Showing posts with label secondary. Johnny Kyriacou. Show all posts
Showing posts with label secondary. Johnny Kyriacou. Show all posts

Monday 9 March 2015

Gateway abandons plans to open free school in Brent

Johnny Kyriacou, Principal designate, of Gateway Free School, has announced that Gateway will 'not proceed' after failing for the third year to find a school site in Brent.  He says pupils should not suffer as they will still have school choices selected through the Brent Council admissions system.

Kyriacou claimed that there was still a looming secondary school places shortage and that if the 800 or so pupils who currently choose schools outside of Brent were instead to stay in-borough there would be an immediate crisis.

This is the letter sent to parents:

Dear Parents/Guardians

It is with great regret and a profound sadness to announce that Gateway Academy will no longer proceed, thereby ending our attempts to provide an outstanding education to the young people of Brent.

In a recent meeting with the DfE we were informed that a building could not be secured in time for opening in September 2015 and that there remains no realistic prospect of being able to secure one in the future. There are a number of challenges to securing a building in Brent and that includes rising land prices and competition against developers for all available land, which means the DfE are not able to compete financially. That is not to say it is impossible but it seems very unlikely. 

We came close on a number of occasions, significant bids were made for various bits of land and on two occasions a deal with a property developer came extremely close to being signed only for them to pull out in the last minute for one reason or another. The DfE, through the Education Funding Agency have tried their best but not been able to succeed.

The Trustees felt that to go on for another year and campaign to recruit students without a building would not be in the best interests of the local community by raising their hopes and then seeing the school possibly be deferred for opening yet again.

I would like to offer my thanks to all those parents and members of the local community who supported us and were looking forward to the opening of our school. This journey represented over two years from application to pre-opening and to fail at the last hurdle through no fault of our own is devastating. 

I wish you and your children all the best for the future. You really do deserve the best.

Tuesday 29 April 2014

Another Brent free school will now not open in September

Another free school due to open to Year 7 pupils in Brent will now not open in September. Gateway Academy, which promised a very different educational philosophy to that of  Michaela Academy, was to due to take about 100 Year 7 pupils. The DfE has not been able to secure a site for the school.

Parents of these children, if they have not already protectively accepted a place at another Brent school, will need to apply to the Secondary School Admissions Department of Brent Council. Sara Williams, Acting Director of  Children and Families, has said that there are enough vacancies in other Brent secondary schools for the unplaced pupils. These are likely to be at Copland Community School, due to academise is September, the Crest Academies and perhaps Capital City Academy.  Other Brent secondary schools have been oversubscribed LINK

This is the lettter Johnny Kyriacou, Principal Designate of Gateway, send to parents earlier today:

Dear Parents/Guardians

It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we have to announce that the opening of Gateway Academy has been deferred and will now open in September 2015. The Department for Education took the decision because they were not able to secure us a building in time for September 2014.

We have been assured that the department will continue to search for a suitable site and remain committed to the opening of the academy in 2015, however this will be of little consolation for those Parents who have applied, seeing as your children are starting secondary school this year.

I am truly sorry we were not able to make it happen for this year but it was matters outside our control, namely in finding a site, which the Department for Education sets out to do for all free schools.

Your support for Gateway Academy has been overwhelming and humbling. We know the local community in Brent are very passionate and care very much about their children and their education.

You will need to make your choice of schools available through the local authority and their admissions team. We advised you to keep your place with the LA and that applications to us were in addition to the LA.

If there is any way that we can support then please do not hesitate to contact us. If you would like to come and meet me to express any further thoughts then please contact me at info@gatewayacademy.org.uk

Once again we are very sorry we will not be able to serve our local community this year and we wish you all the best.

Yours Faithfully

Johnny Kyriacou
Principal Designate