| Topic: | Re:Elephant in the Room - Toby Young's School idea | |
| Posted by: | Toby Young | |
| Date/Time: | 18/11/09 00:53:00 |
| Sorry not to post sooner in this forum. Let me quickly say there was no intended slight to residents of Acton by extending a more fulsome invitation to the launch party of the West London Free School Parents Group to the residents of Chiswick. That was a cock up -- both sites were supposed to receive exactly the same invitation. Anyway, I've now asked the editor of ActonW3 to stick a new one up in the calender -- and just to be clear I would actually prefer Acton resident to come to our launch party than Chiswick residents since the new school will be in Acton, not Chiswick. But everyone's welcome. Now to the main points. The aim of my parents group -- which consists of about 250 people, the vast majority of whom live in Acton -- is to increase the choices available to local parents by creating a new state secondary school that will offer something a little bit different to the existing schools. I'm the father of three boys and a girl, so that rules out Ellen Wilkinson for three-quarters of my children. I'd describe myself as a cultural Christian, but I'm not a Church of England activist (29 points!), so that rules out Twyford. That leaves Acton High School, and while it's undoubtedly an excellent example of a traditional comprehensive, I'd like to have a choice of local schools to send my children to. The reason I'm doing this is not because I have anything against AHS. Indeed, I might well end up sending some of my children there. It's because I don't like being told I have no choice about where to send them. I'm often asked why my group doesn't simply channel its energies into improving AHS and the short answer to that is it doesn't need improving. In its latest Ofsted report, it's ranked "good" in most categories and "outstanding" in some. For those local parents who want their children to have a traditional comprehensive education -- and many do -- AHS is a great option. For my group to try and infiltrate AHS and transform it into a different kind of school would be ludicrous. We would be attempting to impose our educational vision on a school which already has a perfectly good one of its own. The vast majority of the parents who send their children to AHS are very happy with it. To try and change it would be arrogant and elitist. Another reason for not diverting our energies into trying to change AHS is that there is clearly a need for a new secondary school in Acton. We know this from the ballooning demand for primary school places in the area. Ealing Council is planning to increase the number of secondary school places over the next ten years -- principally by opening a new high school in Greenford -- but there will still be a shortfall. So the issue isn't whether a new school is needed, but what sort of school it should be. What sort of school do those parents who don't want to send their children to a traditional comprehensive want? The answer is crystal clear: a secular version of Twyford. By that I mean a school which starts setting in Year Seven, has high expectations of its students, a strong code of conduct and places the emphasis firmly on academic attainment. It should also be a school which, on the pastoral side, resembles on old-fashioned grammar, with a uniform, houses, competitive atmosphere, etc. How do we know that's what local parents want? Because this year 682 students applied for 120 places at Twyford. We also know it's what parents want from the overwhelmingly positive response we've had to our plans. We get a dozen inquiries every day from local parents asking how they can secure a place at our school for their children and when we go to local community centres and primary schools to tell people about the school they are incredibly enthusiastic. And let me add that the people who've expressed interest are by no means exclusively middle class. Indeed, some of the most enthusiastic responses we've had have been from non-middle class members of ethnic minorities. I was on the South Acton estate earlier today, evangelizing about the school, and there is at least as much interest in our plans there as there is in Poets' Corner. I have no doubt that when the school is up and running the student body will be as socially and ethnically mixed as the local area. Even if we didn't want it to be that way -- and we do -- the National Admissions Code wouldn't allow us to have it any other way. So the accusation that our school will just cater to the local middle class population is a complete red herring. It will be a genuinely comprehensive school. One charge I can't deny is that the majority of the people on our Steering Committee are middle class. And yes, Iain, some of them currently send their children to fee-paying schools. But I take it as a given that we all want more middle class residents in Acton to send their children to a range of state schools rather than opting out or moving heaven and earth to get their children into Twyford. If a group of local, middle class residents are able to set up a school that provides the sort of education that other middle class residents are comfortable with, then more middle class people will opt into the state system and, overall, the middle classes will be spread out more evenly than they are at present. That has to be a good thing. Let me reiterate: we have nothing against AHS. As I say, if I think one or more of my children would benefit more from a traditional comprehensive education -- particularly if they have an interest in Media or the Performing Arts, which AHS specializes in -- then I'll send them to AHS. But I would like to have a choice of where to send my children so I can pick the school that's most suited to them and I would like other local residents to have that choice, too. Finally, while I did write an unflattering article about the area in the Spectator when I first moved here two years ago, I subsequently wrote a follow-up in which I retracted my earlier piece and said how much I loved living here. That's another reason I'm doing this: I could move to an area that has more choice when it comes to secondary schools, but I don't want to and I don't see why I should have to. I genuinely love the area and, as should be clear from my plans to educate my children here, I intend to stay here for at least the next 18 years (my youngest child is one). It's one shortcoming is the lack of choice when it comes to secondary education and that's a shortcoming my group is going to rectify. If you still have doubts about the wisdom of this project, please come along to our launch party on Friday at the Rocket. I'd be happy to answer your questions there, as would members of the Steering Committee. Iain, I look forward to meeting you. |