Petition re Dulwich Hospital site

[samstopit]

Hi Savage

The consultation event I went to was quite well attended and everyone in the room was unanimously opposed to the school. The Harris reps acknowledged that things have changed since 2013 when they were given approval and the demand for a new primary in ED / Nunhead is no longer there. They said that due to the huge opposition and very little demand the school looks unlikely to go ahead.

Well done everyone who opposed it. Feels like good news.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

Thanks so much for the update and it appears that the message has finally got through .

[redjam]

Wow, that's great news, a victory for common sense! I was worried that wrangling over this issue would delay the opening of the secondary school but it sounds like the way is really now clear? V. exciting. Well done to everyone who campaigned over this and made our voices heard.

[samstopit]

The consultation doesn't close until 27 March so I'm nervous about declaring victory. But it does seem unlikely they will get a surge of support at this point.

[James Barber]

Harris said this at the Overview & Scrutiny Committee many weeks ago.

[LondonMix]

That's great news!

[Belle]

On those primary intake numbers, I believe there's a small but significant home schooling community in the area.

[Reg Smeeton]

Very pleased with this news, and impressed by the Southwark Council letter which made the anti- case extremely well.

[James Barber]

The Southwark letter is interesting. It lists schools in the Camberwell planning area as providing sufficient capacity for Dulwich and Nunhead area.

It states Southwark administration is against nodal points for admissions. I hadn't appreciated they were now against this. This was a key aspect of the unsuccessful Haberdashers bid.

It does seems strange that they're reporting falling number with stable birth rate and I don't get any sense of famalies leaving the area. The Sotuhwark predicted population rise is 61,000 2011-2020.

[dontpanic]

James are you really interpreting Victoria Mills' letter to mean that Southwark are 'against nodal points'? If I'm looking at the same letter she is referring very specifically to the Nunhead Primary consultation having two nodal points - one quite a long distance from the site; and also 'for primary admissions'

"Our view is that your planned nodal point admissions policy, with two nodal points, in different communities and one located far from the school site would be incompatible with this vision"

I don't interpret that as being relevant at all to the proposed nodal point sited on a particular edge of a secondary school site, as the Habs bid was..

[LondonMix]

James, didn't Charter have a lot more signatures? That probably had more to do with that school's application success.

[simonethebeaver]

Bids don't get decided on number of signatures. It's one of the essential qualifying aspects of a bid, not generally a tie breaker. In any case, only the number of qualifying signatures counts (people with children who would start school at the appropriate time who would make the school their first choice) and we don't know how many of those Charter had. It is immaterial anyway so no big issue.

[LondonMix]

Why do you think Charter won simonthebeaver? I'm happy either way, just curious!

[simonethebeaver]

I have no idea! Not meaning that to be dismissive. From what I know of the bid process (which is fairly basic knowledge), both bids would have been pretty strong and I guess it came down to the people on the day, and possibly which aspects fit into a regional or national picture. To be short listed means that the DfE are confident that you can open a school and have the requisite community support etc., so the last stage is where the subtleties play out.

[James Barber]

Both bids were clearly extremely strong. The EFA must have a reason to select Charter so it must have been the stronger bid.

Eitherway, we will have an outstanding new school serving our community opening 2016.

hopefully they'll be able to keep the central Chateau building with it's marvellous first floor hall.

[Otta]

I wonder whether Charter having the partnership with Kings swung it. It was specifically mentioned in the announcement which suggests it impressed them.

[LondonMix]

I missed that. What is the partnership related to?

[intexasatthe moment]

" The Charter School East Dulwich

The ?outstanding? and heavily over-subscribed Charter School will be opening a second school in 2016 on the site of the former East Dulwich hospital. Catering for 1220 students, the school will meet the huge demand for new places in the Dulwich area. Charter School East Dulwich will encourage all students to become creative, confident and caring citizens. The school will also offer work-related learning through a partnership with King?s College Hospital, the largest local employer."

from https://www.gov.uk/government/news/prime-minister-announces-landmark-wave-of-free-schools

[Otta]

Thanks, saves me searching.

[Otta]

And the fact they made a point of mentioning it suggests to me at least that it was a bit of a vote winner.

[LondonMix]

Thanks guys. That's an interesting program. Very exciting its being implemented.

[landsberger]

And not a moment too soon. Secondary places are desperately needed in the locality, and whether Habs or Charter provided them was irrelevant. Both excellent potential sponsors. I presume the EFA chose Charter probably because they are a (more local) local provider.

Harris were/are pathetic. They never actually consulted on having a school in Nunhead, just as a by product of their East Dulwich consultation. And the new site for the latter is an utter disaster (but that's for another thread...).

I am/was completely mystified by Councillor Barber's comments about Labour being against the hospital site - since when ? As to his comments about a missing 1334 kids from births - they go to other boroughs, they go to private schools, they get home schooled. The average is about right - actually, if you do your homework, you will see more parents choosing Southwark secondaries than in previous years.

[James Barber]

Hi landsberger,

Well we got something right - we initiated the secondary school campaign, fought successfully to change Southwark Councils utter opposition, attracted two great free school applicants and the school is proceeding on land we secured via the Right to Contest we submitted.

Numbers. The birth rate is stable at all time high. Southwark forecast on that basis a big shortage which they had been accurate on. using the same numbers with no change in assumptions they're now saying we'll be over provided.

I#m seeking to meet the person coming up with these forecasts because something smells fishy. I get where some children go but do you sense a mass exodus from the area or massive doubling in private school uptake? I don't.

[landsberger]

> The birth rate is stable at all time high.

Actually, GLA birth projections show a distinct drop in the Dulwich area

Year Births

2009 697

2010 691

2011 692

2012 648

2013 651

Looks like a drop to me, James

Percentage of Dulwich kids resident as a percentage of kids attending a primary there are all over the place

2011 58%

2012 67%

2013 58%

2014 63%

2015 72%

There's no evidence of need there at all.

"I'm seeking to meet the person coming up with these forecasts because something smells fishy" - why don't you ask the GLA (who provide the stats to Southwark) for a chat ?

[Penguin68]

As house prices rise the numbers of 'young parents' (and indeed young pre-parents) coming to Dulwich and East Dulwich will tend to fall, purely on economic grounds. People brought up locally who want 'their own' accommodation will be tending to move away from the area to more affordable areas. [i am not saying any of this is a good thing]. Those who can afford to move in with young children will be more likely than in the past to choose private (or at least non state primary) routes, although the quality of state primaries is generally high locally. So a falling away of demand for state primary places is not an unreasonable planning assumption.