New primary school in Southwark/Lambeth?

[minder]

Has anybody heard about a new primary school due to open in Sept 13?

A poster was put up in St Faith's Community Centre last Monday about a new primary school and a meeting being held at St Faith's last Saturday.

After going to the website, the school is called The Judith Kerr Primary School and is due to open Sept 13.

Up until this month they've had 89 applications for Reception and Year 1/2. They're also in the process of recruiting a headteacher but up until now the location of the school isn't mentioned, although the website seems very confident that the school will be up and running in Sept.

I was wondering about the site of the old Dulwich Hospital but realise this is a bit unrealistic.

[minder]

Forgot to add it seems they will be teaching in English/German.

[Chillaxed]

http://www.jkps.org.uk/

It will be a bilingual school in English and German, and they've yet to confirm a location. The Hospital was defnitely looked at, however.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Minder,

I was at Dulwich Community Council last night (my ward comes under Peckham and Nunhead CC, but I was there to represent PR residents over Dulwich Police Station). There was a representative from the committee involved in the setting up of this school. They don't have a venue yet. Anyone who has applied to this school will be applying in parallel for schools via the CAF form system. There is no guarantee that they will find a venue by Sept 2013 or if they do, whether the school would be in the ED area.

[LondonMix]

Renata, what was discussed regarding the Hospital site? Does that seem like it may house a primary school? What can we as local residents do that support this proposition?

[gstump]

The management team for the Judith Kerr Primary School have just sent out a poll to help decide between a location in Rotherhithe or one in East Dulwich. If you are interested, it would be worth voting.

www.jkps.org.uk/parent-premises-poll/

[Chillaxed]

Thanks gstump.

The ED postcode they note is the Hospital.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Gstump, the hospital site doesn't belong to the council but the health service. What happens to Dulwich Hospital I think depends on what is happening generally in the area ie demands on King's and what happens at Lewisham Hospital. It is certainly a longer term issue as to what will happen to the hospital and therefore, I doubt it is something that will be sorted out in time for a school that wants to open in September 2013 as everything is still up in the air over South London healthcare provision. The survey above does indicate they are not set on an area yet! Southwark Free School was going to be near Borough Station, it ended up moving a few kms to the east. Haberdasher's Askes' are opening a bilingual English/German school in September 2013, they are taking pupils on distance,and are in Telegraph Hill. I don't know if that is of interest to you?

Renata

[alice]

such a school would be a vanity project at taxpayers expense

[ahoffman]

@alice, I'm shocked at the "vanity project at taxpayers expense" comment. Southwark and surrounding boroughs are very short on primary school places. It's not as if there is no need. The organisers have been working to get this school started for two years now. Most of them have kids who are bilingual in English and German. You might be surprised at how many German speakers live in the Dulwich area. This is hardly a vanity project.

[ahoffman]

Also, the hospital site comprises not just the hospital itself, but a surprising large lot of undeveloped land next to it.

[minder]

ahoffman - we all know there's a shortage of primary (and secondary) school places in Southwark.

You say the organisers of this school have been working hard to get it started. It just seems like nobody else has heard about it (unless you are German) so why exclude everybody else?

[ahoffman]

It's certainly no secret. Public website, newspaper articles, 3 open meetings for those who are interested. The attendees at those did not all have bilingual kids.

[vesti]

How many German/English speakers are there to fill the school?

That's the sticking point for me. What if you don't want your child educated bilingually in German?

If local sites are available they should go to the Local Authority to develop a school that would meet everyone's needs

[Jessie]

Agreed

[Cyberia]

Some extraordinary attitudes here! Why not educate yourselves a bit:

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-benefits-of-bilingualism.html?_r=0

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-17892521

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/educators-once-opposed-raising-bilingual-children-experts-now-say-its-beneficial/2012/06/08/gJQAdz9gUV_story.html

[gstump]

This is school is not only intended for German speakers or bilingual children, it is meant for children of parents who have the foresight to want their kids to learn another language. In Canada, every child has access to a state-funded bilingual education. I am a native-English speaker, but I attended a French school from the age of 5. Not only did I get a good education, it gave me a great base that allowed me to pick up a third and fourth language when I was older. Kids at that age can pick up languages so easily, it is a shame that there aren?t more bilingual schools available in the UK.

[DaveR]

"If local sites are available they should go to the Local Authority to develop a school that would meet everyone's needs"

If Southwark want any particular site they can pursue it, and are likely to have significant advantage over any other bidder in obtaining it. This is not about the site, but about the school, which will only receive public funds if it can attract enough kids.

[LondonMix]

Yes, agree with DaveR.

Regarding the school, I can't speak to how much demand there is for bi-lingual education locally but I would strongly be in favor. More then 50% of the people I work with attended bi-lingual schools (learning a language different from the one spoken at home) and learning a language at that age and in that way is infinitely better than the hard slog I had to undertake to become fluent in Spanish.

[Scruffy Mummy]

Personally, If I wanted my child to learn a second language, I would want it to be Mandarian or Japanese. I too went to school in Canadian where we were offered the chance to take French and French Geography (geography taught in French). I know have neither a good grasp of either French or Geography!

[Jessie]

I just think with the shocking lack of primary schools full stop, a school aimed at everyone - not just those who want their children to speak German - should be the priority. I agree with all of the arguments about bilingualism, but would rather my child be taught languages as part of a general curriculam and not be hot-housed.

[Chillaxed]

As part of 'everyone' ('a school aimed at everyone') I'd welcome a new, bilingual primary. Important to remember that the school's admissions policy does not discriminate in favour of German-speaking kids in any way (unlike, say, every faith school in the area who require parents to be German, speak German or at least pretend to be or speak German). This is all very confusing.

[LondonMix]

Its not hot-housing! Its very natural and effective when done properly and many of my Spanish collegues went to French or English bilingual schools as did my best friend. They are all basically native speakers in the both languages.

Anyway, the idea is if there are enough people interested who attend, it will reduce pressure on the other schools freeing up spaces throughout the system. Everyone doesn't need to want a bilingual school for it to be a benefit overall for the community- just enough people to fill it up!

I have a lot of issues with the new academies etc but the idea of making education less one size fits all is in my view a good thing. Perhaps there is enough demand for a school offering Mandarin as well :)

[Reg Smeeton]

Clearly East Dulwich needs more primary places now. However by the time a new school has been approved and built (5 years?) the child population bulge may be among 11/12 year olds, so planning ahead is it in fact a secondary rather than primary school that we need? Even if we do get a new primary school, where will those extra children go to secondary school?

For those new to the area, East Dulwich had a primary school on North Cross Road which closed in the 1990s to become flats, I think partly because it was under-subscribed. And until 5 years ago, Heber school was seriously under-subscribed. Big fluctuations in numbers of children in a neighbourhood are normal.

Can James or anyone else tell us what the birth rate in SE22 was in each of the last 5 years? Is it still going up?

[Michael Palaeologus]

Good grief, how many schools do we need? Another school will encourage more road traffic and more buggys' blocking the pavement.

There are sufficient schools and children in SE22, its not bloody China, we need no more offspring.