No doubt that could be construed to be correct, ie there are many parents supporting the idea of a free school and have signed the petition, as your campaign, which is very good I have to say, is presenting a lack of alternatives and a lack of action elsewhere.

If I was less well informed I would probably be signing it too, but I am well informed about what's going on on the ground, so I won't. I take it that most of the petitioners know that their teachers won't be properly qualified under the state system and that Montessori principles, whilst being employed in the private nursery system, isn;t actually considered much cop when preparing primary kids for the secondary curriculum.? Where exactly is it considered mainstream? The private school sector? But then you don;t have to be a QTS to work there either. But I suspect that didn't come up.

The short sightedness of your campaign is pretty shocking to be honest but then so is government policy but I guess if people support the Tory philosophy but can't afford private education they will see this is as the way to get a private education for their children at the State's expense . Thats what this is all about really and what the Tories as usual are all about. Top slice funds from a central budget and leave the rest with a lot less.
The other fact is that the current system has proved to be pretty excellent overall and could have been more so, so Gove has little choice other than to come up with a crazy idea to solve a problem that doesn't exist. It is outrageous that in cash strapped times they have instigated a whole new regime and another curricular review all of which will cost millions. The correct approach should be to cease any major changes at this stage that cost substantial amounts of money. Change for changes sake is always expensive.

This government is prioritising new schools (for political reasons primarily) that are outside local authority control so the position of the LA has been compromised and things made more difficult. If a local authority proposed a new school, one that was not approved by previous BSF regime, it is not likely to be approved. Do you feel comfortable with that?

The solution to the lack of places - felt to be a temporary, largely recession fuelled, rather than a straightforward outcome of a rising birth rate - is multi faceted. In some locations, a new school may indeed be the answer. In others,there are many existing schools on existing sites that require remodelling and better use of the existing site, in order to bring them up to date. Many of these sites whilst difficult are low density and with good design can be remodelled to accommodate more pupils without overcrowding. There are many such sites around that are capable of expansion to meet future needs a lot better than a new school would necessarily be if funding were forthcoming.