Personally I would advise parents to be very wary of this campaign for a free school, as there is no evidence that will alleviate the need and pressures which it is claiming to and instead suggestive that it will actually frustrate future provision in the area by potentially bringing pupils in from other areas. It should also be noted that Montessori trained teachers do not currently have Qualfied Teacher Status in the UK so subscribing to this philosophy might prove a bit of a gamble for your child.

Please look beyond this admittedly rather excellent marketing and PR campaign and consider whether such a venture and indeed the concept of what this government is trying to do will meet the needs of your children in the coming years or whether energy is best spent in working with your local authority, councillors and governors in making the best use of available premises and school sites, and also making representations to central government to permit local authorities to provide new schools if there is strong evidence that it is needed.

As everyone is probably aware, currently this government has stipulated that all new schools must be free schools which takes that option away from local authorities and puts your child's educational future into the hands of groups of private individuals and companies. Some may be fine, but most are largely unknown, and when the marketing and PR rush has died down, who exactly will be educating your children and paying the bills and teachers salaries. What accountability will there be. There is a colossal difference in governance terms between a private nursery provision and a private primary, albeit one which is funded by the state.

However as things stand, there hasn't exactly been a rush of applications and it would seem that whatever is proposed will only tinker with demand if not frustrating the process.

It would be unfortunate if parents opposed the three form entry at Kilmorie as a means to trying to lever in this new school thereby throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Currently there is no guarantee it will happen, there is no premises and it could be located anywhere in the borough so effectively there is only a small chance that it will improve the situation of Kilmorie children.

There are many local schools throughout London currently discusssing extension and remodelling plans with the local authorities, some for this coming autumn and some longer term. With proper design and planning (something Michael Gove doesn't feel is necessary by the way) a great deal can be achieved in order to make existing premises suitable for 21st century education. The approach to free schools on the other hand includes rushing to find premises/set up/set up funding/ allocate places/recruit teachers all by September 2011. There is a paper circulating to bend the planning rules but there is so much concern about judicial review no one can see how this can actually be done. The delivery of the handful of schools already past the post would still be interesting to watch as will whether parents even those not happy with their Council provision are prepared to forego a state school place in order to experiment with Montessori or the many promised assurances of free schools.

Be pleased that at least your local authority has been able to carry out public consultation. If Michael Gove has his way that would too be a thing of the past.

For more information and the start of many a debate, please go to

http://www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk