Harris Academy (new boys school for East Dulwich)

[the-e-dealer]

thats about the going rate for a good head.

[macroban]

Interesting text in the advert.

Has anyone seen the evidence for educational under-attainment in East Dulwich?

Perhaps this thread should read:

Harris Academy (new boys school in East Dulwich)

[the-e-dealer]

Judging by the number of members and supporters of the EDEN campaign I thought everyone knew that East Dulwich Needed a good School

[Keef]

Hmm, so it will have a sixth form (years 12 & 13????) then.

[BigDad]

Unfortunately our local councilors will not want to be the ones seen to be stopping a school being built - the Lib Dem councilor states that we have to think of the 300 or so boys who may not get into the site if its delayed for another year. Shame this is such a short term view and does not take into account the fact that if a school of this size is built and it doesn't work, then 150 boys EVERY YEAR will suffer due to cramped spaces, lack of facilities and we will have another school in the area that fails in its potential.

Apparently there were spaces in Kingsdale Secondary for boys last year so why do we need a school anyway? Because we want a GOOD school, thats why! But will the councilors stand up for what is needed, or push through a design that a private company wants (which goes against previous agreements with the Council, local groups and parents) just so that they can say "We made that happen so vote for us next time round!". Its a blinkered view and they are trying to suck local residents along with them with threats of - if its not this -its nothing!

Copy of letter from Lib Dem Councillor -

Thank you very much for your email about the planning application for

the new East Dulwich Boys Academy.

As you will be aware the campaign for a new boys school in the area has

been a long and often painfully slow one for children in desperate need

of a school place. Local parents have campaigned and then worked

together with the Council and Government over many years to secure this

much needed community facility.

You will understand that as ward councillors in an area of such need we

cannot turn our backs on the urgent need for a new school for local

children. We made a firm commitment to a new school at the local

elections in May last year and it was a key concern of local people. So

the local Liberal Democrat councillors remain fully committed to this.

The Harris sponsors of the academy and the Council have been working

very closely to try to sort out the complexities around a temporary site

for the boys school for the academic year 2008/09 as well as issues

around and on the permanent site. The work to find a temporary site has

been exhaustive, in order to try to meet the demands from local parents

for the school to open as early as possible. Whilst this proved not to

be possible in 2007, we are doing everything we can to try to achieve an

opening in September 2008 for 150 boys at a temporary site, and for the

permanent school to then open fully in September 2009.

I think it needs to be understood that to delay a planning application

now would mean not only that the 2009 opening would be put in jeopardy

but it would also mean that the 2008 opening in temporary accommodation

could not go ahead. 300 boys would therefore be adversely affected.

There have been comments made about the suitability of the site and the

size of the school. I have to say I disagree with these. The site was

a school before and whilst there will be some impacts (which should be

properly considered in the planning process) it is far and away the best

local site for a school. The council also had to find a site within its

ownership because no government money is available for buying land for

new schools. Like it or not we live in an area with very few available

sites and I think the right decision was made.

Although 950 may sound like a large number it is not high for a school

of this sort and it certainly reflects the level of demand in the area.

I agree that Harris have not handled the consultation on this

particularly well and they could have consulted earlier and more widely.

However, it is clear to me that local people are nevertheless making

their voice heard and there will be further opportunity through the

planning process to ensure proper statutory consultation. I understand

that the final application has now been submitted by Harris to the

Council's planning department. It will then be presented in due course

to a council planning committee. Issues such as the design, traffic and

the impact of the building can be considered as part of this process and

if necessary, amendments can be made.

I hope this helps explain both the reason's for my party's support for

the school and the way in which valid detailed concerns that some

residents have expressed can be addressed through the planning process.

With best wishes

Richard

Cllr Richard Thomas

Liberal Democrat, East Dulwich

Executive Member for Regeneration

www.richardthomas.org.uk

Where Cllr Thomas gets his expertise from we are not sure and when questioned on his letter he was reticent to change his point of view.

