Following Boris Johnson's announcement that he wanted to encourage more free schools in London and find GLA surplus property for them, Darren Johnson Green Assembly Member put a number of questions to him in order to delve deeper into his policy which could threaten equality of access for children with disabilities and special educational needs as well as reduce public accountability of schools.
The answers indicate that in fact there is no depth to the policy and that it has not been thought through. Londoners deserve more than 'off the top of the head' thinking when it comes to educating our chidlren. Today's league tables for regions and local authorities show London local authoirty secondary schools are rated higher by Ofsted than the England average.
Here are the questions which Boris Johnson apparently found too hard to answer:
Question No: 3469 / 2012
Darren Johnson
How will you ensure that free schools you support, financially, with sites or otherwise, are democratically accountable to
the local community as well as to the Secretary of State for Education?
Written response from the Mayor
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Free School policies (1)
Question No: 3470 / 2012
Darren Johnson
How will you ensure that there is fair access to free schools for pupils with special education needs, disabilities or on the
free school meals register?
Written response from the Mayor
Free School policies (2)
Question No: 3471 / 2012
Darren Johnson
How
will you ensure that all free schools you support, financially, with
sites or otherwise, commit to a close working relationship
with the local authority in order to maintain an appropriate focus on
borough-wide priorities, including local authority nomination of a
member of the governing body and a commitment to sharing performance
information?
Written response from the Mayor
Free School policies (3)
Question No: 3472 / 2012
Darren Johnson
How
will you ensure that all free schools you support, financially, with
sites or otherwise, commit to appropriate staffing
arrangements to ensure high quality teaching and learning from qualified
staff and good employment practices, including in relation to support
and contracted staff?
Written response from the Mayor
Free School policies (4)
Question No: 3473 / 2012
Darren Johnson
How will you ensure that all free schools you support, financially, with sites or otherwise, commit to community access and
use of facilities through agreed extended opening and lettings policies?
Written response from the Mayor
Free School policies (5)
Question No: 3474 / 2012
Darren Johnson
Will
you rule out financial support and the provision of GLA group owned
sites for free schools that teach creationism as scientific
fact?
Written response from the Mayor
The
Department for Education has made very clear that it will not grant
approval to any free school application that plans to teach creationism
as scientific fact.
Building new community schools
Question No: 3467 / 2012
Darren Johnson
Will you press the Government to allow London boroughs to build new community schools in areas where there is a shortage of
school places?
Written response from the Mayor
London
is facing a severe shortfall of school places and I am grateful that
the Government has doubled its funding for basic need addressing the
shortage left by the previous Government.
I will continue to make the case for London to the Treasury as I have
previously successfully done when making joint representations with
London Councils. Government funding for new schools, including free
schools, presumes that they will be academies. I also
want to encourage a new generation of free schools in our capital, to
help address the shortage of school places and give parents more genuine
choice.
Building schools where they are most needed
Question No: 3468 / 2012
Darren Johnson
What steps are you taking to ensure that public funding for new schools is directed towards areas of London where there is
the largest anticipated shortfall in school places?
Written response from the Mayor
The
GLA currently runs a pan London school roll projections service for
boroughs. I will explore how we can expand this to cover all boroughs,
and how we can work more effectively to
develop an improved, strategic picture of school places in the capital. I
will also support the creation of new free schools where there is
strong parental demand though not necessarily a shortage of places.
