Primary PLACEs at Ashmount

[OpinioN8 Administrator]

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The campaign to keep the Ashmount site as a school has been successful!  The Department for Education has decided that the site can re-open as a free school, which will be a primary school.  This is terrific news because, as many parents know, there is such a shortage of primary school places locally.   PLACE, who will be operating the school, were planning to open in 2014, but we shall be encouraging them to provide classes from 2013 as there are enough local children to fill at least one class this year.  We shall keep you in the picture about the negotiations. A great big thank you to everyone who signed the petition and who has supported the effort to keep the school open throughout the long months and years while the campaign has been running.  ASAG will continue in existence as long as you need us, but the representation of local interests will soon be taken up by the new school governors.  The school building has capacity for other activities beside its main use, and we look forward to it being an increasingly important part of the local community.   We shall give you more details just as soon as they become available.   ASAG

forward to a friend  Our mailing address is: ASAG 84 Whitehall Park, London, United Kingdom London, N19 3TN United Kingdom

[David Barry]

Yes Like everyone else I only heard about this, this morning. Islington Council, with unusual speed,  have already responded in a way you might find interesting.

Received from Islington Council 22/5/13

The Government has confirmed that the Islington Free Primary School will open in the borough in September 2014. The Department for Education have not however announced the former Ashmount Primary School site as the location for this new free school. The location of the school is as yet unknown and will be decided by the Education Funding Agency and Islington Council.

Islington Council believes that the best location for this new school would be a school site on Dowrey Street N1 0HR, which is in the heart of the borough and easy for Islington families to get to. The building is already used for educational purposes and is fully accessible for disabled users. The council also believes there is local support for a new school in this area. The site is currently used by New River College Pupil Referral Unit (key stage 3). If Dowrey Street is agreed as a location for the new free school, an alternative site will be found for the Pupil Referral Unit.

The council firmly believes that the former Ashmount School site is not an appropriate site for the new free school.  The building is in an extremely dilapidated state and is not accessible for disabled users. The Mayor of London's office confirmed that it would be impossible to bring the current building up to modern educational standards.

The pressure on primary school places in Islington is significantly less than in other London boroughs. Islington and Haringey councils agree that a new school is not needed in the vicinity of the former Ashmount School. There are now more school places available in the borough than children who need them.

Caroline Horrocks

Islington Press Office

[David Barry]

just got this by email today:

Support local schools not free schools

As local residents will by now be aware the Islington free primary school has been approved to open on the former Ashmount school site on Hornsey Lane from September 2014. Local people will be leafletting this Saturday (1 June) from 11am onwards in Crouch End to opppose the free school. Please meet by the bench to the right of Spiazzos Italian deli.

 

With no shortage of primary places in either Islington or Haringey this school will impact on neighbouring primaries in both Boroughs. The loss of the £3 milliion that Islington expected to gain from the site will put a hole in the schools' budget and lead to cuts in provision to all Islington schools. It also means the planned social housing project on the site will not be able to go ahead - nor is there any opportunity to persuade Islington Council to provide part of the site for St Alyosius to expand.

 

The free school, group is led by two private companies - Bellevue Education (which currently runs nine private prep schools) and The Place Group (not Palace Group as the Tribune wrongly states). Place Group is one of the DfE's "approved providers" of education advisory and project management  services to academies and free schools. It boasts that "By September 2013, Place will have helped over 60 schools to open including 20 Free Schools." The free school project is a Trojan horse towards the privatisation of our education system. Education Secretary Michael Gove has made clear that free schools will be allowed to run on a profit-making basis if the Tories win a second term. Once that happens other schools will follow.

 

Having now gained approval to move into the "pre-opening" stage the free school must run a public consultation on the question of whether or not the Secretary of State should enter into a Funding Agreement with the school's proposers. Local residents can use this opportunity to demonstrate opposition to the free school and support for existing local schools, particularly Ashmount and Coleridge which will be most directly affected.

 

http://www.islingtonfreeprimary.co.uk/

 

http://www.islingtontribune.com/news/2013/may/%C2%A33m-council-cash-crisis-looms-michael-gove-deals-blow-hopes-ashmount-school-site-sell

 

[Adrian Essex]

This quote, from the Tribune article

Bellevue, based in Surrey, owns nine schools and made profits last year of £1.5m on a turnover of £3.7m

suggests that something , somewhere is wrong. 40% profit is almost as good as the PFI operators are making. I want my tax spent on education, not on enriching speculators.

[David Barry]

Actually its quite interesting to do a google search on Bellvue Education.

have a look at this link.

http://www.educationinvestor.co.uk/ShowArticle.aspx?ID=3012&Asp...

[David Barry]

It seems to me that anyone interested in this thread might be interested in this new one I just started.

http://opinion8.ning.com/forum/topics/new-free-school-on-the-ashmou...