Any views on Secondary Free Schools Generally (and Gildredge House in particular)?

[ettubrute]

Anyone have kids at GH or know anything about it? The school says it will only employ qualified teachers and it seems to be run pretty much along the lines of any other school from what I understand. So, in that case, why is it that so many teachers say that they would never send their kids to a free school? What do they know that I don't? What sorts of questions should I be asking at the open day? Will Free schools be able to attract good teachers (just wondered in terms of pay/conditions etc whether they offer the same as the LEA)?

Anyone?

ettubrute, plenty of teachers I know would send their children to a free school, apply to work at a free school, and even get involved in setting up a free school. Every free school is different though - there are some great ones and some not so great ones. I suggest you ask the school itself whether it has the same pay and conditions as the LA - our local one does, but every school will be different.

Free schools are just new academies, and many are mainstream comprehensives, just like other local schools - go along and see it if you can, and ask all the same questions that you would ask at any other school.

Thank you for your reply riddle. I wouldn't have thought to have asked the school whether it has the same pay and conditions as the LA ones. Must remember that! I suppose I do not really understand why our local free school has smaller class sizes (no more than 25) than all the other local schools (including academies but obviously not private schools). How can they afford that?

ettubrute, once again, ask the school (politely) how they manage to have lower class sizes. They'll be used to answering questions like that and won't mind. The whole point of academies is that they can manage their budgets more freely - some will be doing that well and others possibly not.

Also, are you sure the class sizes are a lot less than other local schools? I just had a quick look at the website. It said 28 for primary, which isn't a huge reduction, and I couldn't see any numbers at all for the middle and upper schools.

Many secondaries have form sizes of 25 in KS3, and even smaller classes in KS4, so unless the numbers are significantly lower than that, it probably isn't anything to be suspicious about.