News RSS Feed


Row continues over 'banker-free school' on Bolingbroke Hospital site in Battersea

7:30am Tuesday 18th January 2011 in News By Ian Mason

Wandsworth Council this week exchanged contracts to buy the former Battersea hospital in a deal thought to be worth about £13m Wandsworth Council this week exchanged contracts to buy the former Battersea hospital in a deal thought to be worth about £13m

An education charity which is helping establish an academy on the Bolingbroke Hospital site has hit back at claims the school will only be populated by the children of wealthy bankers.

Dubbed the Battle of Nappy Valley, a row broke out last week after the GMB union accused members of the Neighbourhood School Campaign (NSC) of attempting to create a “banker-free school” by refusing to accept youngsters “from the wrong side of the tracks”.

It claimed the backers of the planned Bolingbroke Academy had ignored Falconbrook Primary as a feeder school in favour of Wix Lane Primary despite it being closer.

GMB research suggests the average family income at Falconbrook is £33,280 a year, compared with the £81,120 a year at Wix Lane.

Union members also lashed out at Wandsworth Council, which this week exchanged contracts to buy the former Battersea hospital in a deal thought to be worth about £13m.

Paul Maloney, GMB regional officer, said: “Whatever monies are available should be spent for the benefit of all parents and pupils in Wandsworth on the existing schools where there are spare places to accommodate all the children in the borough.”

However, a spokeswoman for Ark, an education charity supporting the NSC, said more than 2,500 residents - representing a “very broad cross-section of the community” - supported the campaign for a new school.

Related links

She said: “The GMB identified around 25 - of more than 1,000 who objected to the NHS planning application to use the site for residential development - who work in the finance sector, including banks.

“They did not tot up the many teachers, doctors, health service workers, local government workers, legal workers, full time mothers and people who work for charities who are as or more prevalent in the campaign.”

The spokeswoman added the approach to picking feeder schools was widely supported during the consultation process.

She said: “Of 159 respondents, 118 agreed with policy and 41 opposed, although most of these did so on the basis that their children went to private schools and would not be in feeder primaries.

“Arguably this suggests that the ‘rich bankers’ children’ are likely to be those excluded by the policy, in favour of children in local state primaries.”

• What do you think? Let us know by emailing imason@london.newsquest.co.uk, phone the newsdesk on 020 8330 9533 or leave a comment below.

Comments(14)

Laura Brown 1 says...
1:04pm Tue 18 Jan 11

None of this seems to answer why Falconbrook was excluded given that it is nearer to the new school site than Wix primary school. We know that 118 people agree with the feeder school policy - does that equate to being "widely supported"?

If you do not agree with the new free school and would like the Council to carry out proper planning of school place needs, please sign our online petition and forward to your friends (we have several hundred more signatures on the paper version):

http://www.gopetitio
n.com/petition/41013
.html

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Rachael T says...
3:11pm Tue 18 Jan 11

Laura,

Falconbrook is 500 metres from Battersea Park school but 2000 metres from the Bolingbroke Academy. I thought you would know this.
Wix is closer to the Bolingbroke Academy than any other secondary.
Seems to make perfect sense to most people without an agenda !!!

It is great that the council has responded to the community and is keeping the Bolingbroke in Community use whilst supporting Education.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Laura Brown 1 says...
4:03pm Tue 18 Jan 11

Rachael T: Your distances are inaccurate. Using googlemaps walking distance in km (so anyone can check and please do correct if you find any inaccuracies), shows that it is 1.5km (and not 500m as you state!) from Falconbrook to Battersea Park and 1.8km to the Bolingbroke site. It is 2.0km from Wix to Battersea Park and 1.9km to the Bolingbroke site. You may also be interested to discover that the nearest secondary school to Wix is Lambeth Academy (not the Bolingbroke Academy as you claim) which is only 1.2km away.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Laura Brown 1 says...
4:17pm Tue 18 Jan 11

I googled and found a GMB press release where they have summarised distances and their calculation of walking distance from Falconbrook to BPS is 1.3km (still a lot more than 500m!) and to Bolingbroke 1.8km and from Wix to BPS is 2.2km and to Bolingbroke 2km. Lambeth Academy is much nearer to Wix than either. http://www.gmb.org.u
k/newsroom/latest_ne
ws/40m_for_bankers_f
ree_school.aspx

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Rachael T says...
4:21pm Tue 18 Jan 11

No Laura - whilst technology may help you sometimes, take a good old fashioned a-z out and have a look !!!
Falconbrook is just along Battersea Park
Road - just a short stroll.
Be careful with google map and putting in postcodes as they each cover a few hundred metres.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Laura Brown 1 says...
4:44pm Tue 18 Jan 11

Well, I can also look at a map, and I'm really not sure how you're doing your measuring! Battersea Park school is way up near the park itself and Falconbrook is on Wye Street off York Road as you get towards York Gardens. I'm not disputing that Falconbrook is nearer to BPS than Wix is but it is also much further than the 500m you state. And, Wix is as close to Lambeth Academy so I'm still not sure why your argument justifies Wix's inclusion as a feeder school and not Falconbrook.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

roy1369 says...
4:53pm Tue 18 Jan 11

Rachael, that walk is never 500m nor is it a short stroll. Are you sure about the scale on your A-Z?