IF (and its a very interesting if) Harris is committed to having a good school on the site - why don't they engage with the community, discuss the requirements and do it in an orderly and transparent manner? Instead they have 'agreement' with the Council that they should not attend the meeting last Sunday?

[edbrummie]

Tessa J sent a letter out today with a space on it to give your thoughts on the proposed school so i would urge all of you to express your opinions to her as well and apparently they will be taken into account at the planning enquiry (or whatever it is)

[BigDad]

If you want to let Harris know what you think of the design (or if you want to check out the design itself) then log on to this page and let them have your views at

http://www.harrisboysacademy.co.uk/feedback-form.php

The more feedback they get the better!

[BigDad]

Also, check out the edge campaign website forum at:

http://www.edge-campaign.co.uk/

This site is still developing and is worth checking out and will updated regularly with info about whats happening.

[ChavWivaLawDegree]

If this wasn't another anti-democratic academy I'd be in favour of it, but I am against the selling off of our schools for a fraction of their cost for businessmen to control, so am not a fan. If it was a proper state school, run by the local education authority, I'd be all for it because I had to send my older kids all the way to Pimlico in Westminster (was a good school and has just gone into special measures) to get them a place and I would have kept my kids home rather than send them to Kingsdale - it's a really bad school and no alternative.

[blinder999]

If that's the EDGE campaign website, how come the only stuff on there is negative about the new school?

EDGE was set up to campaign for the creation of a new school wasn't it?

Personally, I would prefer my kids to be educated in a modern school, not in a 'lovely Victorian building' as 'http://www.edge-campaign.co.uk' puts it.

Looks like EDGE had been hijacked by a local residents' pressure group, that is less interested in 'East Dulwich Good Education' and more interested in minimising the potential effect of an operational school on their doorsteps.

Couldn't you have called your campaign something else?

[Amelie]

I thought Kingsdale was supposed to have improved hugely after a change in its status, similar to the Charter School which was William Penn. What has gone wrong?

[DG]

KIngsdale:

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?event=getReport&urn=100844&inspectionNumber=285899&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\\school\\100\\s5_100844_20061122.xml

Looks like it's doing very well (leadership is outstanding, most other elements good) although the intake has low levels of attaintment. Probably reflects many pupils hiving off into private schools in the area

However, most E Dulwich residents are much closer to the Academy at Pckham

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/portal/site/Internet/menuitem.7c7b38b14d870c7bb1890a01637046a0/?event=getReport&urn=134225&inspectionNumber=283977&providerCategoryID=8192&fileName=\\school\\134\\s5_134225_20060224.xml

[TimJM]

I live opposite the proposed school it's reassuring to read the comments of people who live next to other schools in the area. However I would ask whether the private land available to the pupils at other schools is comparable to the 1.85 acres for the proposed Harris academy students.

I'm opposed to any Academies (on the basis of the public money for private investors) and am not alone. Surveys of headteachers suggest a clear majority oppose the governments plans for the expansion of academies.

i.e. http://education.guardian.co.uk/newschools/story/0,,1963587,00.html

The National Union of Teachers is also opposed:

http://www.teachers.org.uk/topichome.php?id=224

"The NUT believes that schools require highly qualified, motivated teachers and staff, working in a supportive environment to ensure high quality education. The Academies Initiative threatens the comprehensive education system."

"Creating Academies involves the transfer of publicly funded assets to the control of an unaccountable sponsoring body, set up as a company limited by guarantee. Sponsors receive the entire school budget directly from the Government.

Sponsors have responsibility for all aspects of the Academy, including staff appointments, pupil admissions, curriculum and governance arrangements.

For a ?2m stake, sponsors receive enormous benefits, for example school buildings and grounds, Academy supply contracts, advertising, developing the kind of workers they need. "

I also have concerns about these specific proposals, one being the lack of consultation and the fact that I've only just learnt of the plans.

