The discussion might be secondary but the source of funding may not be. It would be interesting if 'free schools' were given more funding and support than a local authority seeking a solution to its problems. I don't know the answer but my feeling is that this government is more keen to support new models of schooling over than increasing provision. I believe the current funding regime does not enable adequate long term planning and its that which needs to be tackled.

New schools (of the required standard) require a lot of planning and need to meet a great many indicators and generally there can be a lot of local opposition due to traffic generation both road and footfall so they are very long term projects and may not necessarily do much for local children over the next 5 years hence I would like to see other solutions being explored as well as a new school as the year on year approach to foisting portakabins and additional classes ont o existing schools cannot be sustainable approach and can compromise the education for existing pupils.

Another way of moving ahead might be to enlist the support of the Lewisham Governors Association who should be interested in the long term educational provision in the borough.