Forum Topic

If you are concerned about free schools

Hi. If you are concerned at all about the impact that the free school push is likely to have on good and improving local schools, I would like to ask that you please consider signing the following petition.  It will take only a minute. Thank you very much.http://www.parentsallianceforcommunityschools.org/Petitions.html

Tracy Hannigan ● 5370d10 Comments

"Part of the problem is that H&F is very long and narrow - anyone near the 'edge' of the borough will simply find it easier to go to a school 'out of the borough', even if there is one nearby *in* the boroug"This is actually borne out in the official statistics, which suggest roughly half of all places in H&F secondary schools are taken up by people from other boroughs, while correspondingly there's a nearly equivalent flow out from the borough (including my partner's nieces, who both go to Chiswick Community School despite living in Barons Court).  H&F is a clear anomaly, therefore.  I'll try and find the stats later, but they're on the DfE website somewhere.

Thomas Barry ● 5296d

Part of the problem is that H&F is very long and narrow - anyone near the 'edge' of the borough will simply find it easier to go to a school 'out of the borough', even if there is one nearby *in* the borough.  Otherwise, to stay *in* the borough, they need to drive inside the long skinny borough. Someone(some people) living one street away from the nearest primary, which may lie just across the line, go there because its handy and an easy commute - whereas staying in means a less convenient access just because of the geography.  This geographical 'boundary' is kind of being used to say more are needed *in* the borough, implying there are not enough - when its not necessarily an issue that can be addressed this way. People are still going to prefer a school that is convenient, and don't draw lines in the same way the political boundaries are drawn.  Just a thought.

Tracy Hannigan ● 5297d

Comment about demand and supply. I don't know the exact figures, but I understand a high proportion of secondary school children in Hammersmith and Fulham have to travel outside the borough to be educated because there aren't enough local schools. So it would make sense to provide more schools nearby if at all possible.

Rosemary Pettit ● 5297d

I'm not sure why I'm being accused of misrepresenting anything. It would appear that the research so far is not bearing out claims that academies harm the academic performance of schools in their vicinity. If you disagree with the conclusion of the research then fine, let's hear why, but a shrill response simply because someone has pointed to its existence doesn't suggest that there is a coherent counter-argument.

Andy Jones ● 5298d

"not only are free schools and academies leading to significant improvements in the academic performance of children that attend them but schools in the areas around free schools are tending to do better"Interesting finding, considering there aren't any free schools open in the UK yet.  Also, John Rentoul is not to be considered a particularly reliable source, he spends most of his time with his face in Tony Blair's backside.  Still, if you like Continuity New Labour, you carry on.  Personally I lost patience in about 2003, mostly the lying but the incompetence and authoritarian tendencies didn't help, either. Same crap, different rosette."seems to be the educational bureaucracy who seem to be the only ones really losing out."I suggest you dig out the figures for the number of Whitehall civil servants working on Free Schools, compared with the number of pupils (it's about 30 pupils per civil servant, at last count).  This is *centralisation* of schools with power handed to the Department for Education and unaccountable private companies seeking a profit, and I'd like to hear you defend the actual policy on those terms rather than a misrepresentation, please.

Thomas Barry ● 5300d

The Department for Education says Free Schools modelled after US Charter Schools and Swedish Free Schools will 'drive up standards...particularly in disadvantaged areas'.The New Schools Network says  ‘in those areas – overwhelmingly the most deprived – where pupils are not getting the chances of their richer peers, new schools will provide opportunities which do not exist.’This simply isn't true.  And it isnt true they are going into the most deprived areas.  TWO of them are slated for the most deprived areas in the UK.  Most are going into much more affluent areas.Evidence says that free schools increase social inequality and do not increase educational attainment in disadvantaged children.On Increasing Attainment:OECD 2009 Review of marketisation of school systems:    ...Evidence of improved outcomes is mixed, and improvements in academic performance may result from factors other than quasi-market incentives - for example professional effort, technocratic knowledge, policy alignments or funding. If quasi markets offered some type of elixir for educational performance, we might over time expect to see nations with more market like systems outperforming countries where the state plays a more direct role in education provision. But it is hardly clear this is the case.' (Lubiensky, 2009, p 27-28)Center for Research on Education Outcomes (CREDO) 'Multiple Choice: Charter School Performance in 16 States (2009)    ...Nearly half of the charter schools nationwide have results that are no different from the local public school options (ed note: a 'public school' in the US is the equivalent of the 'state school' in the UK) and over a third, 37 percent, deliver learning results significantly worse than their student would have realised had they remained in traditional public schools.' (p1)On Reducing Inequality:    Research done this year (Wiborg 2011) said that the Swedish system had nearly zero impact on families and immigrants who had received a low level of education - gains seen were in those from highly educated families.    OCED 2009: 'when schools have greater autonomy in quasi-markets competitive incentives cause schools to develop marketing innovations that may effectively exclude segments of the population.' (p24)    An example is using heavy internet marketing in an area where a large majority of the population has below average access to the internet - like Shepherds Bush.    Using US charter schools as the example, schools may 'use admissions policies to dissuade or exclude more difficult-to-educate students.' (p24)    'Many independent schools now require parent or student contracts, volunteer hours, adherence to mission statements or other means that encourage self-segregation by parents that obscure selection of students by schools.' (p41)

Tracy Hannigan ● 5302d

I read an article by John Rentoul in the Times recently in which he cited research that not only are free schools and academies leading to significant improvements in the academic performance of children that attend them but schools in the areas around free schools are tending to do better.The last bastion of resistance to this reform, which let's not forget has the support of the three main political parties, seems to be the educational bureaucracy who seem to be the only ones really losing out.

Andy Jones ● 5303d

In contrast, Toby's school seems to be over-subscribed if anything and very near.When was the last time signing a petition achieved anything?

Sara Nathan ● 5351d

Good question -Until there is a real need for more schools in the locality of the current community schools in the Addison Ward area any additional free schools would have a very real financial impact on its neighbours. Pupil premium means that each child has a significant value to a school's overall budget. loss of even just a few children could mean a significant loss of staff and resources. Surely we should be focusing on quality rather than increasing quantity where there is no need for it?Ark Conway free school has reduced it's proposed September intake by half because it failed to attract the numbers of pupils it claimed would wish to attend. Lets not waste public money that could be better spent improving existing schools.

lucy knight ● 5352d

Can you explain why opening a free school would have any impact at all on 'good and improving schools' in the area?

Andy Jones ● 5370d