Proposed Harris Primary School

[rgutsell]

Hiya all

The Harris Foundation have distributed a circular saying that they have "been asked by your local councillors and parents" to provide a new primary school in the area.

Really? Asked by whom? Which parents? Officially? Which councillors?

Significant amounts of public money would be passed on to this private organisation, in an area which is already full of private schools, setting state schooling at a further disadvantage.(This area also has many Charitable schools, with a charities tax status, which were originaly set up to aid the poor into education and which charge for entry, select from the wealthier amongst us, and are very rich)

The Harris foundation teaches creationism alongside evolution, and I have no doubt that come the time (very soon)when the present government allows education for private profit in the state sector, they will be front runners.

I'm glad that I don't have to bring up children these days (I did it years ago in more enlightened times!)

If you don't believe in this, the Harris Foundation of course does not encourage you to make your views known.

If it is correct that the council is encouraging them, then please let the council know, and also let the councillors on this site know if you disagree. We need good state education for all, and for our children to be taught to live and learn together, not selected and separated.

My opinion of course, make your own mind up!

Yours

[EDmummy]

Teaches creationism alongside evolution? Really? Evidence? Experience?

[eco79]

Have a look at the thread in the family room. James Barber PMed people with kids [cold contact by finding us in the Family Room] and explained the need for support for Harris who would fix all of our our primary school problems.

[uncleglen]

The creationism is usually presented in RE as part of making children aware of different religions and their beliefs and evolution is usually presented in science. I sincerely hope that creationism is not being 'taught'

[LauraW]

Lord Harris won't rest until he's got into every child's head in this borough. His company has far too much power over education in Southwark already and it looks like citizens will have to stop him since councillors like Barber are happy to roll over and play dead for him.

[optimum]

I think that rgutsell may be confusing the Harris Federation with John Harris of the Everyday Champions Church. It was this organisation which proposed a Creationist Free School to be called the Everyday Champions Academy in 2010.

The Huffington Post UK reported the following in July 2012:

'A free school said to be run by creationists has been given the go-ahead after revamping its image, according to reports.

The Exemplar Academy will open in Newark, Nottinghamshire, in 2013 and receive government funding, after an original bid was rejected last year.

Since then the school's original sponsors - the Everyday Champions Church - pulled out and instead individuals from the church stepped forward to back the academy.'

[caroandcj]

Harris isn't a business ... it is an acadmey chain i.e. not-for-profit. Also they teach the national curriculum so it is unlikely they teach "... creationism alongside evolution". Their schools are doing really well across London and the fully comply with Southwark's admissions code.

http://www.harrisfederation.org.uk/118/academy-profiles

[sedm]

The Harris schools that I have experience of are exceptional schools which give real opportunities to children in south london.

[hellosailor]

LauraW Wrote:

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> Lord Harris won't rest until he's got into every

> child's head in this borough. His company has far

> too much power over education in Southwark already

>

absolutely agree.

[LondonMix]

I think it would be wise to have this debate but without unfounded allegations parading as facts. Just because you are online, doesn't mean you don't have a responsibility to be factual in what you are saying.

[James Barber]

This gives the background.

http://jamesbarber.mycouncillor.org.uk/2012/12/04/new-primary-schools-for-se22/

Local councils can;t build new schools - havent been able to since Tony Blair's education lasw. The coalition have added the name to academies but in essence the same thing with knobs on.

Either we find an education provider/s to build 2-3 new primary schools in our area or existing schools will have more bulge classes than is good to maintain existing let alone improve standards.

After a lot of searching we think Harris is the best by far. Them provisding places will also enable tie in with their secondary school places.

As caroandcj have pointed out their a long standing thread in the family discussion area.

[LadyDeliah]

As far as I'm aware academies don't have to stick to the National Curriculum. I might be wrong on that, but I thought the justification for that was because schools in special measures that were taken over by academies in the 90's needed a different approach. So I think the only schools who are restricted by the National Curriculum are state schools.

