Academy for those struggling with fees?

Published: 30 September, 2010

• ADELINA Hysenaj says: “The academy was good news for parents who couldn’t afford to pay for other schools” (Parents to fight academy delay, September 23). So that’s what it’s all about. The UCL academy is for parents who can’t afford private school fees. 

Silly me, I thought it was to be like any other state school except it will not be subject to the rules of Camden education authority. 
Jim Mulligan
Auden Place, NW1

• WE are parents who have waited four years for an academy sponsored by UCL. 

There was a five-week delay while all Building Schools for the Future funding was reconsidered by the government. We have now been told Camden Council has requested this stoppage be used to delay the opening of the academy by a year, until September 2012.

If Camden and its contractor feel unable to manage this exciting project, there must surely be developers hungry to take it off its hands. To grant this delay is to accept mediocrity and to deprive our children of the choices they have been promised. Is there anything parents can do to ensure the school opens, as promised, in 2011? How do we ensure the council delivers not only on time, but with  some degree of enthusiasm, commitment and a hope of excellence behind the project?
Parents of Year 6 children,
NW3