school gates in Whitehead Road, Aston, where stunned families had gathered after being told the news.

One distraught mother said: “My 16-year-old son is a different, confident teenager since starting here. He’s very ambitious and wants to become a chef – he’s been getting first class work experience with chefs at Aston Villa Football Club’s in-house restaurant.

“It was the chance of a lifetime for him and he grabbed it with both hands – what is he going to do now?”

The unique studio school, which specialises in teaching Caribbean cuisine to meet the demands of Birmingham’s expanding hospitality industry, opened only last September.

It offers education and work opportunities to 14 to 19-year-olds in a city which has one of the highest NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) figures in the UK.

Low pupil numbers has been given as the reason for closure, but Hermin McIntosh, the executive director of Kajans Education and Cultural Trust, insists student numbers are above target.

“Everyone is in shock,” she said. “The parents simply don’t believe what we have told them. At our earlier base in Albert Road, we had to restrict pupil numbers due to health and safety issues, but now we’ve been in our permanent home since April, we’re above our target numbers and raring to go for next year.”

The school, which had suffered from poor professional leadership in its first few months, now has a new acting principal, and had announced plans to partner with Handsworth Wood Girls’ School, rated “outstanding” in its latest OFSTED report.

Community leaders are now calling on Prime Minister David Cameron to step in and save their school that evolved from his ‘Big Society” drive for community action.

Bishop Wilton Powell, Chair of Trustees, said: “We have achieved here exactly what Mr Cameron talked about in his ‘Big Society’ initiative, which was supporting poorer communities and delivering a public service in a deprived inner-city area.”

Birmingham City Council has also supported the school’s fight for survival, calling the Government’s decision “punitive”.

A spokesperson for Birmingham City Council said: “Kajans is a free school which opened in September 2013.

“The local authority was concerned to hear that the college was under threat earlier in the year and we have worked closely with the trustees and a leading school in the city so there is a clear action plan and effective partner in place.

“We have at every opportunity worked to support the college and trustees. We wrote to Lord Nash earlier this month regarding his decision to withdraw funding for the Studio College and to ask him to reconsider, but we have heard in the last few days that the DfE (Department of Education) is proceeding as they planned.

“It is regrettable that the DfE did not give a further opportunity for Kajans to develop and meet the needs of young people in one of the most deprived communities in the country, despite having a clear development plan and strong partner.”

Khalid Mahmood, Labour MP for Perry Barr, has written to education minister Michael Gove urging him to keep the school open.

He said: “The hospitality trade is of growing importance in Birmingham and it’s vital that the skills gap facing its young people is closed as a matter of urgency.”

A Department of Education spokesperson said: “We have taken the decision to close the college at the end of August due to low pupil numbers. Our priority now is working with the Trust to ensure existing pupils can continue their studies at alternative schools.”

For more on this story go to: http://www.voice-online.co.uk/article/breaking-government-axes-caribbean-catering-college