This is the letter I've sent to the local councillors and MPs:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am a resident of Rye Court, Peckham Rye, Southwark and live

alongside the site of the proposed Harris Boys Academy (see

www.harrisboysacademy.co.uk )

I would like to complain about the lack of consultation regarding

these proposals and the fact that so far I've had to rely on

neighbours, hearsay and web searches to discover further details.

It isn't apparent how a school of 950 pupils will be accommodated in

such a small space (1.85 acres) and I'm sceptical of the view (from

the Harris website) that the small area available on Friern Road will

be in any way sufficient for traffic access.

However my main concern is that this is the first time I've been able

to hear of these proposals. I'm not opposed to a school in the area

(or even on this site) but I am disappointed about the lack of

consultation.

Can you advise whether you will be able to prevent the project from

proceeding until such a time as the planners have engaged in a proper

consultation with the local community?

[macroban]

TimJM is the first(?) to write about the finances that lie behind the deal to create this Harris Academy. These are normally "commercial in confidence" and hidden from the residents.

It's a great deal for a private organisation to get valuable public assets at such a knock down price. I understand that these deals include the private ownership of the buildings and the land.

"Knock down prices" reminds me of Carpetright.

Financial journalists regard the Carpetright CEO to be a very smart operator. A handful of web searches will confirm this.

We know that East Dulwich does not have a shortage of 950 (or 750) school places for secondary school boys, nor will the age cohorts coming through nor the demographic changes since the 2001 Census create the need for an extra 950 school places for boys.

The demographic data can be checked here.

The only way the extra 950 school places can be filled is bringing in boys from further North in the London Borough of Southwark.

When the East Dulwich Academy is full there are likely to be schools further North with significant vacancies for boys. These schools can then be downsized and and surplus land and buildings can be sold to developers for economic regeneration.

I know from personal discussions that a Harris Peckham Academy for Girls would have some support from Peckham residents who prefer single sex schools.

Needlework anyone?

[DG]

All interesting stuff:

http://www.teachers.org.uk/resources/pdf/CompleteAcademiesBriefing07.pdf

Creating Academies in place of community or foundation schools involves the transfer of publicly funded assets to an unaccountable sponsoring body. For a contribution of around 8 per cent (maximum ?2m) of the cost of building a new, or refurbishing an old school building to form an Academy, the sponsors are given control of a modern independent school set up as a company limited by guarantee. Sponsors receive the entire school budget directly from the Government. In July 2006 the Government announced measures to make it easier for private backers to sponsor Academies. Sponsorship ? normally ?2m will no longer have to be pledged up front to help pay for new buildings, but instead can be paid over five years for ?educational innovations?.

....

The Secretary of State, Ruth Kelly, is understood to be interested in establishing more ?creative? partnerships to back Academies, such as using more educational bodies such as universities. Another suggestion being discussed is whether the ?2m sponsorship, which is kept in a charitable trust could be used to fund the running costs of the school, rather than the building of them. A series of cheaper ?standard building designs? may be used for the remaining schools. Cash donations may also be paid over a longer period, possibly up to two years...

In October 2005 the Times reported that the Academies programme was at risk of failing to fulfill one of its core aims because of a ?tax trap? that would cost individual schools millions of pounds in VAT. If an Academy was to make its amenities such as swimming pool or hall available to local people it would face a VAT bill of millions. The newspaper stated that the Business Academy in Bexley could not be a community could not be a community school as it would cost about ?7m in VAT. Tax is waived if 90 per cent of the usage of the new buildings is for ?relevant charitable purposes?, a regulation intended to stop commercial enterprises posing as charities. For the Academies this means opening for less than one hour a day after school hours, and not at all during holidays, or else face a bill for 17.5 per cent of the original cost of the new buildings. The Treasury has said that it is unable to change the rule, which is enforced by the EU VAT Sixth Directive

[DG]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1752289.ece

Britain?s most expensive state school is being built without a playground because those running it believe that pupils should be treated like company employees and do not need unstructured play time.

The authorities at the ?46.4m Thomas Deacon city academy in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire, due to open this autumn, also believe that the absence of a playground will avoid the risk of ?uncontrollable? numbers of children running around in breaks at the 2,200-pupil school.

