‘Free school cut through our community like a knife’
I often wonder if we have too much competition and not enough genuine investment in our local places of learning. This article provides much food for thought in that context it tells us:
In one small community in rural Suffolk, the decision to approve a free school continues to reverberate and, in the eyes of a group of local pupils, not in a positive way.
The free school movement in Suffolk was controversial from the start. The local authority’s decision to move from a three- to two-tier system meant sites used by middle schools (which took children in years 5, 6, 7 and 8) became available at once. Free school campaigners seized on several, even though there was no need for more places.
In the town of Leiston, in a sparsely populated area bordering the coast between Saxmundham and Aldeburgh, the existing secondary, Leiston High, stood to gain from the reorganisation, which promised more resources and a fresh start under a new name, Alde Valley school.
“Everyone was very excited,” recalls ex-pupil Johnnie Wright, who was head boy and is now studying history and politics at the University of East Anglia. “The community came out in force at the parents’ evening. Our school would grow and our sixth form would gain its own building and new status.”
But just as the new secondary school was getting under way, the Department for Education approved a smaller free school in nearby Saxmundham, on one of the now defunct middle school sites. This was in spite of its own impact assessment [pdf] stating this could threaten Alde Valley’s long-term viability.