First Grammar school in a generation: The Times
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Re: First Grammar school in a generation: The Times
Berkshire as a county, exists, but there is no Berkshire county council, therefore no Berkshire education authority either.
Each unitary authority is having to make its own arrangements to deal with the need to increase school places, but also each one has to deal with its neighbour to see that they are doing and the impacts they have on each other.
From reading the article it mentions that Maidenhead will be short of about 100 secondary school places.
Whe I attended a local meeting in Reading to discuss school places, the head of Education said that Reading needed the equivalent of two new secondary schools, 14 extra forms of entry. This is a borough that already has 40% of secondary school children educated outside of Reading. Those neighbouring boroughs also have pressures on places. All but two (I think) secondaries in Reading are academies, therefore local authority have no say in whether they expand or not, although they are encouraging them to where possible.
As it stands, we will have (hopefully) two new free schools opening next September. Schools in neighbouring Wokingham will also need to expand and there is talk of another free school opening there.
I have no idea about the situation with Slough schools as that is outside my sphere of knowledge.
Each unitary authority is having to make its own arrangements to deal with the need to increase school places, but also each one has to deal with its neighbour to see that they are doing and the impacts they have on each other.
From reading the article it mentions that Maidenhead will be short of about 100 secondary school places.
Whe I attended a local meeting in Reading to discuss school places, the head of Education said that Reading needed the equivalent of two new secondary schools, 14 extra forms of entry. This is a borough that already has 40% of secondary school children educated outside of Reading. Those neighbouring boroughs also have pressures on places. All but two (I think) secondaries in Reading are academies, therefore local authority have no say in whether they expand or not, although they are encouraging them to where possible.
As it stands, we will have (hopefully) two new free schools opening next September. Schools in neighbouring Wokingham will also need to expand and there is talk of another free school opening there.
I have no idea about the situation with Slough schools as that is outside my sphere of knowledge.
Re: First Grammar school in a generation: The Times
ah Ok, I didn't realise you were a series of unitary authorities over there. I should have said "If Windsor and Maidenhead were carrying out their school places commissioning assiduously ...."
Yes, I agree, where academies are concerned it's up to the academies themselves whether they expand or not ..... this is where people have been mislead in Sevenoaks. I think a lot of the electorate believe that the local authority can definitely make a grammar annex happen. Certainly where it is an academy that they are hoping will expand this is certainly not correct. And I'm not sure what right-minded academy would want an annex at a distance.
Are there big distances from the Bucks border and this unitary authority that wants a Bucks grammar academy to give birth to an annex on their soil?
Yes, I agree, where academies are concerned it's up to the academies themselves whether they expand or not ..... this is where people have been mislead in Sevenoaks. I think a lot of the electorate believe that the local authority can definitely make a grammar annex happen. Certainly where it is an academy that they are hoping will expand this is certainly not correct. And I'm not sure what right-minded academy would want an annex at a distance.
Are there big distances from the Bucks border and this unitary authority that wants a Bucks grammar academy to give birth to an annex on their soil?