?We are not intending to have any play time,? said Alan McMurdo, the head teacher. ?Pupils won?t need to let off steam because they will not be bored.?

...

McMurdo said refreshments, often taken in break periods at other schools, could be drunk during the school day. ?[Pupils] will be able to hydrate during the learning experience,? he said.

[TimJM]

Well at least that explains why there's no playground. If there are going to be 950 pupils crammed onto the site I'd be supportive of a footbridge into Peckham Rye Park to minimise the liklihood of fatalities on the adjacent road.

I'd still be against it being an academy rather than local authority run school.

[Amelie]

It seems to me that there is an issue to be considered with Academies: education is now centrally controlled, the powers which local authorities used to have over their local schools have been steadily whittled away since the 1940s. This has also meant that head teachers also have less autonomy than they once had. This has in turn led to schools lacking facilities and equipment and well-qualified teachers, because no-one had the power to authorise the expenditure necessary. Hence the quantum differential in standards between state owned schools (with honourable exceptions) and the private schools, which were by and large well-funded and generally never answerable to local authorities (apart from statutory requirements) because of their independent status.

However, Academies do have the independence and monies available to provide the standard of education that parents want for their children. This must pose a real dilemma for parents who disapprove of the way in which academies have been set up and funded, but want their children to be properly and thoroughly educated. It's at times like this that I am glad that I don't have to make these decisions, after all which comes first: principles or child?

[BigDad]

In response to Blinder99 - Would a lot of people like to keep the Victorian building? - Yes. Would they rather the old building was kept at the expense of a good new school? - No!

Why do so many parents send their kids out of the area when they have Kingsdale close by? Because they want a good education for their children.

It would be interesting to see what the provision is for schools in the redevelopment of the Elephant & Castle in response to Macroban. To date Harris has been very quiet about the catchment area (well, they've been very quiet about everything to tell the truth).

Harris get ownership of the land and get to put their design on and run the school their way - i.e. what is 'economical' for them, rather than whats best for the children. As Harris are committed to have a swathe of academies across South London then what is their commitment to the education of the individual? Some schools will be more 'economical' than others to run due to their location and the available amount of land - so why should this academy stand on its own? Either they want to build a network of schools that support each other or they don't - and they definitely claim the former option here, which goes against their argument as to why they want to cram 950 boys on to a site of that size.

PS - glad I don't live in Peterborough if thats the school they will have - no breaks, just 'rehydration opportunities' - how do academy's get away with it!

[Marmora Man]

TimJM Wrote:

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

> Well at least that explains why there's no

> playground. If there are going to be 950 pupils

> crammed onto the site I'd be supportive of a

> footbridge into Peckham Rye Park to minimise the

> liklihood of fatalities on the adjacent road.

>

> I'd still be against it being an academy rather

> than local authority run school.

Is this because our local authority has demonstrated such success in providing high quality education for the children of the community? Or is it a principled stand against change, choice and for centralised bureaucracy?

Personally I'm glad my children's education is now at tertiary level and we don't have to rely on London LEAs however, were they still in secondary education I'd prefer an Academy, ideally with streaming, to a "bog standard comprehensive" - we tried those, didn't like them.

[TimJM]

We could engage in a debate about the relative merits of various LEAs (and I think if we disparage the state education system we'd have to compare the same systems in Europe) but in this case it's whether an unelected, unaccountable private 'academy' that is intent on taking ?30 million of public money, should engage in consultation with the community.

Harris academies may appear like Victorian philanthropy but why is the space allocated per pupil so far short of those in other schools and so far short of the Dept of Education's recommendations?

Despite the government's enthusiasm for private academies is there a number of pupils per acre that they would consider unacceptable and would step in to limit overcrowding? Are people happy to hand over public money to unaccountable private companies in every instance or should people be declaring their vested interests?

[macroban]

Footbridge?

Perhaps not. A modern pedestrian road footbridge with stairs and access ramps is a massive structure.

