A. Teacher Westminster shows all you need to know about the future of education, not just in this flagship Tory Borough but also throughout England and Wales especially if Blair is returned at the general
Call me vulgar, but the real starting point from which to grasp the future of education is property. North Westminster Community School's North Wharfe Road site adjoins the speculator's dreamland around Paddington Station - the so-called Paddington Basin - with its gleaming office blocks, retail and residential developments.
So the school is to be closed in August - for education reasons of course: It's "too big" - and replaced by two Academies.
ISSUE 5 OUT SOON THE NEW AMERICAN EMPIRE WINNING A BATTLE BUT LOSING THE WAR? -... However, the sale of the site was agreed about 10 years ago well before there were any "educational" problems with the school.
One of the Academies will be run by Chelstield, the Hong Kong based developer, which is one of the main players in the Paddington Basin.
The United Learning Trust, an offshoot of the Church School Society, a Church of England education charity from the Victorian era, will run the other. Both will specialise in business.
They are allowed to select 10 per cent of their intake on "aptitude". Terms and conditions can be varied for new staff. For existing teachers transferring, terms and conditions will be maintained for as little as 6 months.
A Tory idea taken up by New Labour, academies were originally designed for "failing schools" or areas of social deprivation. As with the other 200 planned academies, the "sponsor" puts in a relatively small amount - E2m while the Government puts in £20m. The sponsor has control of the school, appoints most of the governors and is free to vary the curriculum within broad limits.
This is privatisation by any other name, in spite of the claim by Westminster City Council and New Labour that, because the sites are
leasehold, they retain ownership. Schools funded by the public are being
handed over to private interests.
schools in Westminster, only 3 of which PO BOX 1109, LONDCH NA 2UU are state comprehensives the others
being Christian voluntary-aided schools.
be. this case to Carrillion. At the moment there are 8 secondary
As with the other 200 planned academies, the
"sponsor" puts in a relatively small amount -£2m while the Government
puts in zzom. The sponsor has control of the school, appoints most of the governors and is free to vary the curriculum within
broad limits. With the closure of North Westminster, 6 of the 9 schools will be denominational, showing the real agenda behind the government's "diversity" proposals.
If Muslim parents had proposed the setting up of a school for the considerable number who attend school in the borough, imagine the outcry there would
As with most things in Westminster, school maintenance is contracted out, in
Having been responsible for the valuable maintenance contract for four years, they recently discovered that Pimlico School was unsafe.
The school was closed for a week while the "hard hats" worked out how Ing years of neglect by a Council which prides itself on its low Council Tax. Five years ago, an alliance of parents, staff and some governors (not Jack Strawl) fought off an attempt by the Council and the DfE to hand the school over to a property developer under a PFI scheme. Now, in spite of the fact that money is available to refurbish or rebuild the school, the Council is pushing for a City Academy. La joke among staff is that the most appropriate sponsor would be National Car Parks - it would earn lots of income and the kids could have on -site vocational training)
The remaining state comprehensive -Quinton Kynaston - is also being pushed by the Council to become an independent trust, in other words to take itself out of local authority control.
Apparently, Westminster's alm is to divest itself of all direct responsibility for schools.
This also happens to be in line with Blairite thinking about involving the private sector. The reasons are various: raising funds by selling off public assets; the belief that the private sector "delivers" better services; an ideological attack on welfarism by promoting an "enterprise culture" and perhaps most of all, the desire to stop the local state being "overloaded" by the demands of voters - the modern equivalent of the property qualification for voting.
Oh yes, the bus. Such is the shortage
of space that Westminster Council are
planning to use a double decker bus as a classroom in a local primary school.
page 9 of the scan
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