Derek_Hill

*** I am posting this on behalf of Liz Brown, Chair of The Charter School Education Trust. *** Dear All, As a result of comments made on this Forum and also offline, I just want to clarify a couple of points in relation to the proposed Charter School East Dulwich - 1. The nodal point we are currently proposing - Jarvis Road on the site of the Dulwich Community Hospital - is not an intentional change from our original bid. During the development of the Trusts? bid we ran a large number of consultation events at which we said that the proposed nodal point would be on the Eastern site boundary, mid way between the Northern and Southern boundaries, so as to minimise the overlap with the current Charter School catchment without moving the nodal point off-site. This was incorporated into our bid to the DfE. When we were eventually informed of the boundaries of the parcel of land we will receive from the NHS, it was clear that the Eastern boundary of our school site would only run about one third of the way down the boundary of the whole hospital site because the new health centre would occupy the remaining two thirds of that Eastern boundary.We interpreted mid-way between the Northern and Southern ends of our boundary as being Jarvis Road, ie mid-way along that part of our boundary along Melbourne Grove. This also had the side benefit of being a physical place that people could easily identify. Some have commented that The Trust had previously proposed positioning an admissions nodal point somewhere in East Dulwich away from the site of the proposed new school. I wish to clarify that the Trust has never made such a proposal. Instead, right from the inception of its bid process the Trust has been consistent in proposing an admissions policy based on distance from the school site using an ?as the crow flies? methodology. The form used by the Trust to gather parental support for its bid was clear about this point and can be accessed on the link below for those who wish to review the form. https://www.dropbox.com/s/qfqzp2uqzsfa3m8/Expression%20of%20Interest%20Form%20TCSED.pdf?dl=0 And the FAQ document posted on the Trust?s website during the bid process contains similar information and can be accessed on this link: https://www.dropbox.com/s/4mkjpxgg0iukmfe/FAQs%20Update.pdf?dl=0 2. Some people have expressed concerns that members of our working party may have a conflict of interest, as they have children in local primary schools. The involvement of local parents is an inherent part of the free school concept. Those parents on the Working Party set up by the Trust to help with the process have worked tirelessly for the new school over the last year or so and their expertise, commitment and integrity have been a major part of our success so far. As far as decision making is concerned, the parents on the working party with children in local primary schools to the north and east of the new school are not members or Trustees of The Charter School Educational Trust. As was explained at the consultation meetings, it is the Trust that will receive the report on all the consultation findings (from the project management firm that is putting it together) and it is the Trust that will then make the necessary decisions, taking into account feedback from the consultation process. Furthermore, in line with our Trust's normal procedures, we always check for potential conflict of interest at Trust Meetings, and any trustee with a potential conflict of interest related to any agenda item excludes themselves from voting on this item. Regards Liz Brown Chair of The Charter School Educational Trust [Please note that this is a one-off posting for clarification]

James, Otta, Jeremy, It sounds like there may be two applications to the DfE Free School competition. That doesn't need to be a bitter contest. The DfE makes a decision based on the quality of the bids. The community should win either way if a high quality new school opens. Derek

Denmonthersmith, As I explained in another post, your interpretation of our motives and timelines isn't correct: The charter school governors have been considering stratetic options for quite some time, and indeed getting PWC advice on this (pro bono) for more than a year. Derek Hill Governor of Charter School (writing in a personal capacity).

bawdy-man, The Charter School Education Trust has been undertaking a strategic review process for more than a year considering what its next steps should be - under the "future-proofing the school" theme. The decision to announce that we are considering submitting to the DfE to run a new school comes out of that process. Our timing has, of course, been impacted by talk of the likely availability of a suitable site in East Dulwich. Derek

Mrs.Lotte The Governors of the Charter School would welcome community views on the right approach to the admissions policy. The application process encourages innovative models for free schools. But whatever policy is chosen, there will be winners and losers. Derek

James, Belle, The Charter School Education Trust has assembled a team to help with the bid. This includes people involved in setting up Charter School in the first place, and we have extremely valuable pro-bono support offered by PWC in preparing the bid. Derek Hill Governor of Charter School

Scruffy mum, The admissions policy of a new school run by the Charter School Education Trust doesn't have to be the same as the current Charter School. There are very strict guidelines about the types of admission criteria that can be used - so the options are limited, but and as part of our community consultation, we'd welcome input from the community about what admission criteria should be put in place. Derek Hill Governor of Charter School

James, There is a formal process for a new free school to be selected - and it is run by the DfE, not by local councillors. Derek Hill Governor of Charter School (speaking in a personal capacti)

James, Your process had no formal authority to make a decision on the behalf of the community. I don't really understand the point you make about competition. What local parents want is sufficent places in local good and outstanding schools for their children. The Charter School is very over-subscribed, and an outstanding new school in East Dulwich - who ever runs it - will meant that more children get to attend an outstanding local school - it wouldn't detrimentally impact Charter's pupil numbers. There are some very compelling reasons for the Charter School Education Trust to open another school a short distance form the current one - which are not about competition, but about synergies that benefit the pupils and wider community. Derek Hill Governor of Charter School (speaking in a personal capacity)

James, It is great that the lib dems are supportive of a new school for East Dulwich. The Charter School Eductational Trust sees its offering as a natural extension of the original foundation of Charter school to meet the needs of the local community - far too few of whom are able to get places at Charter. I realize that you prefer another option: the impression you gave our governing body was that you didn't really engage with our offering in serious way until very late in your process. Many others in the local community have given us strong support for bidding and we felt we owed it to them to take forward our vision independently of your initiative. We have great pro-bono support from PWC and others to help us assemble a strong bid for the local community. Derek Hill (Governor of Charter School - but speaking in a personal capacity)