free schools, anyone interested/know of any planned?

[dontpanic]

Hello, new to area and forum.

My son is at a local school, and I have two other children too. I wonder if anyone is interested or knows of anyone else who is already planning a free school via the Government's new scheme? I know that the primary schools in the area are oversubscribed, and there is always a lot of worry and discussion on the subject on this forum, so it seems a perfect opportunity to take advantage of the first blooming of this plan to make a new school for the area....

...

interested to see thoughts on this.

[Mellors]

My first thought would be where would you find the land to build one? Most of the existing ones in the pipeline are taking over old schools so don't have this issue. I also thought that Southwark Coucil had tried recently to scope out space for a new state primary and been unable to find any locally that would be suitable?

[Fuschia]

Free schools are not subject to usual planning permission and are likely to open up in empty shop units etc (nor do they need to employ qualified teachers/head)

[Mellors]

I still can't think of anywhere big enough though?

[Fuschia]

I think Southwark's response last year to the school issue in ED was that under the method of calculation used by govt, there is no shortage of places in the wider area and any bulges are short term. Hence funding is not available for a new LA school... if a free school starts up, it will be at the expense of funding for existing local schools and if the "bulges" do prove to be transient, then in the end it will also cream off pupils from existing schools, some of which (small ones like Heber) might become unviable.

[dontpanic]

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[Fuschia]

From NUT information

"Free Schools receive state funding but:

? the ability to set their own pay and conditions for staff;

? the right to employ teachers without qualified teacher status.

? control of their budget;

? no requirement to follow the National Curriculum;

? ability to set the length of terms and school days; and

? outside the scope of the local authority.

? Do not have the same facilities as other state schools such as outdoor play space

? Can set their own pay and conditions for teachers, outside of nationally negotiated agreements

In October and November 2010 the Government announced that 25 Free School applications had been approved to develop their plans to a business plan stage.

The NUT commissioned YouGov to carry out an opinion poll of parents of school age children in the 22 local authorities in which these 25 Free Schools are planned to open.

The sample of 1,021 reflected the national percentages of parents with children at private/state schools.

The detailed survey concluded that the overwhelming majority of parents rate their child's current education highly, calling into question the Government's belief that Free Schools are necessary to address to address parental dissatisfaction with current school provision

Dangers of Free Schools

Under the government?s proposals, a Free School can be set up wherever there is evidence of demand from some parents for the proposal.

Free schools will be outside the local authority family of schools, which will have no powers to intervene if things go wrong in the Free School or if parents complain. Free Schools will not have the same requirements on them as other local schools in terms of accountability to the local community, or provision for parent or staff governors.

With Free Schools allowed to set up in spaces that other schools would not be allowed to use ? such as former shop space, offices, factories etc, many will not offer the facilities available in most other schools.

The Government has said that Free Schools can employ non-qualified teachers and that even the Head teacher will not be expected to hold a teaching qualification. But the NUT survey found little support for this position, with the overwhelming majority of parents believing that only qualified teachers should teach children, and expecting Head teachers to hold a teaching qualification.

"

[Mellors]

They still have to follow the normal catchment area rules, so you'd better make sure your find premises in your own street or you might not get in ;-)

[dontpanic]

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[Fuschia]

dontpanic Wrote:

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> thanks Fuschia, thats food for thought. I don't

> agree with it as a general policy as I think its a

> little like funding their favourite Private

> schools; but nonetheless that isn't a reason not

> to take advantage of a chance to be pioneering if

> its something that could benefit the community.

Problem is that it will leach resources out of the community schools. hence not good for the community overall

[chantelle]

There's an effort in SE23 to start a Montessori free school. You can find details on the SE23.com forum.

[Fuschia]

I fear that well organised middle class parents, religious groups and education "companies" will use this route to grab a slice of the (likely to be increasingly) limited education "pot"