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Parents
forced to go it alone in school search
PARENTS are being forced to “fend for themselves”
in the struggle to find a secondary school place for children,
campaigners have warned.
The alert came as families stepped up their campaign for a new
secondary school to be built south of the Euston Road.
They warned that, due to lack of provision in Camden, some parents
feel forced to opt out of state education and find a private
school alternative.
In a deputation to the Town Hall’s schools organisation
committee on Thursday night, Emma Jones, one of the campaign’s
chief organisers, said: “In Camden, it is assumed that
26 per cent of families will opt out of the state school system.
This is four times the national average.
“The question to be asked is whether these residents are
choosing to opt out of local authority-maintained schools, or
whether they feel they have no choice. In the Hollywood film
Field of Dreams a man says of his project ‘if we build
it they will come’. Camden’s policy seems to be ‘if
we don’t build it they will go away’. This is extremely
socially divisive and has gone on too long.”
The protest is the latest in a series of deputations aimed at
convincing education chiefs that a new school is needed to meet
the huge demand for places in southern wards such as Covent
Garden, Bloomsbury and Holborn.
On several occasions, councillors have been warned that parents
move out of the area to improve their chances of finding a school
for their children.
Ms Jones told the meeting: “At every Camden school we visit
we are told: ‘Be realistic. People living as far away as
you are unlikely to be offered a place.’ We are also strongly
advised that the only appeals likely to succeed are on medical
or social need grounds, not preference. The message parents
receive before they even apply is ‘fend for yourselves’.”
Council officials said they are looking at potential sites for
a new school but, for commercial reasons, could not reveal possible
locations. |
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