New Neighbourhood Secondary School. What do you think? Post Reply

[Annabel (admin)]

We have received this statement from Councillor Edward Lister, Leader of Wandsworth Council. This is in direct response to your discussions on NappyValleyNet about the New Neighbourhood Secondary School.

<Statement starts>

I have been reading with interest the lively discussions on your site about a new secondary school in south Battersea.

This is an issue we have already been exploring following representations from your Ward Councillors and the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Battersea, Jane Ellison.

Under current Government policy we have very little chance of securing agreement to another state-funded school in the area. The Schools Minister, Vernon Coaker, has indeed written to us in the last week declining any additional funding. His argument is that the borough has a good range of schools which, between them, have sufficient places for all local pupils.

The Council is now considering the options for a new style of non fee-paying secondary school which would be promoted by parents or other interested providers. This model is currently being developed by the Shadow Education Secretary, Michael Gove. The aim would be to put the financial structures in place that would make it possible for groups of parents or other interested organisations to set up their own schools. Finding premises would still be a challenge but this model could have many fewer pupils than its traditional state-run counterpart.

This is a very exciting proposition and one which could transform the way schools are run in this country. I see no reason why a parent-driven school in an area of known demand like south Battersea would not fit this agenda.

It would be wrong of me to raise expectations that an immediate solution is at hand, but I can assure you that the Council is committed to finding a way round the current constraints that could help to open up new schooling opportunities in the future.

I am sure this debate is going to attract a lot of interest and I would be very interested to hear your own views. I shall of course keep you informed of our progress.

Councillor Edward Lister
Leader of the Council

<statement ends>

[juliantenniscoach]

I'm a parent with 2 very young girls. secondary schools isn't on my agenda yet and I live close enough to belleville and honeywell to be alright. what is on my agenda is that I should have to pay for a good school as I don't live close enough to a decent state school. I'm not wealthy and will not be able to "cough up for Emmanuel" which is frankly one of the most fatuous comments I've read. both my wife and I work so commuting any significant distance is a real problem both for me and many, many parents in the same situation.
I've paid for education already in my taxes and that is not the same as accepting poor education or go private. THe private school culture is unique to this country and is a sad reflection on this Government's promise of "education, education, education".
The council have a duty to meet the demographic needs of its tax payers. A local secondary school is an absolute requirement in the next 4-5years with (off the top of my head) Bollingbroke Hospital as a possible site(?).
We can't all "cough up to Emmanuel or move to the country".

[twinkletows]

Hi,
I totally support your cause for a secondary school in this area.
I do not as yet have any children but run a saturday school in theatre arts and know that most of my children who attend, have to travel quite a way to go to school although they live in the area and this has amazed me.
Also, with such a baby boom in the area over the past years, we have to look to the future and ask where everyone will go?
I look forward to hearing from you.
twinkle x

[livegreen]

As someone who both supports this Campaign and would vote Conservative the reply from Councillor Lister is most encouraging.
He seems to indicate his support, has been lobied by his Ward Councillors and the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate to look at going ahead with this proposal. A lot of Conservative Support.

I am lucky to live between the commons and it is clear that there are not really any other sites that could be converted into a secondary school other than the Bolingbroke Hospital site which is proposed in the campaign.

Would Councillor Lister consider a proactive move to ensure that the Bolingbroke Hospital Site were secured for the purpose of creating a secondary school, ensuring it continues to work for the community. Maybe they could use some of the money that the Council has raised by selling off other Wandsworth schools in the past (due to falling birthrates) as mentioned in other posts, to buy the site. They would be then in a great position to work alongside the parents running this Campaign and a new Conservative Government in 2010 to create a new neighbourhood secondary. This would demonstrate the new model proposed by Shadow Secretary for Children, Schools and Families, Michael Gove, could work and work quickly.

The easy thing, of course, would be to do nothing............

NB I would be interested to know whether Councillor Lister has contacted the Campaign Team to discuss this issue.

