Harris Free School Primary on Hospital Site

[LondonMix]

I've been thinking about this and I don't remember a campaign for a Harris Nunhead. Was the application for a Harris Nunhead made based on the 'excess support' for the ED Harris application. That application had double the minimum support it needed. Was that used to apply for a second primary even though no specific campaign was launched?

James, can you clarify?

[Fuschia]

That's what's Harris seem to be saying

http://www.harrisprimaryeastdulwich.org.uk/

'?When the petition for the new school in East Dulwich was put together by Cllr Barber, there was so much support that it justified a new school for the Nunhead area. This was approved last week and will open in September 2015.?

'

[LondonMix]

Did any parents formally petition for a 2nd school for Nunhead? If not, surely the logic makes no sense...

[Fuschia]

I don't think parental desire is a factor. It's about evidencing a demand for places. Though a petition doesn't necessarily prove an actual NEED.

[LondonMix]

That isn't entirely true. Part of assessing an application is showing both local demand and local need.

My guess is that is why they are calling the school Harris Nunhead even though the support is actually excess support for the ED Harris primary that is opening on the old police site. As there is no need for two new primaries in East Dulwich, they had to make the 2nd application for an area where a shortfall still existed like Nunhead.

With that said, at the time the application was assessed James, was the DofE made aware of the LAs plans to expand Ivydale.

Also, if the current Head of Harris doesn't feel there is space, before pressuring Southwark, Harris as a minimum should put together plans to support the viability of the site to locate a primary school. Creating a surplus primary in Dulwich should not be a fall back position as there is no need and an 2nd application on that basis would not have been approved by the DofE. The limited sites can be better used for other community purposes. It is not appropriate to have a primary and secondary on the hospital site if doing so compromises the size of the secondary facilities, reduces the amount of residential development or reduces the residual NHS services that would otherwise be accommodated.

Most concerning for me though is the assumption that lots of support for a new school can automatically be interpreted as support for two schools. I think this is a dangerous assumption, particularly if the application for the new school is actually then made in a different area.

[Fuschia]

What's very odd about free schools is how many are agreed in principle without a location - schools like Judith Kerr - when location is one of the most important issues both for those signing a petition, their eventual likelihood of being able to get a place, and for the knock on effects of existing schools. In the primary sector, the site of a school is pretty much the most notable feature!

[LondonMix]

Renta, thanks for the post. Why was Hollydale undersubscribed. Based on published data 160 applications listing the schools as a 1-6 preference were made for only 45 places.

http://www.southwark.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/6403/starting_primary_school_in_southwark_201415

Renata Hamvas Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Hi littlek1cker,

> as soon as it was mentioned that the proposed 2nd

> Harris Primary may end up on the Harris Girl's

> School site, I went to see the Head. She says

> there is no free space that could be used to

> accommodate the primary. Except for the South

> Nunhead area, which is close to the Stuart Rd

> Ivydale site, there is not a shortage of places in

> Nunhead, two Nunhead primaries were actually

> under-subscribed and were allocated children this

> year. The figure that you are quoting James, are

> not for Nunhead, but the whole of the Peckham and

> Nunhead Community Council area. The Harris Free

> School Nunhead was incorporated in the Pupil

> planning for this area ie assumed to go into SE15.

> If it doesn't happen at all, there is predicted to

> be a 1 form shortfall of provision by 2016 for the

> Peckham and Nunhead area. With the current

> expansions and new schools (1 FE from Judith Kerr,

> 2 forms from Harris ED and 1 form from Dulwich

> Wood extra provision)there is predicted to be

> about a 2 form of excess for the Dulwich area for

> 2016! The figures of shortfall you quote James, in

> your older post are for the entire southern half

> of the Borough and don't consider all the new

> schools and expansions! Very much greater

> Dulwich!

>

> The actual figures are in the middle of this

> Cabinet Document.

> http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/g4556/

> Public%20reports%20pack%20Tuesday%2018-Mar-2014%20

> 16.30%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

>

> There will be an increasing shortfall of primary

> places in the north of the Borough over the next

> few years, and therefore if Harris wants to

> provide places where there is need, they should be

> looking further north within Southwark for a site.

