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Free schools

Free schools free-for-all

The NUT is campaigning for an end to the Government’s wasteful free schools programme, which is wreaking havoc throughout England. Celia Dignan reports.

Millions of pounds are being wasted on new free schools. The NUT believes these millions would be better spent on supporting established schools. Instead, free schools compete with existing schools for pupils and funding at a time when school budgets are being slashed. By 1 November 2012 there were 79 free schools in England; 102 more have been approved to open.

“The process for approving these new schools is deeply fl awed,” explains NUT General Secretary Christine Blower. “It is irresponsible that the Government is throwing vast sums of money at schools, which in many cases are duplicating services and causing chaos for proper school place planning.”

Secondary free schools

There are particular problems with secondary free schools in areas that already have surplus secondary places. In Suffolk there are 10,600 empty places, yet four new free schools have opened. All four are undersubscribed.

In Wandsworth, London, which already had 1,287 surplus places, the Ark Bolingbroke free school opened in September 2012. Wandsworth Council estimates it will take until 2020 to reduce this surplus. The Ark Bolingbroke building is costing £26 million, funded directly by the Department for Education.

There are free schools offering alternative provision opening in competition with local well established pupil referral units.

Primary free schools

Why we oppose free schools

Free schools undermine the ability of local authorities to plan school places strategically, in consultation with the local community. Any prospective provider can apply to the Secretary of State for Education, who then makes a decision. Consultation, carried out by the free school provider, only occurs after approval has been given. It is the provider who decides who and how to consult, with local views often ignored.

The NUT believes local authorities should retain the key responsibility for identifying the need for new school places and for commissioning the right sort of provision. Local communities should have a say on the type of school they want.

The number of primary places required is forecast to rise by some 450,000 by 2014-15, but this is not spread evenly across all areas. In any case, just 39 per cent of the places in the 24 free schools opened in 2011 were primary places, and just 20 of the 55 schools opened in 2012 were primary schools. Of the free schools opening in 2013 or beyond, primary school proposals account for just 42 of the 102 approved.

The Gateway Academy in Thurrock, Essex, run by Ormiston Trust, opened a primary free school on its site in September 2012. It has 690 places. It was offering places at the secondary school as a carrot to tempt year 6 children to leave their primary schools and join them. There are fi ve other two-form entry primary schools in the area, all with surplus capacity.

The NUT believes it is wrong for state funding to be given to small groups of individuals to run schools that are unaccountable to their local communities. Read more about the schools and the NUT campaign, and download our guide Free Schools: Beyond the Spin, at www.teachers.org.uk/freeschools

• Celia Dignan is NUT Officer for Education Privatisation.