[onthecommon]

Thank you to everyone who has signed up to support The Neighbourhood School Campaign on http://www.thensc.net" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

We now have over a 1000 people who have registered their support and the comment/feedback we have received has been extremely helpful and encouraging.

We will be sending out an update after Christmas and holding an open meeting in January.

In the meantime you can continue to pass on comments and follow progress on our Facebook page, please join at
http://www.facebook.com/editapps.php?re ... 8166599574" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thanks again and do sign up if you have not done so already

[Annabel (admin)]

I wrote to my local MP, Sadiq Khan, asking him if there were any discussions re. plans to develop the Bolingbroke site for a school and received a reply from him today.

He has subsequently written to a) the director of education of Wansworth Council and b) the chair of the St Georges NHS trust asking them both if there have been any "in-depth" discussions about the development. He cc'd me in on those letters. I will post details of any replies.

Annabel

NappyValleyNet.com

[hilary]

Historical Perspective

i am a grandmother living in the area. Twenty-five years ago there was a concerted campaign from parents living on the Lambeth-Wandsworth borders to create a new school for the area around Wandsworth Common, Kings Avenue and Clapham South, on the (then failing) Henry Thornton Boys site. Feeder schools would have been Honeywell, Bellville, Wix', Clapham Manor, Heathbrook, Glenbrooke, Kings Acre MacCauley and Alderbrook. Nine feeder schools minimum, but we were told there was not enough demand. we were told we would take demand away from (the then grossly under-achieving) Chestnut Grove. Amongst those campaigning that i knew personally were , were architects, artists, builders, business people, cooks, dinner ladies, doctors, journalists judges, lollipop ladies, mathematicians, nurses, prison visitors, secretaries. teachers, unemployed, writers... in fact most of the parents that attended my daughters school in sW2. However, this too was dubbed a middle class movement, and rejected. Various local schools were shut down in a mass reorganisation and choices became restricted.

Out of the parents who campaigned, those who could afford it sent their children to fee-paying schools, although they would have preferred not to, some like myself, tried Chestnut Grove and found it wanting and removed our children to the Borough of Richmond, others went to Pimlico or were just disillusioned for the next five years.

It is when you have a comittment from parents together with 'neighbourhood', that a school will succeed and those people who have decried the 'middle classes' in Time and Leisure, and indeed any readers of Time and Leisure should look with some amusement at the irony of the 'Wandle with Chelsea", as it is carrying 15 advertisements for those who can afford to pay.

It is unfair that Tooting has the flagship school. unfair that is on those who live in Tooting, not unfair on those who live in SW11 or SW12. It is unfair that my daughters children, when she has lived in Tooting for over 10 years and within 400m of Graveney, that she will not be able to send her children there unless they pass the entrance exam. Last year her neighbours child was rejected, 2 marks below par. It is unfair too, because there are no good schools in other parts of the borough for residents of the other parts of the borough. Those that could have been and were good, have deteriorated over the last 15 years or so. Why, when this is one of the richest boroughs in London? The answer lies somewhere in the fifteen advertisements for fee-paying schools, the opting out of the middle classes of the State system, and now the promotion of the also selective, but state funded religious schools.

Time and Leisure should get behind parents who want good state education for their children, They are making money from the advertisers and this should 'absolutely not' stop them from some sensible reporting on how this can be achieved in the area they serve.

[Annabel (admin)]

We have just received a statement from Wandsworth Council regarding the new school, the link to this statement is here:

http://www.nappyvalleynet.com/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=2055" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Thank you

Annabel

[Annabel (admin)]

We have just received a letter from Sadiq Khan, our local MP, and he has forwarded a letter to me that he received from the Estates and Facilites Wing of the St Georges NHS. This is in response to a query that I asked him to raise as to whether there are plans for a school on the site.

I will scan the full letter and post it here but the upshot is that he "can confirm there are no plans to develop the site into a school. The redevelopment strategy for this site will emerge over the next six months and will be put into the public domain as part of the normal planning process in the summer 2010"

As I read this it, means that there are plans, but these plans do not include a school

A

[The NSC]

As part of the NSC team, I think that last post needs some clarification - it adds more heat than light.