> There is predicted to be a shortfall in Secondary

> places in the Dulwich area from 2016, that is why

> the Hospital site should be used for a Secondary

> School, a local community tailored health facility

> and some housing.

>

> Renata

[LondonMix]

Agree Fuschia. I think this is unique to big cities where primary schools really serve very small areas. In the country it matters less.

Having a feasible site that will serve the area should be mandatory.

Renta, I've read the cabinet information. It seems like either Ivydale should reduce to a single form expansion or the new Harris Munhead should be a single form primary. A single form primary May fit on the existing Harris Girls school better.

What's clear is with the expansions and new schools, there are two forms more than specifically needed for Dulwich.

[edanna]

LondonMix, I guess because all those people had 5 other choices and many may well have got another choice.

LondonMix Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> Renta, thanks for the post. Why was Hollydale

> undersubscribed. Based on published data 160

> applications listing the schools as a 1-6

> preference were made for only 45 places.

>

>

> http://www.southwark.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/

> 6403/starting_primary_school_in_southwark_201415

>

>

>

>

> Renata Hamvas Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > Hi littlek1cker,

> > as soon as it was mentioned that the proposed

> 2nd

> > Harris Primary may end up on the Harris Girl's

> > School site, I went to see the Head. She says

> > there is no free space that could be used to

> > accommodate the primary. Except for the South

> > Nunhead area, which is close to the Stuart Rd

> > Ivydale site, there is not a shortage of places

> in

> > Nunhead, two Nunhead primaries were actually

> > under-subscribed and were allocated children

> this

> > year. The figure that you are quoting James,

> are

> > not for Nunhead, but the whole of the Peckham

> and

> > Nunhead Community Council area. The Harris Free

> > School Nunhead was incorporated in the Pupil

> > planning for this area ie assumed to go into

> SE15.

> > If it doesn't happen at all, there is predicted

> to

> > be a 1 form shortfall of provision by 2016 for

> the

> > Peckham and Nunhead area. With the current

> > expansions and new schools (1 FE from Judith

> Kerr,

> > 2 forms from Harris ED and 1 form from Dulwich

> > Wood extra provision)there is predicted to be

> > about a 2 form of excess for the Dulwich area

> for

> > 2016! The figures of shortfall you quote James,

> in

> > your older post are for the entire southern

> half

> > of the Borough and don't consider all the new

> > schools and expansions! Very much greater

> > Dulwich!

> >

> > The actual figures are in the middle of this

> > Cabinet Document.

> >

> http://moderngov.southwark.gov.uk/documents/g4556/

>

> >

> Public%20reports%20pack%20Tuesday%2018-Mar-2014%20

>

> > 16.30%20Cabinet.pdf?T=10

> >

> > There will be an increasing shortfall of

> primary

> > places in the north of the Borough over the

> next

> > few years, and therefore if Harris wants to

> > provide places where there is need, they should

> be

> > looking further north within Southwark for a

> site.

> > There is predicted to be a shortfall in

> Secondary

> > places in the Dulwich area from 2016, that is

> why

> > the Hospital site should be used for a

> Secondary

> > School, a local community tailored health

> facility

> > and some housing.

> >

> > Renata

[Skegness]

Hollydale is undersubscribed because people don't realise what a gem it is. Their loss.

[Renata Hamvas]

Hi Skegness,

I get a lot of positive feedback from parents with children at the school. I think the issue probably is that it has Rye Oak and Ivydale close by which both have Children's Centres and nurseries and so parents are familiar with these schools from when their children are very young (so Hollydale gets put below them on the CAF). Hollydale, being a small school on a small site has no nursery so parents have no pre-application experience of the school unless they have older children or friends/neighbours with links to the school. For those of you with children going into reception/thinking about Hollydale, there is a preschool at the Evelina Road end of St Mary's Rd, St Mary's preschol just across the road from Hollydale. it's hours are 9.15-12.15 during term-time and they take children from 2.5 years old.

