James Barber

Hi KalamityKel, Interesting point. When a planning application is made you should have opportunities to object. The hospital site from memory is 27,000m2 and typically a new primary school would apparently be around 5,000m2.

The Charter School was found to have breached its admissions policy by only counting driving routes to the school and not safe walking and cycling routes - safe in terms of the Police telling them they were safe. The areas excluded in this way being the Champion Hill and East Dulwich council housing estates. They now appear to have fulfilled the inspector requirements of the appeal against their procedures.

East Dulwich station bridge lighting is out. The fault has been tracked to be with the electricity supply and the provider is aware. They're not usually very quick at fixing such faults.

Hi ITATM, But Academies were the only practical route then under a Labour Govt. If an LA built a school they had to offer it up and could only run it themselves if no other group showed an interest. Equally the capital for a new secondary school is ?15-25M. Going the Academy route meant that central government funds paid for it. Using council capital to do that would mean longer delays before other LA schools had repairs, council housing, etc. I'm sure you're right no will remember or care. But it did lead to the ED Harris Boys Academy happening without which local secondary capacity would be an even bigger issue. Hi Fuschia, Harris have confirmed that the limited companies are subsidiaries of the charity and all profits are gift adied to the charity to further its charitable aims.

Hi Chillaxed, Manythanks for clarifying. I thought I was being positive by saying 89 are supporitng it. Hi reddulwich, My party is suggesting free schools are the only pragmatic mechanism so we should use it. That's not the same as you've suggested. our views on these nationsal policies will not get in the way of us trying to use the system to best advantages for local children.

Hi ITATM, But I can't change national policies. Working within the system is our only practical option. We need 2-3 new schools locally. Harris have agreed to apply with less time than they would normally make such applications. Other providers have not expressed any interest when asked and the Judith Kerr may or may not happen locally. Of all the possible providers Harris seems the most straight forward and most likely to achieve outstnaidng schools for us.

But how does secondary admissions affect whether we want to ensure we have enough local primary schools and admissions for reception?

Hi simonethe beaver, The Harris Federation is a charity. They have associated companies to aggregate schools spends to negotiate umbrella contracts. Pretty normal best procurement practice. This inability of local councils to provide new school started under the last bill Tony Blair passed in government. If they build a school they have to offer it up for others to run. Nationally Labour and Convservative parties when in government have not trusted councils to build and run schools. Truly daft. But I can't change this. I can only work within these daft national rules. So if we have to have free schools to fulfil the requirement for new schools and more places - and expanding schools the council is proposing to ask the national government for ?40-50m and some would then go above the ideal 2 or 3 form entries - Harris Federation has the best track record. The emailing. To prove demand for a new free school the agency the Dept of Education use need to know the name of parents, DOB of children and the postcode of where they live and ideally an email or postal address. They want to see adequate demand to ensure public demand wont be wasted. The threshold ofr a 3 form entry (90pupils per year) is 40 1 year olds and 40 2 year olds. The quickest way of collecting evidence of such support is by email. Hence the emails. Equally it could be a petitions, letters, etc. I can see a lot wrong with the system but I can try and work the system to help East Dulwich or stand on the sidelines playing politics saying how rubbish the system is.

Hi Renata, As you know the scrutiny call-in will delay things by a week or two at most unless the original decision was faulty.

hi prickle, I'm not a coalition councillor. I'm a Liberal Democrat councillor for East Dulwich. The coalition is a national coalition of government. It does not cover local stuff and why would it. So the coalition does stuff I agree with and vice versa. But foremost in my mind is how to make East Dulwich better. The Labour led council is also offering a view. Lots more bulge classes. Their view relies on obtaining ?40-50m of capital from central government. An unprecented amount. So in my view it appears to be political posturing knowing such an application will fail. They'll be told to find people to open free schools - and we'll have wasted a year until the next round so will not have school is place.

Hi midivydale, I emailed all the college, Nunhead, Peckham Rye and Village ward councillors asking them to help make this a cross party cmapaign with the East Dulwich ward councillors. So far no response. They may need permission from their party leaders. We're fortunate our leader devolves most decision making. Changing the title of the thread to show progress is partly a prod to these other councillors to join.

I wish it was quite so crystal clear. Historically fmailies have left Southwark for better secondary choices. In many cases for primary school choices. The housing market recently seems to have seriously affected this and the birth rate itself has changed. Secondary school places in Southwark - we've recently had ED Harris Boys, one school is closed for rebuilding on Cmaberwell New Road and Rotherhither looks likely ot have a new seocndary school. Together that adds 450 secondary places into the pot. But my priority is to get the primary schools we need underway. But without sufficient local support we'd just see ever more clas buldging which eventually will have a negative impact on school results.

