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Pimlico: parents out of the picture amid ‘private’ designs
• WHEN Councillor Simon Milton (Leader of Westminster Council) declared last March that he wished to see Pimlico School turned into a city academy, parents, staff and pupils were sceptical about the seriousness of the consultation process.
That feeling was heightened when the council decided, against the wishes of the majority of those consulted, to start looking for academy sponsors.
Funds for the £35 million rebuilding of the school had already been agreed at least a year before and were not conditional on the school becoming an academy. The other possible reason for an academy – a £2m donation by a sponsor – is no longer a requirement.
The only remaining reason for Pimlico School being handed over to a private sponsor is the council’s apparent desire to reduce the number of parents on the Governing Body. Documents presented to council meetings in June and July make it clear that a significant parent representation (about 6 of 22 in the outgoing Governing Body) is seen as an obstacle to driving the school forward.
And this disdain for parental views is reflected in the consistent refusal by the Interim Executive Board (made up of ccouncil officers), which runs the school, to have any parent representation.
The Parents’ Association has had to fight continuously to have any meetings with them. What “consultation” there has been is with “focus groups” of parents, ie those chosen by the IEB – in other words, the IEB chooses the parents it speaks to.
The same lack of consultation is evident in the proposals for the new building. The Pimlico School Association is having to organise ad hoc meetings with the council about all aspects of the design and rebuilding. There is no formal means of doing so, which means there is no one to represent the interests of parents and pupils in a process which is going to have a major effect on the future of the school.
The final irony is in relation to comprehensive education. The council says it wishes to keep Pimlico as a “comprehensive” while at the same time handing it over to a private sponsor.
One of those in the running to take over the school – the preferred sponsor will be announced at the Cabinet meeting on October 15 – is Westminster School, a fee-paying public school nearby. So keeping Pimlico “comprehensive” could mean handing it – and a £35 million new building, paid for by taxpayers – over to a private school! Go figure!
PADRAIC FINN
Secretary, Westminster NUT
• THE Twentieth Century Society has campaigned long and hard to secure the future of Pimlico School, which it considers an outstanding postwar building.
We are very disappointed and saddened by the latest proposals to demolish what is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and challenging buildings of its date.
We have written to object to the planning application, but this is a case where the support and acclaim of expert individuals and organisations has so far been unable to sway the decision making process.
It seems likely that Westminster will shortly grant permission. We feel that in time this regrettable conclusion will be seen by posterity to have been short-sighted and unimaginative, but unfortunately there are no further procedures by which we can now prevent demolition.
CATHERINE CROFT
20th Century Society
• ANDREW Adonis’s plans for private school sponsors of academy schools show how far the academies programme has come.
Academies, when David Blunkett announced them in 2001, were designed to combat failing schools and to promote social justice. Persuading cash-strapped private schools to take handouts from the taxpayer is robbing the poor to pay the rich. More worryingly is Adonis’s claim that what the state sector needs is the “educational DNA” of private schools.
There is nothing in private schooling that guarantees better teaching and learning. It is class and wealth privilege that secures their success. In recognition of this, Gordon Brown made a commitment to raise the £5,000 per head funding of state pupils to the £9,000 of private schools. He will need serious funds to achieve it – and ministers who share the same aims and values.
ALISDAIR SMITH
Institute of Education
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