No funding for new school in North Kingston
So we all heard today that the Building Schools for the Future programme was to be cut severely as part of the overall cuts in Government spending. It was to be expected, of course.
But even so, I was very shocked to hear that there was to be no BSF funding for the new secondary school planned for North Kingston. (You can download the full list from the BBC site). This is not the rebuild of an existing school but an essential new school to meet the rising school population.
So what happens now?
I no longer have insider access to the Council's information, so can only speculate. What I can say is that five years ago when parents were campaigning for a new school I had to tell them that the numbers, at that time, didn't justify a bid for funding. But I did tell them that if ever there was evidence of 'basic need' - that is, insufficient school places in the area - then this could trigger funding from the Department for Education. Basic Need funding was quite separate from the BSF programme, which was designed to rebuild and refurbish existing schools.
I'm now not at all clear whether the Basic Need funding still exists - but if it has been subsumed under BSF, then how on earth is Kingston going to provide places for the growing numbers of children? Even further expansion of existing schools - which would probably not be feasible anyway - would have a substantial capital cost.
Chessington Community College cost around £27million to build, most of which came from BSF funding. That's what new secondary schools cost. The Council simply does not have access to that level of capital for another school. It could not possibly service a loan of that magnitude from Council tax and its reserves are held at just a few million.
So - indeed - what happens now?
Update
The Deputy Leader of the Council has just issued a press release in which she states: “We very much regret the loss of the BSF funding, but we expect to win the case for funding the new North Kingston secondary school because of the pressures for new places". You can read the statement in full here.
Comments
Hi Mary,
maybe it's an opportune time for North Kingston parents to force a referendum on the Tiffin school's selective status which results in nearly two thirds of places going to non-Kingston children.
I know the odds are stacked against success becasue the ballot is not fair ( surely a target for electoral reform!), but maybe the time is right, to highlight Kingston's plight if nothing else.
If no alternative funding is forthcoming, parents will be the most militant they've ever been.
Looking at the list, I'm struck by the fact that Croydon has got so many schools approved, and yet Kingston has none. Given that Kingston is bearing the brunt of the baby boom, and was one of the first boroughs to do so, I suspect that there's some pork barrel politics going on here.
Coming back to the ballot, I looked at the mechanics.
Ten parents need to write to both grammar schools (preferably after 01 Sep 2010) to obtain a list of "feeder schools", where at least five children have been admitted to the grammars in the previous three years. The Tiffin schools now have a very large catchment area. This could be to local parents' advantage, as it is likely that many of the more distant primary schools might only send occassional kids to Tiffin, whilst primary schools closer to Kingston would be more likely to meet the feeder criteria. Until we see a list of feeder schools in Sep 2010, it won't be possible to make a call on chances of success.
To force a referendum, 20% of "feeder school" parents need to sign the petition before 31 July 2011. The costs of the ballot are borne initially by the schools themselves, but are fully reclaimable from Central Govt. The Electoral Reform Services run the ballot.
The legislation was drafted in the pre-internet age and says that the petition must be signed. It would be preferable if a petition website was set up instead (RBK's system perhaps?).
Strategy wise, it would be good to wait until the end of the 2010-2011 year, giving time to prime local parents, but not alert parents from further afield. Ideally, local champions at each feeder primary school would have to be identified to inform and influence other parents to get the message across that their interests would be better served by having non-selective schools.
Any thoughts on the elephant in the room?
regards
Paul
The last time anyone tried to do this they gave up because of the logistics. Maybe this is a piece of legislation that should be repealed under the Freedom Bill? You can make your case on http://yourfreedom.hmg.gov.uk/
I am hearing rumours that maybe there is funding after all for the new school. Will report what I find out.
Ballot to stop selection? Don't be ridiculous. They will have both become academies by the time you got that off the ground and then you can do nothing about it.
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