Forum Topic

Toby Young hasn't been bashed for quite a while - because his Free School is successful??!!!

Rosco White ● 4753d31 Comments

No, because he free school is in Hammersmith... despite all his original words of praise for Acton!

Sarah Harris ● 4753d

"... he free school..."?  I think I need to enrol!

Sarah Harris ● 4753d

I don't have the strength to revisit the original thread, but I'm pretty sure that no one really expected the free school to lack applicants or to fail academically - on the contrary. Amidst the occasional flame mails, the substantive arguments (on both sides) were broader and rather more subtle. For what it's worth, the West London Free School and Acton High School had near simultaneous Ofsted inspections this June, with both coming out assessed as Good. Indeed the reports have a surprising number of similarities (on a speed read) given the very different challenges that the two schools have been facing.I'm sure neither school recommends the use of multiple punctuation marks.

Steve Donnelly ● 4753d

".......the West London Free School and Acton High School had near simultaneous Ofsted inspections this June, with both coming out assessed as Good."Well, who'd have thought?!!!Well Done Acton High!!!

Rosco White ● 4753d

Why should there be a bashing for the free school -  or Acton High - both serve their purpose and do well - let it be!

Urs Esser ● 4753d

Blimey - they kept that one quiet! The West London Free School, flagship of the whole programme, darling of Boris, Gove etc, proponent of the competition is king, win-at-all-costs, no-prizes-for-losers ethos ......... only got "good"...The same result as Acton High which they perpetually held up as an example of  "everything that is bad with education"... (except that Ofsted happen to disagree)Where was that in Toby's Telegraph column? Acton High proudly published their results on this website. But The West London Free School... not a whisper.I bet the headmaster got six of the best though.

Richard Grange ● 4753d

Actually - before I get corrected - I'll do it myself.To be fair to Toby - I have just checked - he did put in in his blog. So that would be a lesson in shooting first and asking questions later... However - Acton and the Free School getting the same Ofsted outcome  is still worth a headline.

Richard Grange ● 4752d

I'd suggest that these judgements tell us more about OFSTED than about the schools in question

Frank Dacey ● 4752d

The WLFS has the Ofsted report on their website. they also emailed it out to all parents. My son goes to the school and loves it.

Thea Buchan ● 4752d

Depends what your headline aims to do; rubbish the free school or praise Acton High?Acton High has been improving for a number of years, its brief is not without its challenges but it faces up to them, and is worthy of praise. Sadly I suspect many make the comparison to diminish The Free School rather than to praise either.

Jeremy Thorpe-Woods ● 4751d

Schools are funded via an EFA Grant. WLFS received £12,350 per pupilAHS received £7,800 per pupilThese figures do not include the eye wateringly expensive costs involved instarting a new school.We never said Toby wouldn't do a 'good' job running a school but we felt there were others that could do it in a better, fairer and more ethical way.

Andy Magee ● 4749d

Any new school needs extra funding at the beginning - still remember very well when Elthorne in Hanwell was put back into action... after functioning as a pretty much useless training centre for teachers and the likes for ages. In the first few years, the cost of running the school with just a Year 7 intake, then a Year 7 and 8 intake and the likes in the following years was phenomenal - surely the government has to pay more for these build-up schools until they are fully operational.Please be so kind to stop blurring the facts just because you don't like Toby's concept.

Urs Esser ● 4749d

I am just stating the facts.  IMO the funding disparity is unfair.  I agree that starting up a new school is far more expensive than improving or expanding existing schools.  Don't forget these figures do not include either capitol funding or the extra start up funding that new schools get.I do think it is commendable that the WLFS have made their accounts public.  New secondary schools have opened in Ealing and Richmond this year.  It will be interesting to see if they also receive significantly more funding per pupil than their neighbours.

Andy Magee ● 4749d

Urs,You may find this article interesting:http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/education-news/schools-face-cuts-to-pay-for-1bn-academies-overspend-8341094.htmlMy understanding of the NAO report was that academies were given too much money and as a result funding has been reduced at LA schools.  This strikes me as unfair and unethical.

Andy Magee ● 4748d

This  debate is about to get a lot more intense.There is now a large national shortage of school places because of a growing population  - with parents all over the country waking up to the fact their children are not guaranteed a place in school.The effect of this will be to  throw the spotlight onto the Governments main area of investment - the free school programme - which in terms of school places is proving a drop in the ocean compared to demand.The lack of places is set to peak in 2015 - bang in the middle of election year.So watch as the Government get accused of  fiddling while Rome burned.Its about to get very fraught.

Richard Grange ● 4748d

I'm just pleased I have no kids - all very worrying I should think.As if the average family doesn't have enough to worry about these days.