Hi prickle, Why Harris? Because they have an amazing track record of producing outstanding local schools in Southwark. Please be clear Lord Harris is a Conservative. But his and my politics and other peoples politicis should not get in the way of ensuring we have sufficient schools offering a great education. For msny decades Southwark's schools were run on political dogma. This was from a past governor and former Cllr Danny McCarthy who gave me an accont of how schools were run then and he wasnt proud how they were loaded with party hacks whose best interests were not the children's education. Schools were so bad in Southwark that a Labour Government took control of education away from a Labour Southwark Council. But that's history. We have a real chance to ensure we have sufficient local schools IF we get enough local support by 4 January. Bickering about national plicies that wont change this side of 2015 general election isnt productive unless people's motives are not to ensure we have sufficient local schools.

Hi ITATM, Niether last Labour govt or the current trust local authorities. This is clearly daft but I can't change that but will be trying. Clearly it would make sense for Local Authorities above some threshold of performance results to be allowed to apply for funding of new schools. I don't get why national Labour or Conservative politicians dont want this. But we work with what we have to ensure local children don't suffer as a consequence. Fuschia called me naive. I'd suggest pragmatic. Hi Jessie, Yes, but for the next month we need to find at least 80 and hopefully 160 to justify one but hopefully two new local primary schools. THEN I can turn to secondary schools and do all the due diligence. If we reach 160 sooner I'll get onto secondaryt schools sooner (I have a day job and a family).

Hi Fuschia, Under the last Labour government new schools could only be created after a very long process typically taking 5-7 years. They didnt have a new name of free schools but all in name that's what they were. The coalition government is pushing harder on these while shortening the process to 12-24months from application to first pupils. Our area needs another 2-3 schools by September 2015. If you have a practical alternative to what I've proposed then I'd be delighted ot hear. But please don't continue the political posturing that if you were successful we wouldnt see new schools being built which would harm many many local children's whole lives.

Hi northeastview, Excellent you're one of 89 to register support for the bilingual school so far. Do get friends and families to add their support. The more from Dulwich the great the chance it would be create here. But we need 2-3 new schools. Hi LondonMix, The Dulwich Hopsital site is 27,000m2 from memory. Health people have said they'n need someting like 7,000m2. This leaves 20,000m2. But other local sites exist but would be more complicated to acquire. Hi sand12, Any planning application would come with conditions about ensuring the soil is clean. Equally no one would want to devleope a contaminated site, if it is found to be, and then house a school their - the liability would be huge. Please do email me your support for a new school - I need your name, childs DOB and home psotcode.

I've found this debate interesting. But we did do our homework before approaching Harris Federation and asking them to create one possibly two new local schools in our area. We havent taken this step lightly. If anything I wish we'd finished our due diligence quicker. After 24 hours we have 22 children's parents approaching us to offer support. We need another 58 for one school or 138 for two. If you know anyone with 1 or 2 year old children please ask them to email me their names, children DOB and their home postcode.

Hi ITATM, No, we could wait for a more unusual provider - perhaps faith. Or we could wait until we have no spaces even with bulging new classes. Hi Fuschia, That anti website - well did it need to warp the facts or present them so blatantly. I'm not surprised that schools have people paid more than ?60,000pa. Or that Harris has more over time as it grows.

Guys. We need two to three new primary schools. Harris Federation have a near perfect record of creating Ofsted outstanding rated schools. If we get new outstanding schools we will give our local children a great start in life. Little things such as more kids having a school close to where they live. Whether you like academies or not - they were started over a decade ago under Labour and the coalition have increased the number and added free schools. Overall no research that acadamies produce better results but cosst more. BUT Harris are an exception. 9/10 of their schools are outstanding. For those concerned the lead official is Sir Robin Bosher the ex.head of Fairlawn. Plenty of local families are delighted when their kids get places there.

Hi cornelia, I see them as complementary. I hope we have three new schools one being the German/English school. Mrs.Lotte, I have a formal question lined up to explore secondary school places. But not reached the stage of bulge classes at our secondary schools and don't yet have a forecast that shows we need another 2 to 3 primary schools. It is immensely frustrating that the past forecasts have been so wrong. After 40+ years of getting it right the forecasting is still showing such rapid changes. Hi LondonMix, the Dulwich Hospital from memory is 27,000m2. The ideal land for a primary school is 5,000m2. So the site could take two schools. Equally I understand they've shown interest in other sites in SOuthwark and Lambeth. I sincerely hope they success and are based in the Dulwich area. The worst possible case is that one day we have a surplus of primary places and some schools bulge down to two form entry. We're probably decades away from that.

Hi Cora, We're awaiting answers about secondary school demand. But primary school places are more urgent and locally it was only 3 years ago that the Harris boys secondary school opened. Initially pupils have generally come from out of the area so locally we have sme capacity it would appear.

