St Luke’s Primary School makes history as a free school trailblazer

Published: 09 September, 2010
by RICHARD OSLEY

ONE of the first “free schools” in the country is to open in Hampstead.

The Department of Education agreed on Monday to support plans for the new St Luke’s ­Primary School as part of the government’s drive to open new schools.

The green light was hailed as “great  opportunity” to alleviate Camden’s primary school placement shortages by as early as next September.

Fifteen pupils will get the chance to learn in the church hall, part of the Anglican Evangelical Church in Kidderpore Avenue.

Teacher Penny Roberts, one of the project’s main organisers, said: “It is great that we have been accepted in the first wave of free schools. 

“We did think about whether we should wait for a bit to see how things panned out but if you look at the statistics for primary school places for the coming years, they are absolutely dire. 

“The borough can’t risk ­having 200 children unplaced for primary school. We know there is a lot of work ahead but I think free schools are actually a great opportunity for people to see a problem in their area and work together towards a prac­tical solution.”

The government’s thinking behind free schools, regularly compared to the way schools are set up under the Swedish education system and fiercely prom­oted by Education Secretary Michael Gove, is to make it ­easier to open new ones in areas where schools are oversubscribed. 

Under the scheme, parents, teachers, charities and businesses have the option to propose their own school. They are funded by government but operate beyond traditional local author­ity control, setting their own curriculum and admissions policies.

The concept has been criticised by the Labour Party nationally with senior politicians claiming the programme has led to money being diverted away from existing schools.

Ms Roberts said: “That argument can’t be made in Camden where there aren’t enough existing schools. It is not as if ­Camden has schools that can’t be filled and we would be taking pupils away from them. The need for places has been demonstrated.”

The demand for primary school places in Camden was so  great last year – particularly in central and north-west areas of the borough – that education chiefs struggled to accommodate all new starters. 

A makeshift school in a church hall – the Courthope Education Centre – was set up to deal with the overspill. This two-year arrangement was suspended after just one as education chiefs engineered new places at Primrose Hill Primary School. 

Camden’s Labour education chief Councillor Heather Johnson has pledged to work with the parents behind the proposals for St Luke’s Primary School.

She said: “We are meeting with St Luke’s shortly to discuss working together on their plans for a free school. It is early days but we are both positive about the possibilities and intend to coordinate while working through this very new process.”

Conservative group leader Councillor Andrew Mennear, himself a former council education chief, said: “This is great news for the people involved. They have worked very hard and been very clear about what they want to achieve. We wish them well.”

Andrew Baisley, branch secretary of Camden Unison, however, sounded a word of caution.

“I would not want to send my children to a free school,” he said. The London Diocese has a good track record of providing primary school education but this is not under its auspices. There are not the checks and balances there.”

Ms Roberts said the new school would be “working hand-in-hand with the Department for Education, Camden Council and others in the local community”.