samstopit

Charter, as far as I'm aware, share their playing fields and sports facilities with other nearby private schools. I'm not sure how a footbridge would work. Interesting idea. The Dulwich hospital site is huge. I agree it's very important that there should be ample space for playing fields and other sports - eg a swimming pool.

... and choice for those of us who want a co-ed school for our children and are not in the Charter catchment.

The new school will be in Southwark. They can do admissions differently if, after consultation with the community, that is considered the right thing to do.

I think James has said somewhere in this thread that Haberdashers plan to have Knights back to 'good' by June which is why the final decision as to whether to be the provider for the new secondary school will be taken in June. If knights is still in trouble they will need to concentrate on that. In the Q&A at the start of this thread the history with knights academy is explained in more detail. The experience of taking on troubled schools and the ethos of bringing high standards of education to a wider community is one of the reasons that Haberdashers were chosen as a provider by the steering group. I agree the knights ofsted is worrying but I remain impressed that Haberdashers agreed to take on such a challenge.

Otta, Knights Academy isn't a new school, it was formerly known as Malory school, which had a lot of problems. Haberdashers took it on with the intention of turning it around. A lot of progress has been made but the behaviour of a small number of students is still disrupting the school. I think it's impressive that Haberdashers have taken such a school on. It will of course take time to turn it around but they have already made a significant start. It's their willingness to do it that I appreciate.

The steering group of parents who have approached Haberdashers to be their provider have stated from the outset that they want the new school to have a fair admissions process - they have described this as one which uses distance and banding. I assume there will be a period of consultation with both Charter and Haberdashers where the public can have their say regarding admissions policy etc. If Charter are prepared to change the admissions policy for the new school it would seem logical that they would then change it for their existing school. To do otherwise would be hard to administrate and confusing I'd have thought. I'm hoping this will be something we can clarify at the meeting next week.

Red monkey, if you go to James Barber's very first post from 4th Dec there is a Q&Q document attached there. I was able to open it.

I agree dontpanic. Haberdashers were chosen by a group of parents who did some hard work to identify the best provider and they have cross party support. It seems like sour grapes to me for Charter to try and go for the land that Haberdashers are also going for, especially if there is another site that Charter could go for.

I just saw James Barber's post on the other thread about Haberdashers where he says that the council asked Charter to set up a school in the north of the Borough but they said no. Not sure where the other site is that the council were referring to.

Can I ask (very calmly!) if it is the case that Southwark have asked Charter to set up a school on a site in the North of the borough? If so, why would Charter not consider this? It would give local parents far more choice.

Haberdashers currently have a distance based admissions policy I believe. Unless I'm mistaken, the plan is for the proposed new school to have a fairer admissions process based on banding and distance.

I think the steering group are trying to establish a school with a fair admissions process - banding as well as distance - so there is hope for those of us in the parts of ED that aren't close enough to Charter / the hospital site to get in by distance. This seems important to me, preventing house prices near the school(s) from inflating further. Whichever provider is successful I hope they have a fair admissions process.

Thanks Vik for your reply. It's a shame to have two great providers in competition for one plot of land. I don't see how it benefits the local community to have this sort of contest. We all just want a great co-ed secondary school for our children. If two providers are bidding for one site, one of them will lose, and they will have wasted a lot of time and effort for nothing. Time and effort which is better spent on teaching children, I would have thought. If there isn't a second potential site I'm not sure it's a good idea for Charter to put in a competitive bid, personally. If there is any chance at all of a second site then I'm absolutely behind it.

Can I ask where you think the new school would be located? I'm aware from other threads on the Forum that a group of parents are working with the Haberdashers Federation to set up a new school on the Dulwich Hospital site. Is the proposed new Charter school looking at the same site or a different one? It would seem ideal to have two schools on two sites rather than two bids for the same site, which could get messy? I think there is potentially a demand for two good co-ed secondary schools locally, particularly if a site could be found that helps families on the East side of Lordship Lane to be in with a chance of getting in. Thanks if you could clarify re proposed location.

Thanks Renata Is Bellenden Old School also scheduled to be open for September 2013? S

Hi Renata Is the new school on the old Bellenden school site a separate school to the Harris school which has been approved? I wasn't aware of approval for a school on the old Bellenden school site. Could you clarify? If it is a separate school when will it open? Thanks

James, I'm not sure I agree that secondary school children can travel further, if by further you mean Docklands. When they start at secondary school they will be 11 years old. There is no way they could travel that sort of distance to school and back, and no way I could get them there. Can we talk about local solutions to secondary schools? Personally I'd like to see a co-ed secondary school that local children could walk to or make a short bus journey there and back. And please can we look at alternatives to Harris? Many thanks S

James, I too would like to know more about the new secondary school that's been approved. I would be keen to have some say in what the school looks like, and its location, if there's any chance of that. I know many others in my position would feel the same. Could you advise as to whether any meetings are taking place to discuss this? Many thanks

Myself and another woman just crossed east Dulwich rd and tried to walk through the complete mess of temporary barriers that are supposed to provide a pedestrian walkway through to the Rye in the direction of Nigel Rd. The barriers led us to the middle of the road rather than the pavement. We managed to move the barriers and cut through to the pavement but with a buggy or any mobility problem this would be difficult. It's so dangerous and irresponsible to block safe access to pedestrians. I hope there isn't going to be an accident.

3:11 is the air punch moment I agree ... Glad you all liked it. S

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i0DkdlJ2u8o&feature=youtu.be Thought you might like to see a little film set locally. Reminds me of Trigger Happy TV. S

If anyone has a large blue recycling bin that they don't want could you please PM me as we will have it. We must be the only house in ED they didn't deliver the new bin to. I phoned Southwark and they were mystified by this and our neighbours have the new blue bins so it seems like an error. The person I spoke to at Southwark said it could be 'a while' before we get ours. Our two blue boxes are overflowing and no collection due for over a week !!@!!

My son is loving it so far but has been asking me 'why do we need to be on time mummy?' Of course he's never had to think about this before and doesn't really understand what this means. School is just so ... punctual! I'm sure we will get used to it and I'll get better at organising him in the mornings. Poor child was frogmarched up the hill this morning saying 'are we late mummy?'

If I was making this decision now I would go for the Forest Hill side of ED and make sure I was in the catchment for Fairlawn or Horniman schools. Both excellent schools and they are likely to get a bit more house / garden for their money too.

This has gone way off topic.