Haberdashers' East Dulwich - 751 families supporting

[Biped1]

ASKE-ING FOR TROUBLE

The dodgy accounting of Haberdashers? Aske Federation Trust, picked by parents and councillors to open a new secondary school in south London.- In Private Eye.

Has any one read this?

[Otta]

Clearly Mugglesworth had.

2 hours before you did.

[James Barber]

Haberdashers' Aske's Federation CEO has issued this letter:

http://www.haaf.org.uk/Mainfolder/knights-academy/documents/Letter%20to%20Parents%203rd%20June%2014.pdf

Curious why Private Eye published its article last week rather than last year.

Hi Biped1,

Not sure why you think this dodgy accounting when they've properly accounted for fraud and taking rational actions around it.

Hi Mugglesworth,

Not sure who's being gung ho. Habs seem measured in how they've acted on this and how they've responded to Private Eye.

[LondonMix]

Thanks James.

Has Haberdashers confirmed 100% that they are prepared to move forward? I believe they were awaiting the outcome of the assessment of one of the federation schools before confirming.

Also, does the recent announcements regarding the size of the needed health facility on the Dulwich Hospital Site mean that the school will definitely be housed there or is there still some uncertainty in that regards?

[bawdy-nan]

blimey - low tricks

[littlek1cker]

Hello everyone,

My name is Simon Tucker and I am one of the local parents working with The Charter School on their proposal for a new school on the Dulwich Hospital site.

I am posting now in order to give EDF readers another point of contact with the team working up the The Charter School?s proposal so you can ask any questions you may have.

Just to restate the facts for anyone coming to this fresh; there are two schools currently preparing proposals for a new secondary school on part of the Dulwich Hospital site. Both schools have a lot of support from local parents and personally I think that a new school run by either Habs or Charter would be wonderful news for local parents. The decision as to whether we will get a Charter or Habs school on this site will be made by the Department for Education towards the end of the year. The availability of the site is still not certain but we are very hopeful.

We are currently consulting widely with the community as we put our proposal together. We are planning a public consultation event on 19th June ? more details soon - as well as other things in the pipeline.

If you would like to show your support for a Charter school, please e-mail [email protected] with your name, your post code, your child/children?s date(s) of birth and please state that you would be likely to put a Charter School on this site as your first choice for your child when applying for secondary school. All parents who want a new school should be signing up to BOTH the Charter proposal AND the Habs proposal since if we can?t demonstrate enough demand for a new school, neither bid will be successful.

If you have any questions about our plans you can ask me on this forum or send a message to the above e-mail address or attend one of the events we are organising in the coming weeks.

Regards,

Simon

Simon Tucker

The Charter School New School Working Group

[bawdy-nan]

Hello Simon

I agree with you that it's great news that there will likely be a new school in east dulwich and I know that charter has a great reputation locally and certainly amongst people whose children attend.

I have to say that I have been rather shocked at the tone and some of the tactics apparently deployed in pursuit of charter's bid.

I appreciate that you are trying to secure support for your campaign but I really hope that the campaign was not responsible for pushing the story about your rival organisation' having to deal with a crime to Private Eye, where sources aren't published.

The locality is peppered with journalists so perhaps it wasn't part of an explicit strategy but it is very off putting and smacks of unprofessionalism; and not necessarily in the way you might imagine.

[James Barber]

Hi Simon/littlek1cker,

I think you've run away with yourself in your posts penultimate sentence.

For clarity the Haberdashers' bid for a new school already has significantly more local support than needed to make a bid for a new free secondary school. The Habs bid has now moved on from collecting names - although more are always welcome - see www.newschool.org.uk - and onto making the expected 150 page submission. A Habs led public meeting will also take place with date yet to be finalised.

Hi bawdy-nan,

Please lets all move on from past comms and actions.

[littlek1cker]

Hi bawdy-nan,

I think we have all been shocked at the tone of some of the discussion on this forum which appears to have come from people not associated with either campaign. The Charter School and the new school working group have run an entirely positive campaign. For the record, we have not had any interaction with Private Eye whatsoever. You also make a vague reference to "some of the tactics apparently deployed in pursuit of Charter's bid". That sounds like an attempt to sling mud in the hope that some of it sticks. If you can give me specific allegations we can address them.