It would obscure the archtitect's vision of the frontage of the new Academy and the pavements are too narrow for the footbridge supports that would be needed.

A subway?

Well, maybe.

I could be mistaken (perhaps someone could check) but, the architect's front elevation has the main academy entrance directly aligned with the Peckham Rye Park Avenue, and the local topography has the Avenue at the new Academy basement level.

[EDDW]

TimJM Wrote:

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

> We could engage in a debate about the relative

> merits of various LEAs (and I think if we

> disparage the state education system we'd have to

> compare the same systems in Europe) but in this

> case it's whether an unelected, unaccountable

> private 'academy' that is intent on taking ?30

> million of public money, should engage in

> consultation with the community.

>

> Harris academies may appear like Victorian

> philanthropy but why is the space allocated per

> pupil so far short of those in other schools and

> so far short of the Dept of Education's

> recommendations?

> Despite the government's enthusiasm for private

> academies is there a number of pupils per acre

> that they would consider unacceptable and would

> step in to limit overcrowding? Are people happy to

> hand over public money to unaccountable private

> companies in every instance or should people be

> declaring their vested interests?

And what is so accountable about Southwark Borough Council? have you ever tried to engage them in a debate where the outcome will depend on the quality of the debate rather than their already prepared position?

[TimJM]

By the same logic would you argue that, as the current society is insufficiently democratic, you'd like to give dictatorship a try?!

Surely the issue here is about trying to improve on the accountability and question the goals of elected representatives. Not dispense with them altogether and hope and unelected, unaccountable body will improve things. It didn't work with the railways and a majority of professional opinions are strongly arguing it wont work in education.

[Marmora Man]

TimJM Wrote:

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

> By the same logic would you argue that, as the

> current society is insufficiently democratic,

> you'd like to give dictatorship a try?!

>

> Surely the issue here is about trying to improve

> on the accountability and question the goals of

> elected representatives. Not dispense with them

> altogether and hope and unelected, unaccountable

> body will improve things. It didn't work with the

> railways and a majority of professional opinions

> are strongly arguing it wont work in education.

TimJM

Adam Smith, free markets? The provision of education isn't handled by democracy, it's more of a form of benign (at least in the eyes of the bureaucrats) dictatorship. True democracy allows individuals the freedom to make choices. Governments and politicians are only necessary evils to manage and deliver the few, very few services, that the individual cannot provide for themselves or purchase for themselves. I want small government, low taxes and strong defence - almost Victorian!

I would agree that the "privatisation" of the railways was a complete pigs ear - mainly because the politicians were too timid. Railways worked rather well up to 1947 - replicating the pre nationalisation model would have been so much better. This approach would help the NHS too - that was the biggest nationalisation there ever was!

My theorectical support for Academies lies not in any inherent strengths, or special powers they may have but in the hope that they will be the forerunners of truly market driven education - sure we can try to make our elected representatives work better, become more accountable, listen to our ideas - but it hasn't worked for quite a while, particularly in education and health. Up to 30% of the LEA education budget goes in running the LEA - just think what schools could achieve if the per head funding leapt by 30%, and what innovations, initiatives and developments would we see if a school's continued succes, and indeed continuation, depended upon its ability to attract pupils - and that in turn would depend on its ability to deliver outcomes that pupils and parents valued.

I'll pre-empt the argument that such schools would be hijacked by the middle classes - having lived and worked with the widest range of social classes over the years I've never met a parent yet who didn't want the best for their children - but who were, at the same time, aware of their children's real potential.

So let's have academies with grammar streams, with vocational training (no more Polish plumbers?), with links to local businesses and arrangements pupils to "leave" school at an earlier age provided they are apprenticed to a recognised skill (including music, painting, sculpture or anything else that could lead them to a rewarding and satisfying living / life). There's so much more the market can achieve - if we let it.

As far as I'm concerned Government should tax me just enough to provide for the security of the country and its people (police and defence forces), provide the "safety net" necessary for those that fall on hard times and leave the rest of my, and everyone else's, money to them to spend.