Who pays for education?

Published: 19 August, 2010

• I READ with dismay that a local church is intending to open a free school in Camden. 

We already have a disproportionate number of church (Roman Catholic/Church of England) primary schools in Camden – 50 per cent of the total – as the parents in Belsize stressed last year. 

This will be a tiny school: an intake of 15 per year. 

Camden Council subsidises its small schools, intake 30 pupils per year, because they are more costly to run. 

I hope that it does not have to give an extra subsidy to this school, which will be completely outside its control (it will be funded out of the total Camden education budget). 

It will open in a church hall. When Camden opened its temporary class last year in a church hall, it spent a considerable sum in equipping the hall. 

Where will the money come for equipping this church hall? Private donors perhaps. I did not think the church itself had great funds. This school will take in selected pupils in an affluent area; it will be answerable only to Michael Gove and it will contribute nothing to Camden education.
Deirdre Krymer 
Twisden Road, NW5