This whole business reeks of regressive redistribution of tax payers money to well off neighbourhoods. a nice little kickback to the "squeezed middle".

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Rachael T says...
7:25pm Tue 18 Jan 11

Headmaster of Wix wrote on his website...Readers of this may have been interested in the page 5 Article published in the Daily Mirror on Friday 14th January. The article argues that the new Bolingbroke Academy will only recruit pupils who have rich parents. I was interested to learn that the average income of families attending Wix Lane Primary is £81,120 according to figures complied by the GMB union!

The Mirror article is a terrifically well presented piece, but as far as Wix is concerned lies in the realms of imaginative fiction. Firstly they are confusing the Lycee ecole de Wix, with us just, because we are on the same site. The children from the Lycee will have no automatic right of entry into the new Academy.

When I met with representatives of ARK who will be running the Bolingbroke Academy, I argued that Wix Primary should be included in their list of "portal schools" precisely because we have a higher than average number of children on free school meals 31%, compared with the national average of 18.5%. This was an argument that I was pleased that ARK accepted, because our children will now have automatic access to what should be a good local secondary school.

The truth is that Wix is a local community primary, with a diverse intake of local children from a large variety of backgrounds and is safe choice for parents, who are worried about their options for secondary school education.

NB Free school meals are granted to families on income support or whose annual income is not more than £16,040.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Laura Brown 1 says...
8:32pm Tue 18 Jan 11

You may have misunderstood me - I don't object to Wix being included, I just think Falconbrook should be as well, especially as it is nearer and furthe away from its nearest existing secondary school than Wix. As you will know, Falconbrook has 62% of children receiving free school meals. Why not just broaden to include this school?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Rachael T says...
9:03pm Tue 18 Jan 11

I think to most people it is obvious that Falconbrook has a local secondary school in Battersea Park School. Maybe you have different information but have you and the GMB actually asked Falconbrook's Headmaster, Governours and parents whether they want to desert their local secondary in favour of a school that is not yet opened ??
Local Schools for local children is the mantra that we should all aim for.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Laura Brown 1 says...
9:17pm Tue 18 Jan 11

I guess Falconbrook parents would be in a better position to judge their local secondary school as many of their kids actually go there unlike those living near Honeywell and Belleville where only 6 out of 500 secondary aged kids attend their nearest school (within a mile of the Bolingbroke site and rated outstanding by Ofsted letting in kids from 1.2 to 2.6 miles away depending on ability band). What's good enough for the goose is good enough for the gander, I reckon! Our existing schools are doing a fantastic job!

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Rachael T says...
9:28pm Tue 18 Jan 11

Thats true and its great that Chestnut Grove - I think that is the school you are referring to - can serve the 8 excellent Balham Primary schools that have 350 children leaving per year. If they choose their local school, as we agree they should, its 90 distance places would quickly be filled (of course its 60 selective places may stretch a bit further).
Thats why the Bolingbroke Academyis such a great idea.

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Laura Brown 1 says...
9:46pm Tue 18 Jan 11

There was a Falconbrook parent on BBC London radio Drivetime programme saying she supported the campaign for the free school but has now been excluded. She talks at 17 minutes if you would like to hear from a Falconbrook parent who is concerned: http://www.bbc.co.uk
/iplayer/episode/p00
d0n5w/Drivetime_with
_Eddie_Nestor_18_01_
2011/

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

Virgil Tibbs says...
12:16am Wed 19 Jan 11

And if I may just to add a bit of balance, John Demaria and Toby Young were also on the same radio show - at about 1 hr 20 mins. I've also been told that Falconbrook was written to about the admissions but they never wrote back? My view is that if this feeder school is making such a big fuss, why not just go striaght line? All the local private schools will be thrilled to get their children in I'm sure? Falconbrook wouldnt stand a chance, nor even Highview. If Falconbrook was to be added as a 5th feeder, then who would be next for the 6th, 7th and 8th feeders? You have to draw the line somewhere. Or why not drop to 3 feeders if Wix is an issue? This whole debate just shows to me that there is a desparate need for a new school in Wandsworth. If people dont like what the NSC has done, why dont they start their own free school campaign?

Report this post »    Register/Log In »

click2find

Most popular