Regards,

Simon

Simon Tucker

The Charter School New School Working Group

[littlek1cker]

Hi James,

I'm not sure why you felt the need to respond to my penultimate sentence - that parents should sign up for both bids. As you know we met with you and the Habs steering group last night to propose various concrete ways in which we might collaborate and avoid divisions within the community. I'd understood from several of your steering group members that they themselves had been telling parents to sign up to both bids. This seems sensible to me since there will only ever be one school on that site so no parent will in fact have to make a decision as to whether to send their child to a new charter school or a new Habs school. It also seems reasonable since several hundred of your signatories signed up before you had chosen your preferred provider. The point is, we just want a great new school on that site!

Regards,

Simon

Simon Tucker

The Charter School New School Working Group

[redjam]

Simon/James - like most parents I've spoken to, I'd be happy with either school winning the bid - I just want it to happen! But Simon, I'm confused by this sentence in your post:

'Please state that you would be likely to put a Charter School on this site as your first choice for your child when applying for secondary school.'

I would be happy to sign up to your campaign on the basis that the more support there is for a new school I imagine the more likely we are to get one (from either provider) - but I don't want to commit to saying I would choose a Charter School as my first choice, as obviously if Habs win the bid then I'll be choosing them. Is there a way of signing up to support the new school without coming down on either side? I've already signed up to Habs' bid early on in the process so if it came to a choice I would stick with them.

[littlek1cker]

Hi redjam,

When it comes to applying for a secondary school place for your child, you will obviously have to choose from the available options. We are asking you to say that, if there is a Charter school on that site, it would be your first choice. Obviously, for a Charter school to exist on that site it would mean that DfE had selected Charter rather than Habs. The point is, when it comes to choosing a school for your child, you will never have to choose between Charter and Habs on that site, since only one will get permission. So please do sign up to support us!

I will also go back and check the exact wording we need to use to see if we can make it less confusing.

[Otta]

Just seen the other thread with the letters between Tessa J & Michael G, suggesting that the hospital site could be used for Harris Nunhead (WTF?).

Any info on this James?

[Lou]

I've sent James the link by PM.

We so need another secondary school (personally happy with Haberdashers or Charter). Seems crazy to put another Harris primary, when they are building one at police station.

[Coach Beth]

Yes, while the two camps have squabbling, harris has smoothly moved in and sounds like has got support from the highest authority to use the site for yet another new primary school.

[samstopit]

To be fair, the two secondary schools have been preparing their bids to DFE. The timeframe is to submit to DFE in the autumn after public consultation.

[Otta]

Coach Beth Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> harris has smoothly moved in and sounds like has got

> support from the highest authority

Big time Tory donor gets the inside track shocker.

[Dulwich Born And Bred]

I sincerely hope we do not have ANOTHER Harris school anywhere in Dulwich! We have a primary and two Secondaries , that will suffice . If it is true then I am definitely going to campaign against Harris using the hospital site .

[bawdy-nan]

Hello Simon

Thanks for your direct reply.

I'm really glad to hear that The Charter campaign had nothing to do with planting press stories. That's very reassuring. Thank you for making that clear.

I'm not at all trying to sling mud. I'm not involved in the HABS campaign other than wanting to see a new school.

My sense of disease has arisen from reading comments made people identifying themselves as being governors. Perhaps they weren't.

But I really don't want to resurrect any ill-feeling. As I've said on many occasions I know that Charter has an excellent reputation.

[kittysailing]

According to Gove's letter to Tessa Jowell it's a done deal with Harris..

[intexasatthe moment]

http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1335136,1335520#msg-1335520

"kittysailing Today, 08:54AM

I think like many things Gove is involved in - he's got this wrong. I think he's talking about the Nunhead Harris primary that's going to take over the police station in September 2015. The dates mentioned, the name, the trajectory all are weirdly the same as the planned Harris primary which was approved in Feb 2014 to be housed in Harris girls then moved to old police station, LL in September 2015. Let's hope so before Harris takes over the world."

[kittysailing]

It appears there is room for a primary school as well as secondary school on the site. Harris are already in on the deal. Seems weird not to wait until secondary school provider appointed for a bit of joined up thinking - ie Habs Hatcham now offer primary school provision for all through education. As do Harris.. maybe that's the plan...

[bornagain]

This defies belief! No planning, no strategic thinking, no consultation - who has an overall view of what is planned for the local community? This shows the free school system at its worst. A story worthy of Private Eye me thinks.

[intexasatthe moment]

But what you get when you do away with LEA's and hand over provision ,and tax payers money , to private " sponsors " .

[Otta]

This really does stink if true.

Sunday or not, I hope James can shed some light.