Would a free school work for York?

The idea is not without its doubters. Some argue that it does not make sense to put taxpayers’ money into new schools at the very time when education secretary Michael Gove has just told hundreds of existing schools across the country they will not be getting the money they had been promised for repairs or rebuilding.

Others claim the free schools will just benefit the children of the middle-class parents who set them up – so increasing educational divisions.

Supporters of the idea, however, argue the schools will give parents more say in their children’s education, will raise standards, and will give teachers more freedom to teach.

Here in York, a group of parents from Holgate has set up a steering group to look into establishing a York Free School. Education bosses at the city council, however, are not convinced the idea is right for this city.

Here, we look at both sides of the debate.

FOR: ‘It could energise education for the benefit of all’

He would be the first to admit that he does not yet know for sure whether setting up a free school in York will be practicable, admits Tim Moat, the Holgate businessman and father-of-two who is chair of the York Free School steering group. But one thing he is sure about: it is worth finding out.

Free schools could potentially shake up the education system in a way that is badly needed, he says.

“Education now is the same as when I was at school,” he said.

“But the world has changed. There is the economic downturn, for a start – plus the enormous pace of technological development, which is changing society around us. When children at primary school now leave school, they will be doing jobs that we don’t even know about.

“The great thing about free schools is that they will be…. well, more free. The Government talks about letting them set their own pay and conditions for staff, and about freeing them from following the national curriculum, and giving them greater control of school budgets.

“That would give parents, and the teachers and education experts they employed, the scope to really think about the best way to educate pupils for a changing world.”

Among the 30 to 40 people who attended a public meeting last week at Holgate Methodist Church were a number of teachers, Mr Moat said. They talked about how badly a shake-up was needed, and how much teachers needed to be freed from the straightjacket of the national curriculum.

“There was one teacher saying that it wasn’t so much that they were being told what to teach, as that they were being told how to teach,” he said.

“The most ambitious educators at the moment feel that their hands are tied.”

He accepts that even with 200 pupils, a York Free School would be comparatively small. It clearly could not, on its own, offer the full range of courses that a larger school could offer.

But the point, Mr Moat says, is that it would be free to “buy in” teaching expertise from other schools – whether independent, or council run, to provide a full range of opportunities. And it would have more freedom to set its own educational priorities: he, for example, would like to see a school that doesn’t just prepare pupils academically to go to university, but which also prepares them for the world of work.

He knows free schools have their critics. But he doesn’t accept for a moment that they will become exclusive schools for posh or middle class children. They would have to have completely inclusive admissions policies, he says. And he has no time for the suggestion that such a school would take resources away from neighbouring state schools.

“That is scaremongering.”

A free school would, anyway, create its own teaching posts, he points out.

He has no concerns about the future of such a school, either. If it was successful, it would have an ethos where parents wanted to be involved, he says. And once the first generation of children left, he has no doubt there would be a new generation of parents keen to take over.

All that said, he admits there is a long way to go. To be able to make a bid, parents in Holgate have to show that there is demand for such a school, that there is a workable site, and that they can ensure a high standard of education.

At the end of the day, if they do not think they could make the school work, they won’t go for it, he says. “Nobody wants to send their children to a school where they are not going to have an education as good as one of York’s existing excellent schools.

“But if it does work, it could energise education for the benefit of all. And at the very least, it has opened up the debate.”

• To find out more about proposals for a York Free School, visit yorkfreeschool.org

Against: ‘I don’t think free schools are the answer’

Pete Dwyer has “major concerns” about whether Free Schools are right for York.

The city council’s director of adults, children and education services fully understands the desire of parents to be more involved in their children’s education. That can be harder at secondary school than it is at smaller primary schools, he admits. Nevertheless, opportunities do exist for parents to get involved, as parent governors. So he is not sure that free schools are needed to give parents that sense of involvement.

He has a number of concerns about such schools. Firstly, he is not convinced that they will be able to deliver the quality of education that children deserve.

Parents in York were originally talking about setting up a free school in the Holgate area with about 150 pupils, he said (though the proposed number of pupils has now been raised to about 200).

Funding for state secondary schools runs at just under £4,000 per pupil. That would work out at a budget of about £600,000 for a 150-pupil school, or £800,000 for a 200-pupil school.

“My serious worry is that a school of that size, with the money it would generate, would not be able to provide the depth and quality of curriculum that established secondary schools could.” It is true that free schools would have greater freedom to set their curricula, but it would defeat the object of setting up a school if it offered pupils less choice and quality that they could already get, he said.

Mr Dwyer’s other major concern is that Free Schools would take money out of existing schools – specifically, Millthorpe and York High, if a free school were set up in Holgate. That would be inevitable, because Department for Education funding for pupils who moved to the free school would switch away from the two established schools.

“That would take resources away from schools that are improving, and which have some quite exceptional results,” he said.

“That would jeopardise the progress that they are making.” It could also lead to teachers losing their jobs, he added.

“It would lead to redundancies. It would have to.” Mr Dwyer is not worried about free schools taking money out of the national schools building programme at a time when that is being slashed to save money – the money would come out of a separate budget, and anyway there are no schools in York that will be affected by the cuts, he says.

But he does have other concerns. He worries about what would happen to the schools when the children of the committed, enthusiastic parents who set them up move on. Would a new generation of equally committed parents be found to carry the school on? And, while the city council would still work with free schools to try to ensure they provided the best education for their children, he is unsure whether they would be able to form the kind of educational partnerships with other state schools in the city that existing schools enjoy, and which enable them to share resources and expertise for the good of their children.

There might be some areas of the country where free schools would work, Mr Dwyer admits – London, perhaps. “But in a city like York I don’t think free schools are the answer.”

Number of freedoms for learning centres

Number of freedoms for learning centres According to the Department for Education, free schools would have a number of freedoms. These include:

• The ability to set their own pay and conditions for staff
• Greater control of their budget
• Freedom from following the national curriculum
• Freedom to change the length of terms and school days
• Freedom from local authority control

Such schools can be set up by a range of interested parties, including charities, parents, teachers, businesses or community and faith groups.

Those wanting to set up such a school must demonstrate that there is local demand, that the school will meet educational standards, and that there are suitable premises.

There have been two public meetings in York, at the Holgate Methodist Church hall, in the last couple of weeks, the first attended by more than 30 people. An 11-strong steering group has now been set up.

Chair of the group Tim Moat says that if, by the end of the summer, the group thinks a free school for York is feasible, an initial application will be made to the Department for Education in September.