The NHS owns the site and they are duty bound to maximise its sale value. Which is reasonable enough of course. We spoke to Neal Deans, Head of Estates for the Trust, last summer. They are indeed 'bundling' the site up for sale some time later this year. Until sales particulars are published by the Trust, they will not enter into any negotiation with third parties. Again this is fair enough. At the end of the day, they will sell to the highest bidder based on whatever 'change of use' they manage to agree with the council for the site itself. The 'change of use' process is in itself protracted with many stakeholders involved.

So while they have predictably said 'there are no plans for a school' they might equally have said 'there are no plans NOT for a school'. Both statements are equally as valid (or pointless).

For some months, we have been working behind the scenes on the issue of site availablity - as you can imagine it is both a complex and sensitive process and not quite as black and white as the above post states. Should Sadiq Khan wish to meet us then we would be more than happy to explain the background to this and the progress we have made to date.

Equally, as we have been at pains to point out, we are currently looking at all site options, not just the Bolingbroke Hospital.

So the bottom line here is 'count nothing in, count nothing out'. A political solution will unlock a school site for us and that solution has to be at this stage as wide ranging and creative as possible, not least in relation to funding.

Jon De Maria
The NSC team

[sw17mamma]

On a Q and A to MArk Clarke the prospective Conservative mp for Tooting, I posted the following and got the subsequent reply:

I have also learnt that there is a campaign between the commons to open Bolingbroke as a secondary, which may ease the tooting (schooling) issues.

Sadly, this has been shut down by St George's Hospital despite it being much loved and used. The plans are up in the air at the moment. However, my colleague in Battersea - Jane Ellison - has been conducted a survey to see what uses people might want. I think practically that the site may be more suited to a primary school rather than a secondary school just because of size.

To be honest, my inclination is to fight for a midwifery led unit for new mothers on the site. Our area sorely needs both an increase in maternity capacity and also an increase in choice of birth options for new mothers. However, it is very early days on this.

[onthecommon]

All,

In this month's Wandsworth Council Magazine there was an Article supporting the Campaign.
http://www.e-brightside.com/1002/features_1.php

Council backs parents' new school bid
The council is backing a group of Battersea parents who want to set up their own state-funded school. It has responded to calls for a state-funded, non-selective secular secondary school by a group called the Neighbourhood School Campaign (NSC), which says existing schools are either too far away, over-subscribed or faith-based. The NSC had identified the old Bolingbroke Hospital as a possible site, though this is owned by St George's Hospital NHS Trust, not Wandsworth Council.

The council has been lobbying politicians from both major parties to gain their support for a new system of state-funded, parent-run schools. It has written to Schools Minister Vernon Coaker and has persuaded shadow education spokesman Michael Gove to meet local parents and discuss how 'free schools' could work.

The council is also urging parents in other parts of the borough interested in running their own state schools to get in touch. NSC member Ron Rooney has three children at Honeywell School and is worried about where they will go once they leave.

There is massive growing demand for a neighbourhood secondary school based in this area with over 1000 parents already supporting the campaign.

The school will need to be funded from central government; additionally we are investigating and meeting with potential sponsors/partners. The council could help identify, secure through purchase or provide a site in the area. We have identified the site of the former Bolingbroke Hospital as a possible solution. We believe it should remain in public hands and serve the local community.

Mum of four Katy Newman said: "We want to achieve a continuing local state education available to all local children. This will keep families of all backgrounds in the area and will contribute to the current community spirit."
The parents are being supported by the New Schools Network charity. This offers free support to groups looking to establish non-selective state schools.

Council leader Edward Lister said:

We have an excellent range of state-maintained secondary schools at the moment which achieve some of the best results in London.

The council's policy has always been to encourage choice and diversity but current school funding legislation makes it diffcult to expand the number of places to offer more choice. With a more radical approach to the way schools are funded we could free up the system so that it positively encourages new local alternatives - whether these are led by parents' groups or private companies.