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Camden New Journal - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 19 July 2007

We want competition to find school sponsor

• ON Wednesday July 25 Camden Council will meet to make a decision about whether to opt for a preferred sponsor for the new school planned for Swiss Cottage or to go for an open competition with wider public consultation and opportunities for representation from other groups.
As members of the local community and representatives of the North Camden Deanery Synod we actively support six local primary schools and know well the pressure on places for local children in Camden Secondary schools.
It is clear that some kind of dialogue at officer and councillor level has been taking place on and off over the past two years between Camden and University College London with a view to the new school being sponsored by UCL.
This would almost certainly be an academy.
Two weeks ago UCL published its vision for an academy, although we believe the draft of this vision was
developed months ago.
The Campaign for a Church Secondary School in Camden has been very effective in mobilising opinion and in presenting to the council a petition with nearly 1,900 signatures calling for a C of E
secondary school. Support has come from both within the Church and from people of other faiths and none who understand the expertise and commitment to inclusion that the Church brings to all its schools.
We call on the council to set up a competition as to who should
sponsor a new school (as is now encouraged by the education
department) so that the merits of each bid and the strength of public support can be fully debated in public and not behind closed doors and in what would formerly be ‘smoke filled rooms.’
FR ANDREW CAIN
Area Dean of North Camden
Mary Shakeshaft
Lay Chair

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, Camden New Journal, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@camdennewjournal.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Tuesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number. Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

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