Wrong school, wrong time, wrong place
There is no doubt that Waltham Forest needs a new secondary school. Figures produced by the local authority indicate that the bulge in primary places will work its way through to create a need for one new secondary school by September 2017 and another by 2019. But with funding following pupils, timing and positioning are important. It matters a lot to other schools in the borough where the new school is built and when it opens. If it opens too early and in the wrong place it will harm other schools. Yet the government’s insane legislation and its ideological fixation with Free Schools means that the Lion Academy Trust have been given preapproval to open a new school in September 2016. If it ever opens, it is likely to be built at taxpayer expense, wherever the Education Funding Agency can find some land it can buy.
And then there’s the question of the approved sponsor. The
Lion Academy Trust currently run three primary schools in the borough,
including Thomas Gamuel, which they took over in the face of massive local
opposition. But they don’t run any secondary schools. We’ll be looking at the
Lion Academy Trust in more detail in later posts, but for now, the summary is
that this school is likely to be built at the wrong time, in the wrong place by
the wrong people. Perhaps that’s why the indications are that this proposal is
not being welcomed by the local authority, other headteachers or teaching
unions.
Alternative plan?
But what’s the alternative? With an objective need for a new
secondary school by September 2017 something needs to be done now.
Interestingly, even the executive head of the Lion Academy Trust recognises
that the election may upset his plans. It’s possible that a Labour led
government will simply stop proposals that don’t fulfil its criteria of need
and may start to relax the constraints on local authorities. But the Local
Authority can’t sit back and hope. We hear talk of a possible alternative plan
being worked out that combines further expansion of existing secondaries with a
new school involving the Co-operative as a sponsor. This would be a Free
School, because current legislation means it has to be, but as a Co-Op school
it would at least have a democratic governance structure that could involve the
community, the local authority and other schools. It would also have a better
relationship with teaching unions. It would also enjoy the active support of
Walthamstow’s MP who is already on
record as actively supporting any proposals from the Co-Op.
It’s not an ideal solution and we believe that it would suffer
from weaknesses relative to local authority community schools. Neither should
anyone underestimate the difficulties that would be faced in bringing this plan
to fruition. However, given the current range of options faced by the local
authority and by the local community, we think that any such alternative plan
would merit support over the DfE’s choice, the Lion Academy Trust.
More details as soon as we have them…