Rosco White ● 4748d

The shortage of places in primary is also acute. I was at the library last week with my son and this lady with 2 girls asked me if I had no school place for my son. She had just returned from Australia and her eldest was 8th on a waiting list for year 5 and her youngest 57th on the list for year 1.

Kim Rugg ● 4748d

Isn't there a legal obligation for the state to provide education from a specific age?

Sara Nathan ● 4748d

Ealing is not the worse borough for shortage of school places.Some boroughs are considering schooling in shifts.Imagine holding down a job if you have one child doing 8am-2pm school and another 2pm- 8pm. Great for family life.

Kim Rugg ● 4748d

Yes, but it doesn't even have to be in the same borough as the one I which you live.

Nigel Brooks ● 4747d

"I'd suggest that these judgements tell us more about OFSTED than about the schools in question"Ever been through an inspection as a teacher or governor under the new OFSTED regime? Thought not. Foolish comment then.WELL DONE ACTON HIGH (an entity with which I have absolutely not connection).

Nigel Brooks ● 4747d

Yes, I have! In the last round of inspections OFSTED were rating 60% of schools in the top two grades. Presently, they're rating 60% of schools in the bottom two grades. Were they wrong then, or are they wrong now?

Frank Dacey ● 4747d

I'd be happy to look into the funding issue further as all non-private schools should receive equal funding - unless they are in the set-up process or have children with additional needs such as language issues or special needs of some kind.It is a known fact that Ealing has not been able to give late-comers who could not apply months in advance or through the regular channels school places for years. As a private tutor (and qualified teacher) of English, Sociology and Business Studies, I have partly been living of people who were refused short-time places or who were directed to schools miles away that were inaccesible for most. It seems a little better on the secondary front right now though.

Urs Esser ● 4747d

AHS funding is shown on the DfE website.  WLFS funding is shown on their accounts published on the school website.  My understanding is that there is a massive disparity between LEA school fiunding and academy funding.  This is a central principal of the Academies Strategy.

Andy Magee ● 4747d

Yes, I have! In the last round of inspections OFSTED were rating 60% of schools in the top two grades. Presently, they're rating 60% of schools in the bottom two grades. Were they wrong then, or are they wrong now?Then you would know that the dictat is that far fewer schools are rated 'outstanding' or 'good' under the new inspection regime.Far tougher to get a 'good' now and tougher still to get an 'outstanding'. perhaps the earlier regime was too lenient, however as both schools in question were measured under the same regime then my congratulations to Acton High are extant.

Nigel Brooks ● 4746d

Your use of the word 'dictat' is instructive. It tells me that this organisation before whom we must all bend the knee has no independence and simply reflects the views of the government of the day. I would expect an organisation which seeks to inspect schools for the good of all, pupils, parents and teachers, to be more than Michael Gove's poodle.

Frank Dacey ● 4746d

'I'd be happy to look into the funding issue further'A good place to start is the NAO report.Academies receive capital funding for new buildings, revenue funding and start-up grants.  The revenue funding involves the DofE making 'complex annual calculations with certain adjustments'.  It is in these calculations and adjustments that they have made errors and given academies £1 billion more than they should have done.   

Andy Magee ● 4746d

http://www.theschoolplacescrisis.com/

Jaz Brown ● 4746d

What's interesting is that even parts of the Conservative press are  beginning to worry about freeschools and Michael Gove generally.http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/opinion/columnists/alicethomson/article3871864.eceIt's behind a paywall - but the gyst of it is that for all his intellectual-force, Michael Gove might be wrong - and among his vulnerabilities are the free school programme and the fact that the Government have known about the wider problem of lack of school places  for a number of years and done nothing about it.For what it's worth I  have actually  admired the energy and passion that Michael Gove has brought to Education and a lot of the problems were inherited from the previous Government.But the suspicion has got to be is that Gove is great at the intellectual big think - but is ineffective on  the detail and the pure practicalites of instituting change and is too remote from the lives of ordinary people.And as a result - when it comes to education -  the Government is in severe danger of being hoisted by its own petard.

Richard Grange ● 4745d

Interesting article in the Guardian yesterday about another D of E funded free school fiasco.  Al-Madinah School, Derby closed on Wednesday hours after an Ofsted inspection started.Another example of why the free school policy is flawed and wrong.

Andy Magee ● 4729d

Pimlico Fee School used their new found freedom to appoint a headteacher with no experience or qualifications in teaching. She has just resigned six weeks into the school year.  If the school now choose to recruit a suitably qualified and exeperienced head to replace her they will struggle to find a high quality replacement until January at best but more likely September.Another example of why Free Schools don't work.http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-24466928

Andy Magee ● 4722d