Renata

[Belle]

(Also posted on Haberdasher's thread)

Readers of this thread may be interested in the recent correspondence between the Harris Federation and the New Secondary School East Dulwich parent steering group. Letter from Harris attached (word document), and link to the New Secondary School East Dulwich Facebook page for our response. I'm also pasting the text of our response below in case the link doesn't work.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=1526078214279320&set=a.1519943881559420.1073741828.1476809155872893&type=1&theater&notif_t=like

Mr Chris Randall

Director of New Developments

Harris Federation

4th Floor, Norfolk House

Wellesley Road

Croydon

CR0 1LU

25 June 2014

Dear Chris,

New secondary school for East Dulwich; the Dulwich Hospital site.

Thank you for your letter dated June 13th; it provides a very concise summary of your current position in relation to the DfE?s indicative approval of your bid to open a new primary free school for Nunhead families under ?Wave 5? of free school applications.

The steering group agree with your own clear assessment that a primary school for Nunhead families located on the Dulwich Hospital site would indeed be the least ideal outcome for those Nunhead families. We also recognise that the two other preferred outcomes that you are seeking to explore - expansion on / or adjacent to the grounds of the Harris Girls Academy, or another suitable site in Nunhead - are solutions that will take a significant amount of effort and commitment to deliver.

Whilst free school applications are not site specific prior to approval, we trust that a dynamic and experienced federation such the Harris Federation would have fully appraised these site options at the point that the bid was developed. Your case for a primary school for Nunhead must have been made based on identified local support for the new school and a clear demand for future primary places in Nunhead. It would therefore fall someway short of your own aspirations; the needs of those local families and indeed the broader principles of the whole free school framework if you were unable to do so in the way you intended. This is something that you as the applicant are in a position to convey most strongly to the DfE and the EFA.

Our own campaign has gathered significant levels of local support due to the sheer numbers of families that will be directly affected by the projected shortfall of secondary school places for Sept 2016 and beyond. This shortage is now the most pressing local educational need. You will be aware that in addition to your own Harris East Dulwich primary free school approved for the site of the former police station Lordship Lane there has been another primary free school on Bellenden Road approved recently. There is also a significant programme of primary school place expansion within a number of existing local Southwark schools.

Along with the parents that make up our steering group, you will understand more than any other stakeholder that local primary and secondary schools are an integral part of any area. They are not branch outlets of franchises that can go anywhere within reason on a map. They are all unique, varied and vital parts of a local community?s infrastructure; the fabric of a specific place where young and vulnerable children live and learn. We don?t believe that this should ever be compromised for any outcome that is anything less than ideal.

But as you correctly point out you are not the decision makers, the EFA as the facilitating agency for site acquisitions and Southwark Council as the local planning authority and broader education authority are the two key stakeholders that you must engage with in order to find a way to resolve this. Your letter gives us some confidence that this is indeed your intention.

We hope that this is the start of a constructive dialogue between the Harris Federation and the parent steering group. As part of that dialogue the steering group would like to share with you the clear views of our supporting families on the type of local school they would like to see. At a recent public consultation event, held at Goose Green on May 11th, people were asked to provide feedback on what they felt was important for a new secondary school for the area. The overwhelming message (97%) from respondents was that adequate space for sports facilities and playgrounds were an important priority for a new secondary school. All respondents (100%) considered that a school should be of adequate size to ensure that it had classrooms, drama facilities, technology labs and spaces to provide a broad and full curriculum. Local opinion was overwhelmingly supportive (93%) of the Dulwich hospital site as the best/only local option as a site for a new secondary school.

The steering group believes that given the strength of local opinion, the entire site (disposed of by the NHS once they have determined their requirements for a new health centre) should be purchased for the sole purpose of a local secondary school. The site is large, but not vast.

Our steering group membership and supporters are drawn from approximately a dozen of the primary schools closest to the site. We actively support all our local schools; we also support choice when it comes to this opportunity to determine who the new provider might be to address the acute need for secondary places in the area. We appreciate that you acknowledge this yourselves; with an existing family of three academies already, you tell us you have no plans to establish a new through school or secondary school in the area.

The success and achievements of your existing schools is a credit to the hard work of pupils, teachers and staff of your federation and its ethos. We wish them all bright futures.

Yours Sincerely

C Rose

Parent Steering Group