Free school bid for Norwich city centre

Victoria Leggett, Education correspondent Saturday, March 16, 2013
2:25 PM

A free school specialising in English and the humanities could cater for more than 1,000 pupils in the middle of Norwich, if an academy trust’s latest bid is approved.

The team behind the Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form, due to open in Bethel Street in September, have come up with plans for a city-centre 11-18 high school.

Revealing the proposals, Rachel de Souza, pictured, and David Prior said they hoped the Jane Austen College would help to drive the much-needed improvements across the county.

Ofsted has this week been carrying out a series of focused inspections across Norfolk aiming to discover why the county has such a high proportion of under-performing schools.

Mrs de Souza, chief executive of the Inspiration Trust that the school would belong to, said: “For me this drive is about standards. I want central Norwich to have a beacon school – a 90pc A* to C school.

“We believe there is a standards need. There are fabulous schools

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and pockets of good performance across Norfolk and it’s not about criticising others. We want to work with everybody. But a fresh start and a new start can be a hugely powerful thing.”

The academy trust has already made it through the first stage of the free school process and had an interview with department for education officials last week.

Jane Austen College would cater for about 900 pupils in years seven to 11 with a further 200 in its sixth form and would have a central Norwich catchment area.

The trust aims to secure a city centre location but insists it would not be a threat to Norwich’s existing high schools – like the Hewett School and Sewell Park College – or the proposal for The Free School Norwich (High School) by Tania Sidney-Roberts for the same area.

A report by the National Audit Office this week warned that, by September 2014, an extra 256,000 primary and secondary places would be needed nationally.

Mrs de Souza said: “We have just had the latest figures to show that, from year four, there is going to be more pupils than places in the central Norwich area. We know there is an even greater need lower down and we need to get going to get something really excellent set up in that area.”

Students would belong to one of four houses named after some of the country’s literary greats: Shakespeare, Chaucer, Eliot, and Thackeray.

And the curriculum, while covering all the traditional subjects, would have a strong focus on reading and writing.

Mrs de Souza said: “Students will ready every day. We will help them develop really good reading and writing skills from the moment they join us.

“We want to recruit the best teachers possible, particularly in those English and humanities subjects, because we want to be a centre of excellence.”

If approved, the school would also aim to link up with the Sir Isaac Newton Sixth Form to give students specialising in either maths and science or English and the humanities a chance to include a wider range of subjects in their A-level study.

Mr Prior, who will be chair of governors at Jane Austen College, said: “They will be very complementary.”

An extended school day will allow the academy to work with a selection of local organisations to offer a range of extra curricular activities from drama groups and debating societies to traditional sports clubs.

8 comments

@Daisy Roots "Headteachers with the priorities of career,money and politics" - some would say welcome to the 'real' world. Of course Headteachers in state schools never had any career or money motivations, motivations that were also removed from pupils at these state schools once they had been processed.

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popeye

Monday, March 18, 2013
1. How much will this cost? Did the EEN ever find out how much the one on Surrey Street cost? 2. How will admissions be decided? 3. Free schools have not taken up the challenge of setting up in places where schools are needed. 4 How can the LEA plan for secondary education when over 50% of secondary schools are outside its jurisdiction? 5. If students flock to free schools (and academies) the budgets of other schools will be cut, if they lose students, because budgets are decided on student numbers. 6. To attract the best teachers will Free Schools offer pay above the national conditions of pay, which Gove is trying to destroy. (Ironically they are allowed to hire unqualified teachers to teach). 6. The marketisation of education is here (the one in Brandon is allowed to make profits for its Scandinavian owners). If the Tories win the next election expect to see private companies taking over many state schools - similar to what is happening in the Health Service - Virgincare has emerged out of nothing. Will it be Virgined next?

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pablo

Sunday, March 17, 2013
Exactly Daisy, what a ridiculous place to site a school, although playtime could be fun running about the market place or watching the puppet man on the walk and if you get fed up with that, well you can always watch them Numpties in charge at the City Hall.

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John L Norton

Saturday, March 16, 2013
I don't want to belittle attempts to improve education in Norfolk, but what will be the effect of the new science free school sixth form and now the Jane Austen free school (apart from more city centre traffic congestion)? It will partly depend on how much money the government gives them; money, which won't be going to other local schools. That money may enable them to pay the 'best teachers possible' more than the national pay scales (which are under threat anyway) and may attract the 'best teachers' away from the other Norwich schools. Since funding for schools is based on pupil numbers it will probably have a negative affect on already established schools (this all assumes that parents will want to try out the new free schools). The logic of this is self-evident the new free schools will have all the advantages, including, most importantly, the desire of government that they should be a success and that LEA schools should be forced out of LEA control and made to become academies. There’s little Norfolk LEA can do, because the majority of secondary schools are now out of county control. I don't know whether the demographics indicate that we need more secondary schools now, but we do need more primaries and the free school movement doesn't seem to be taking up the challenge on that issue here in Norfolk or nationwide. It also begs the question about the reform of the National Curriculum, which does not have to be applied in the free schools or academies (which incidentally don’t have to employ trained teachers). The marketisation of education marches on. If the Tories win the next election don’t be surprised if private companies are allowed to make profits from education (it’s already happening in Brandon) and academies and free schools will enter business arrangements with private companies. It reminds me of what is happening to the health service, where Virgincare has emerged out of nothing to tap the new market. It will be Virgined next?

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pablo

Saturday, March 16, 2013
Souza and Prior , no respect for children-a school on Bethel Street, what an environment.The system of specialist schools and academies is contemptible. I am glad that I went to school where pupils could stroll a lawn at lunch time and contemplate the river through the window when wrestling with Milton or Byron, rather than cough on traffic fumes. And what sort of school does she run already -how is it exceptional or unusual for children to read every day? Headteachers with the priorities of career,money and politics-poor kids. If they match the Oxbridge and Russell group record of the card playing weed smoking sixth formers of early 1970s King Edward VII they will do well, but I bet they don't enjoy their schooldays as much.

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Daisy Roots

Saturday, March 16, 2013
Why isn't Prior fully engaged on his other quango, the CQC, saving the NHS? And de Souza, what is she noted for other than being a tout for every new tory education gimmick.

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Police Commissioner ???

Saturday, March 16, 2013
A thousand more cars heading into the city to drop off their kids,fecking great!!

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nrg

Saturday, March 16, 2013
So the Academy Queen strikes again. It would be laughable if it wasn't such a shocking waste of money and led purely by politics.

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Stanley

Saturday, March 16, 2013