To be pissed at people fleeing our nice primary towards the trendy free school round the corner?

[FiveRingsForDinner]

I bet they're bitching about us as much as we're bitching about them.

Damn these scumbag parents wanting a better education for their children! Damn them!

You rant and bitch on here all you like OP, YANBU. I completely understand, and would hate to be in your position.

And as for free schools being a Good Idea, there's one been approved not a million miles away from us, to be set up by subscribers to a philosophy mentioned upthread, that I shan't repeat here for fear of the thread going poof.

Are people really happy to see government money fund schools like that?

for those in favour of free schools... where do you think the cash to set them up should come from?? from existing schools? or the social services budget? health ? policing ? where?

fair enough if there is a need for more school places and a new school is needed because of a demand for places, but that doesnt seem to be happening.

Honor - demonstrating local demand is part of the application process, and one of the reasons why 9/10 applications fail.

283 out of 323 applications turned down last year, so one would hope that they are weeding out those applications from areas with little or no local demand, creationists etc

does the op mean her children are at a fee-paying prep? all primaries are free aren't they?

'Demonstrating local demand' is a broad church, as they say.

Take Beccles, petition of over 3000 by local people, 37 families registered an interest in a Free School, excellent local comprehensive with sufficient places.

And the Free School opened yesterday, with just over 50 pupils, one year group of 7 pupils and 14 teachers.

What a terrible waste of public money.

yanbu op. I would feel sad at exodus too and lack of support for existing school.

Yes the Beccles Free School is curious because funding for other, undersubscribed Free Schools has been pulled at the eleventh hour, yet this one was able to open with just 66 pupils. I wonder whether they were able to convincingly demonstrate how the numbers might increase in the future, or maybe something to do with their second school, which I believe had more pupils enrolled?

Either way I felt sorry for the pupils faced with a demonstration outside when they turned up on their first day.

Are people really happy to see government money fund schools like that?

I assume you are referring to a school I am consider choosing for my child. Why on earth shouldn't tax payers money be spent on alternative schools, I pay taxes why should I only have the option to usr those taxes in one type of school? I don't intend anyone to subsidise my child's education I only expect to be able to use the money allocated for him to educate him in whatever way I think is best for him.

The school system is obviously failing many children in the UK, choice and change can only be seen as a good thing in my opinion.

Where is it 'obviously failing many children'? Stats?

For me, the issue isn't 'alternative' schools. It's that current schools are in dire needs of capital maintenance and areas desperately need more school places, and just setting up random free schools (which is what is currently happening in the UK) isn't addressing these problems.

As others say, if the schools were being set up where there is a need for places, there would be a bit more sense to it.

On the back of this thread I have looked up free schools
In my area

2 are in rough as hell areas I wouldn't walk with DD and the other looks so amazing I want to weep.

I'm now just highly confused - the third one looks great and has a focus
On business and languages

I still hate Gove though

Free schools are fantastic! My dc goes to one and it's amazing!

The Beccles situation is very strange. Even the local Tory MP is against it. There are apparently thousands of surplus high school places in the vicinity, yet this school was allowed to open. Why?

you see I'm not far from beccles in suffolk and there are plans for similar here, so maybe that colours things for me a bit. A whole new school for 50 odd children! What a waste of public money!

They say pupil numbers will go up but if they do then this will be pupils from local secondary school.... which already has a surplus of [places and is far from a failing school. as far as I am aware locally the birth rate is quite low with an ageing population (unlike some other parts of uk) and so demand for secondary places is unlikely to double any time soon.

As I said locally people involved in free school bid view it as an extension of their egos. I get annoyed when people say the want a " traditional" education for their children when actually they want to exclude from "their" school any "less desirable" child who would struggle with tradtional gcse's/ a levels including those from lower socio economic groups and those with SEN statements. A community comprehensive school should be just that!

I suppose that at the end of the day these schools are entirely dependent on the goodwill of local parents - if they do a great job they will be supported, and if they do a rubbish job they will ultimately fail.

Where is it 'obviously failing many children'? Stats?

half a million children have left primary school not being able to read. www.metro.co.uk/news/714095-500-000-leaving-primary-school-illiterate I would say that is obviously failing many children.

Also children growing up in the UK were the unhappiest in the industrialised world, is that just the parents fault? www.guardian.co.uk/society/shortcuts/2012/jun/27/why-british-children-so-unhappy

I have never met a child in the UK who loves school, I spoke to my dsis this morning, she has just gone into year 5, she is bright, sporty and has lots of lovely friends and I asked her how it was being back at school, she said she hates it and doesn't want to be there. It makes me so say that a child could hate something so very much. I hope to teach my children to choose a career they love, how can you tell them they have to go to school for 14 years even if they hate and expect them to be able to see the value in a career they love.

honeytea

I assume you are referring to a school I am consider choosing for my child. Why on earth shouldn't tax payers money be spent on alternative schools, I pay taxes why should I only have the option to usr those taxes in one type of school? I don't intend anyone to subsidise my child's education I only expect to be able to use the money allocated for him to educate him in whatever way I think is best for him.

The school system is obviously failing many children in the UK, choice and change can only be seen as a good thing in my opinion.

Well said! So many posters complain about money being spent on free schools - which don't meet with their ideological approval - while being happy to see money flung at other areas which do.

It's not about ideological approval, and it's improvement that's needed, not change for changes sake.

Let's consider sponsored academies, introduced under Labour and one of the Coalition's pet projects. Analyses of their results using the DfE's own figures is that they perform worse than similar maintained schools. Families living in certain areas have little 'choice' - in parts of Hackney and Southwark, parents can only 'choose' between sponsored academies. Hardly a 'choice', is it?

Practically and empirically, sponsored academies haven't been the silver bullet for school improvement promised, so I'm quite cautious about the prospects of Free Schools, especially as they similarly seem to be established for ideological rather than practical reasons.

In Sweden the free schools have better results than the state schools, maybe it will be the same in the UK.

I really think that some schools suit certain children better than other schools. A alternative style of teaching may work well for a child, giving the parents the option of choosing an alternative style of education for their child will in turn improve the results for that child.

Or maybe not? I'm not sure that being able to employ unqualified teachers is the best start, tbh.

Lots of private schools have unqualified teachers. They just happen to be very good at their subjects and can teach. Not having a PGCE doesn't mean that you can't teach - just that (before free schools) that you wouldn't be allowed to teach in a state-funded school.

alAGH

Are you from the US (hence "pissed" instead of "pissed off")?

If so, you should know it is "whaling on" - not "wailing on". If not - WHY?

I keep seeing this on mn and it is driving me nuts!

Also, while I am at it, you can (if you are English) "pull someone up on their behaviour", which has a sort of schooly tone and is reminiscent of prefects harrassing younger children about the uniform; alternatively, if you are from the US you can "call someone on it" which is reminiscent of an umpire calling a foul in sport. If you are US (or UK with transatlantic pretensions) you can "call someone up" which means you use your telephone to connect to their telephone and then speak to them.
What you cannot do is "call someone up on their behaviour", unless you are sitting down at home to phone someone at their home to tell them they have been naughty, in which case you should say "call them up about it".

The schools here can employ teachers without qualifications, what it allows is international schools to employ British/American/Australian teachers that don't have Swedish teaching qualifications.

The thing is if free schools do not offer what parents want then no one will use them and they will close.