| Topic: | Re:Re:In the news today ... | |
| Posted by: | Toby Young | |
| Date/Time: | 07/07/10 00:04:00 |
| When you've composed yourself Colin I'd be interested to hear your argument. It isn't "the most vulnerable kids" who will suffer from the winding down of the BSF programme but building companies, project managers, architects and educational consultants. And it would have been cut regardless of whether a policy of allowing parents and teachers to set up Free Schools was in place or not. Labour had planned for a 50 per cent cut in capital spending across all department and that would have included a cut in the school buildings programme. Indeed, Ed Balls was asked in the House of Commons in January whether Labour would ring-fence school capital spending and the answer was no. The winding up of BSF doesn't mean that Ealing's existing school buildings won't be refurbished or that the 3,200 additional places the Council is hoping to provide won't be created. Rather, Ealing will just have to reapply for funding after the public spending review in October. I don't think Caroline or I would ever argue that setting up a Free School in Ealing is just about providing our own children with a classical liberal education. After all, we only have four children and we hope to create a school that will eventually accommodate over 750 children, with an additional 120 entering the school each year. Of course, the school's ethos and curriculum won't appeal to everybody, but it's deeply patronising to assume it will only appeal to middle class parents. Believe it or not, there are some non-middle class parents who would like their children to receive a rigorous, academic education, but don't have access to it because they're not in the right catchment area or of the right particular faith and cannot afford to move or go private. Finally, I think we can agree that "the most vulnerable kids in our neighbourhood" are those in care. Rest assured, we will give them absolute priority if they apply to our school, admitting them before anyone else. |