More than 500 parents have expressed support for the opening of a school described as “a Michael Gove wet dream”.
The Hackney New School, which would be the borough’s first free school, was criticised by Mark Lushington from the National Union of Teachers in January when he told the Loving Dalston website that: “It looks like a private school at the taxpayers’ expense. It is a free school — for the Hackney middle class. It’s Hogwarts by any other means; a Michael Gove wet dream.”
However, an application to go ahead with the school was submitted to the Department for Education at the end of February after 502 parents expressed an interest in reserving a place for their child.
The advisory group behind the plans includes ‘Hackney Heroine’ Pauline Pearce, who shot to fame in August when she was filmed telling rioters she felt “ashamed to be a Hackney person.”
The secondary school, which would open in September 2013, would have a strong focus on discipline and high-quality teaching. It is hoped that learning instruments will also be an important part of the curriculum.
Currently 30 percent of children in Hackney have to attend schools outside the borough. The free school would be able to accommodate 100 new students every year.
Committee member Andreas Wesemann, a financial adviser, whose wife Rosie owns the Scolt Head pub on Culford Road, told The Hackney Post: “Parents like the idea of Hackney New School and what we want to do. They support more school places in Hackney and want more direct control over education. The local authority is not seen to be the only entity that can claim to know how education should be provided.”
There are plans to extend opening hours from 7.30am until 6pm so that pupils can eat breakfast at school and stay after class for extra-curricular activities.
The committee is currently considering a number of sites for the school focused around south-west Hackney.
Free schools are state-funded schools where parents have more control over how and what their children are taught. They were a key part of David Cameron’s ‘big society’ agenda as they allow communities to set up, and take responsibility for, their own schools.
