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Save our schools

Blowing the trumpet for local schools

A new group is organising to support local schools. Its core aims echo the NUT's campaign for a good local school for every child. Co-founder of the Local Schools Network Fiona Millar asks for your support.

Where do you go to support your local school, hear positive stories about state education, share experiences, and possibly get friendly advice? Certainly not to the print media. You are unlikely to get good news from the Daily Mail or Telegraph.

Education Secretary Michael Gove has given £500,000 to a supposedly independent charity, the New Schools Network (NSN), run by one of his former political advisers, to help parents and teachers set up new 'free' schools in competition with existing provision.

This is why a group of us have set up the Local Schools Network (LSN). Like the New Schools Network, we believe in 'improving education' - but we believe that providing support to existing schools is obviously the most cost-effective way to do this.

There are already many local state schools that are vehicles for high achievement and a force for collective good, often drawing disparate communities together through the common goal of educating their children. Many of these schools and their teachers are already responsive to parents' and pupils' needs and wishes, and accountable to the local community, as you will see from the testimonies on our website. Yet how often do we hear of this? Too often state schools get a bad press for no other reason than that people are ignorant of their achievements.

And while many schools get support from their local authority, they do not have a national organisation to represent them, whereas free schools, academies and selective schools have the NSN, Specialist Schools and Academies Trust, and National Grammar Schools Association. Since local authorities are being stripped of funding for schools, national support for state schools has never been more important.

Since we launched last autumn, LSN has already stimulated debate about academy conversion and the proposed admissions criteria of some free schools. The issue of whether individual institutions should be allowed to devise ways of attracting the more able or well off students, or shut out those it doesn't want, is one of many challenges unlikely to go away.

We want to hear what is going on in your school and what parents feel about the rapid changes to public services. Coalition plans could fracture our national system of locally administered schools, free for all, managed in the interests of all.

The key challenge is enabling all children to succeed, whatever their background. Schools working in isolation, or focusing on an elite, offer no solutions. Good local schools offer many. Please join us.

• Find the Local Schools Network at www.localschoolsnetwork.org.uk.

Local Schools Network

The LSN will promote local schools' interests, celebrate their achievements, correct any myths and lies, encourage debate, and help teachers, parents and others to campaign on local and national education issues, focusing on the following core beliefs:

• every child has a right to go to an excellent local state school, enabling each to fulfil his or her potential

• every state school should have a fair admissions procedure

• every local school should be responsive to parents' and pupils' needs and wishes, and be accountable to its community

• local schools in difficulties should be supported to improve, not attacked and demoralised

• LAs should have a strong role, not running schools but making sure funding and admissions are fair, and ensuring that those with additional or special needs get the support they need.