[James Barber]

Hi Ladydeliah,

But they must teach evolution by natural selection - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-20547195

[caroandcj]

As an academy chain, Harris don't have to stick to the national curriculum but their stated policy is that they do. Clearly they are able change their policy. I work for an organisation of similar scope and scale to Harris and know that it would take a good two years to fully implement a change of that magnitude. Also the idea that Harris controls education in Southwark is a myth. ARK Schools has Walworth, Globe and the soon to be open All Saints in Camberwell. Charter and Kingsdale are not part of an academies chain. Goodrich, Heber and St Anthony's are the same. In my viewe the arrival of academies in Southwark has forced all the schools to up their game becuase of the great results the academies have achieved.

[nimby]

Of-course Harris is a business that's how they make the Money to spend on schools.

Maybe we should make a Lord Harris Doll out of Carpet and stick pins in it if he is so superstitious about invisible friends!

[Monkey]

caroandcj Wrote:

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> "in my viewe the arrival of academies in Southwark has

> forced all the schools to up their game becuase of

> the great results the academies have achieved."

I could not agree more. ED primaries are good but we don't have outstanding schools, the likes of Fairlawn in Lewisham for example. Time to up the game!

[Curmudgeon]

Brilliant news. The Harris federation seems to run outstanding schools and serve the community very well indeed. I was impressed when I visited their boys school in east dulwich by the staff, students and ethos.

[caroandcj]

Saying Harris is a business is like saying your Local Authority is a business. They don't make money to spend in schools. Their schools are state funded with the academies having control over their own budgets. That is the point of academies. It is interesting the amount of misinformation there is about academies out there.

[Otta]

Even if a school doesn't have to teach the NC, they need to prepare their students for the exams that the exam boards set, which will basically be based on the NC, so you'll find that they basically follow a similar line. If they didn't, their results would be shit, and they would fail.

[LondonMix]

The Department of Education also assesses the proposed curriculum at the time the application to open the school is submitted. One of the points used to judge the application is that the curriculum is "well-balanced". It's really not a free-for-all.

[Fuschia]

Interesting goings on elsewhere in S London with dispute between a primary school and Harris

http://www.saveroke.co.uk/index.php/press-releases

[LondonMix]

That seems good, no? The school was failing and scheduled to become an academy. They launched a campaign to argue that the school had turned itself around since its previous inspection. Ofstead are reinspecting the school (potentially as a direct result of the campaign). The dispute you refer to seems to be with the Department of Education's perhaps too hasty decision rather than Harris as such.

[intexasatthe moment]

Seems odd that the DfE insisted on Harris as sponsors when Roke primary were wanting an alternative sponsor if they were forced to become an Academy .

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2013/jan/14/parents-fury-academy-takeover?INTCMP=SRCH

I'd say wrong rather than odd ,but that's because I believe parents and teachers should be listened to .

And - not a criticism of Harris just flagging up the freedoms Academies DO have with curriculum - Pimlico Academy is developing it's own special curriculum .

The sponsors wife has set up a curriculum think tank which favours a fact based /knowledge rich education - so for example it seems that instructing young children on primary and secondary colours is preferable to letting them loose on a paint box and making a mess .

"If you were to give a young child a paint box, a brush, water and paper and ask them to paint a picture, what would they discover? That water makes the paint wet, that the brush can only hold so much paint and that you need to keep dipping it back into the paint box, that the paint box soon gets in a mess and that the paper is soon filled up with a muddy puddle. Compare and contrast this with teaching a child about primary and secondary colours and how to mix them, explaining the colour wheel and showing how the use of complementary colours can enliven a painting. How much more a child would discover and how much more harmonious the painting would be. "

http://www.thecurriculumcentre.org/blog/

Perhaps Pimlico's sponsor and his wife have lots of educational experience and knowledge ,but I have been unable to discover what it is .

And the sponsor has now been appointed by Gove as an education minister .

My point is that Academies are not accountable and that they have a lot of power .

I'm sure the response from many will be that Harris Academies are a different kettle of fish and that we need have no worries .

I'm afraid that I do still worry .

[LondonMix]

Sorry, who has been appointed education minister? Also, which sponsor did the parents want over Harris (if you know)? Depending on the other option's track-record, the DofE may have made a choice based on who they thought would do a better job. Without more of the facts behind your post its difficult to assess if your objections are reasonable.

[nylonmeals]

I am amazed that there is so much Harris Academies negativity - The Harris Academy in Crystal Palace is (I think) something like the fifth-most over-subscribed state school in the country. I think that there are 15 boys applying for every place. It's meant to be one of the best state schools in South London.