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New primary school for Lewisham?
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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #101
11-03-2011 10:18 PM

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6072563

More ridiculousness here; the article discusses Michael Goves proposal to change the admissions policies of free schools to ensure places for the founder's own children. As if we didn't already think these schools were being proposed out of self interest behind a facade of doing it for the good of all local children.

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #102
11-04-2011 01:11 PM

Article in the Newshopper:

http://www.newsshopper.co.uk/news/895529..._Lewisham/

Quote:
Plans for Primrose House Montessori Primary School will no longer be put forward to government

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #103
11-04-2011 09:14 PM

Its not surprising really and as you might think, I'm not exactly displeased. If people think its hard work campaigning for a new school what do they think it would have been like running one? Given the public investment required, it is surely right that the process should be as demanding and critical as that for any state school.

The Government has on one hand seen sense in that it cannot keep equating petitions with demand and that more indepth research is required ( forgetting sometimes that the local authorities already know all there is to know about statistics). And certainly not petitions where around 25% of the signatories dont seem to live in London yet alone south east London. To provide an expensive new school on these bases is improper and financially unsound. The point made in the article about continually building on school playgrounds is fair, in that its not a sustainable strategy, but it isn't all that local authorities are doing in London and certainly not in Lewisham. There are many schools undergoing masterplanning in order to maximise the use of the existing sites. This is the most sustainable and cost effective way of increasing provision as well as modernisation of existing buildings. New buildings on completely new sites may also be needed but the government is likely to want these out of local authority control. At present and behind the scenes for many people, there are discussions about school privatisation which is forming the main part of the ConDem agenda.

The establishment of any new state school tends to be a long difficult process with a lot of public opposition on many fronts. It isn't straightforward hence it surely makes sense to focus first on maximising the existing educational estate to meet projected needs rather than spend money ( without accountability it would seem) on promoting free schools to be set up by private companies.

A little off topic but I don;t know if people are aware that many private schools operate with charitable status. A hard pressed local authority has had to give financial assistance to one recently. It was told that legally there were no grounds for saying no to a large financial contribution towards capital works. Thats your taxes, and mine, going into private educational sector charging £13k a year!

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fhmum


Posts: 37
Joined: Jul 2010
Post: #104
11-04-2011 09:28 PM

It's old ground that I've been over and over in response to your postings Roz but, here it is once again. The school had more than 130 families in Lewisham registered. All registered one, two or three children, making the proposed school easily oversubscribed.

The petition didn't even figure in our calculations regarding demand which were highly praised by the DfE - as I've said many times before. It's a great sadness to me that I wasn't able to help those families get the school they wanted.

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #105
11-04-2011 10:02 PM

Expressing interest in attending a school doesn't equate with demand either unfortunately. The same families could have expressed interest in lots of other schools. Wishes and wants are not needs.

Its also not clear whether these 130 families were local or not, (which to an extent would be difficult as your school did not have a defined location and hence could have been at the other end of the borough for many people) and if not, there could have been an imported demand which would have put more pressure on the existing situation, not alleviate it.

And expressing interest doesn't necessarily translate into an application particularly as it would mean someone foregoing a place at a state school, perhaps the state school of their choice, in order to take up a place at yours. It would have been quite a gamble for that family to do so.

The entire concept and approach was and is flawed. The process has become tougher and rightly so as its not something which should be lightly undertaken however for me and other local parents I know, there is nothing that currently provides a better alternative to the current state system, and the many schools locally that are providing our children with the wonderful education they deserve and require and deserve the support of local parents. We do not therefore need to play 'Fantasy Schools';the real ones are so much better , but the current governments attempts to pretend otherwise are shameful.

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fhmum


Posts: 37
Joined: Jul 2010
Post: #106
12-04-2011 06:38 AM

Happily, I no longer need to debate this here.

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #107
12-04-2011 08:36 AM

You would have had to have debated it publicly if it had gone to the next stage and have handled questions and opposition much more challenging than I've presented here.

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michael


Posts: 3,255
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #108
09-01-2012 03:37 PM

I think the first 'free' school in Lewisham is likely to open in 2013 in New Cross (Telegraph Hill) http://www.haaf.org.uk/index.php?/hatcha...ee_school/
It is already a primary school, so I don't think it will provide any additional places or choice for the local community.

The Sydenham Society recent provided 2011 league table of primary test results: http://www.sydenhamsociety.com/2011/12/2...s-locally/
Good news for Fairlawn and for Haseltine (which does not always get such good results but has tripled in two years). But not such an impressive performance by Horniman or Dalmain, which I keep hearing such good things about. Perhaps they focus on achievements other than English and Maths?

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roz


Posts: 1,796
Joined: Mar 2005
Post: #109
10-01-2012 01:23 PM

Haseltine has probably benefitted from being part of the Exec Headship of Robin Bosher, Head of Fairlawn. Its great to see that schools can be turned around within the state system without having to be forced to become academies or free schools as many are being pressurised to under Michael Gove.

I don't know the answer but suspect that in respect of Horniman and Dalmain there has been a bit of a blip. SATS however, are not everything; many schools have even boycotted them in the past in any case. There are also questions also of whether some schools prepare children better than others for test situations.

The free primary at Haberdashers is not as you say providing anything new, but its not a surprise its there given that Haberdashers is already an academy. However I much prefer their sort of ' free school' than one of the pop -up variety that seems to be emerging!

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IWereAbsolutelyFuming


Posts: 531
Joined: Oct 2007
Post: #110
11-01-2012 08:27 AM

Are these results related to SATS? I was under the impression that a number of those schools boycotted SATS in 2011.

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pebble


Posts: 47
Joined: May 2011
Post: #111
16-01-2012 10:59 AM

'Haseltine has probably benefitted from being part of the Exec Headship of Robin Bosher, Head of Fairlawn'

and also the new head Janette Brumby. She taught my child a few years ago as a teacher and if anyone could turn around a school it would be her.

With all lewisham schools fast improving or already doing great we really don't need free primary schools - what we need is better secondary schools.

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