Derelict school

[newgirl]

Has anyone heard anything about the big derelict school building on Peckham Rye near to the end of Friern Road? I'm moving into the block next door and wondered if the school is going to be developed. I called Southwark Planning dept, but they were a bit clueless.

[Guest]

Is there anything Southwark Planning AREN'T clueless about?

[Huguenot]

That's a massive one, check out this recent link... http://education.independent.co.uk/schools/article324225.ece . Seems to be a bit of a row over who's going to fund it. With ED as a putative independent secular state I support EDEN's campaign to keep out the god-botherers, but the alternative as a City Academy experimental school isn't particularly attractive.

Surely in the meantime we can turn it into a battery chicken pen of over-priced yuppie flats, and then let cowled 14 year old youths with no school to go to prowl the streets with blades and relieve them of their wallets? Share the wealth, learn a trade and all that?

Yes yes, I know that I too am arriviste.

[Huguenot]

Sorry, just realised I wasn't clear - the second location for the Waverley project would be the site you're referring to.

[AndrewP]

Whilst I support the EDEN campaign, their stance on this is a bit baffling - results from Church run schools are significantly better than secular ones.

[Mark]

Not so Andrew, a common misconception though. A report commissioned by the Department of Education and Skills from the London School of Economics says that "religious affiliation of schools has little impact on their results. Church of England and Roman Catholic schools have fewer children from poor backgrounds and are more likely to be targeted by pushy parents.

The report focuses on the social intake and exam results of England?s 16,000 primary schools. ?There is clear positive selection of pupils into faith schools on the basis of observable characteristics that are favourable to education ? even when we compare pupils that originate in the same block of residential housing,? it says. ?Any performance impact from ?faith? schools in England seems to be closely linked to autonomous governance and admissions arrangements, and not to religious character.?

The report says that pupils in religious schools are more likely to be white, and to have English as their first language and less likely to come from a family on a low income.

The report found that voluntary aided schools (which are run by the church with public money) had some opportunity to covertly pick pupils based on what they could observe about pupils and their family background." Read the full report here (pdf) or on the Telegraph website

In this modern age when reasonable people are trying to bring cultures together to live in harmony, it's a shame that they still bring up children in schools dominated by superstitious beliefs which install into them an 'Us' and 'Them' attitude.

[batdog]

According to the council the school is to be completely refurbished as a Boys school and due to open its doors sometimes in 2009.... But that's all I know and it is official

batdog

[AndrewP]

Mark

The LSE/DfES report you refer to only looks at faith-based primary schools. EDEN is campaigning for a secondary school.

It is not at all obvious to me that the conclusions from LSE/DfES report apply to secondary schools.

Has a similar study been carried out on secondary schools?

Andrew

[Mark]

I don't know if a similar study has been carried out on secondary schools but then who needs proof when it comes to religion?