Fancy that!

Hi Jessie, I vividly remember your case and how frustrated I felt. And no I wouldnt wish that upon anyone else. If you know anyone with 1 or 2 yo children in the area can you please ask them to sign-up? Hi Buggie, Many thanks. Please do ask any friends or acquaitances to also sign-up. Ho Prickle, I don't like the idea of Free schools. But Harris Federation have a fanatastic record of producing high quality normal schools of which 9/10 are oustanding. No other provider whether local authority or other has such a record. And having met the chief exec he's bloody annoyed its not 100%. They have appointed a head of primary schools who is Sir Robin Bosher. He knows the area well having been the head of Fairlawn. Harris may also give preference in their secondary school admissions to children from Harris primaries. After a lot of thought I don't mind how we get the new schools we need as long as our children get excellent outstanding education and Harris will deliver on this. Hi nikki73, I agree. Several options which I'm not at liberty to discuss. what I can say is the prime one is an underused site. Yes that makes sense - anyone born from Sept'09. Hi midivydale, It would add depth to the case - so yes any o-1year olds would be great but my focus is on 1 or 2 year olds. Please spread the word. Hi Cyberia, I see the German/Engish primary school as complimentary. Across the area we need 2 - 3 new primary schools. The German/English proposed school are looking for a site across Southwark and Lambeth. So it makes a great third school considering the risk it might not be created in Southwark. Hope that makes sense. Hi LondonMix, Chuffed to hear that. If you know any parents of 1 and 2 year olds could you please ask them to support this? I need as many SE22 and SE15 responses as possible.

Hi Chillaxed, It now appears clear that we have increasing demand expected to peek in 2016 for an extra two or three schools in the area. The German/English school is considering possible sites across Southwark and Lambeth. That lack of certainty about location means we can;t rely upon it being one of the two we need but possibly the third. Why Harris? 9/10 of its schools are rated outstanding by Ofsted. So an amazing track record of producing outstanding schools. They also are very well connected with the government so if anyone can swing having a 1/5th of the Dulwich Hospital site they can. The second site to the east of East Dulwich gets more interesting. But Harris think they can come up with a practical solution. So far I have 10 children's families for a new school of the 80 needed for the first school and of the 160 needed for two schools.

22 July - planning permission given for the temporary site on the Harris Girls East Dulwich Academy site. Tortuous process where the planning application was made 26 May and should have been approved well before 16 July! But at least this has now been agreed. 30 Janaury - the former East Dulwich Police has been sold to the Education Finance Agency to form the permanent site for this new primary school. The land area is about the same size as Heber School and Goose Green School. This is brilliant news. With a permanent site for September 2015 it makes the opening of this school on a temporary site this Setepmber 2014 no longer a gamble for parents. AS the school admissions for the first year runs in parallel to the main Southwakr admissions process parents have nothing to lose applying for both and then chosing which of the two places they wish to take up. 19 December - one of the most likely sites is the East Dulwich Police Station. This site is owned by the GLA/MOPAC and negotiations to purchase it have been very ongoing shall we say. To encourage things The Dulwich Society has very kindly agreed today to apply to Southwark Council for the site to be listed as a community asset under the 2011 Localism Act and we be allowed to buy it for community use. 8 October - Latest news is that Southwark Council as the planning authority has said it is happy for the Dulwich Hospital site to have different planning applications for different parts. It removes one of the Dept of Health excuses for not freeing up a small part of this public land for a new local primary school. Earlier this morning 22 May the Dept of Education announced we've been successful. Approval has been granted for a new East Dulwich primary school. THANK YOU to all the families who've lent their support and the harris Federation for making an application at very short notice way back in January. Edited to attach the Harris vision for the school. The application was submitted on Friday 4 January. So a few more things are now firmed up. The school aim is to be in the top 10% for the country in both terms of academic outcome and progress. It will specialise in literacy. The school expects to run breakfast club from 8am and after school clubs until 6pm. So full 'wrap-around'. Edited to show running total in title. 161 supporters with 1 & 2 year old children and another 102 supporters with children under 1 year old. With 80 supporters we have sufficient evidence of need to apply for a two form entry new primary school - thank you to everyone who has lent their support. Local East Dulwich councillors have asked the Harris Federation to deliver one or possibly two primary schools for our area: http://jamesbarber.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/12/04/new-primary-schools-for-se22/ To make a new free school happen we need 80 families with 1 or 2 year old children to state they would consider using a new school in 2014 or 2015. Please see attached leaflet. If you support a new school then please email me your name, children date/s of birth, your post code. If we don't get enough new place council evidence suggests we will be short of 235 reception places by 2016 in the Dulwich, Peckham Rye and Nunhead areas.