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SALFORD CITY MAYOR ‘EXTREMELY CONCERNED’ ABOUT FREE SCHOOL ON SITE OF ST GEORGE’S IN LITTLE HULTON
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Star date: 18th June 2019 750 PLACE SECONDARY FREE SCHOOL IN LITTLE HULTON PROPOSED BY TORY GOVERNMENT Both Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, and the Lead Member for Children, John Merry, have issued a joint statement expressing 'concern' over a Government announcement that the former site of St George's RC School in Little Hulton is to be used for a 750 place secondary school to be run by the Star Academy Trust. St George's was shut a number of years ago after a huge battle to keep it open but now the Mayor notes that an "expansion of primary school provision may be a more valuable use for this site". Full details here...
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The site of the former St George's RC School in Little Hulton continues to remain controversial. After a huge battle to keep the old school open, first it was redeemed in 2010, then finally closed in 2014. Meanwhile its playing fields were controversially flogged off by the Council for housing, and now the Tory Government wants to impose a new free school on the site... Yesterday, both Salford City Mayor, Paul Dennett, and the Lead Member for Children, John Merry, issued a joint statement on the announcement from the Government that the site has been earmarked for a new 750 place free school, to be run as a non-faith secondary by Star Academy Trust at a peppercorn rent, with Salford Council liable for all 'abnormal costs relating to the clearance of the site'. "We were concerned to discover this information with no advance notice of the press release from the DfE, and the news leaves significant unanswered questions for us as a local authority" they state "At present we have no idea of the date by which it is expected to be open, whether or not a new building is being proposed, or where the funding for the school is anticipated to come from. "...We are surprised that demand in this area has been considered worthy of an entirely new school as it is close to Harrop Fold and Walkden secondary schools" they explain "Demand is expected to change for secondary school places in this area over time, however if it were to rise we would expect to thoroughly investigate all models for delivery including the expansion of existing provision, analysis of our projected demand and other suitable sites through which places may be provided." They add that "elected members have already noted that expansion of primary school provision may be a more valuable use for this site". Last November, the Salford City Mayor controversially endorsed a strategy of "encouraging free school applications, from endorsed proposers, to support the requirement for additional school places in key areas of the city where the need is clearly proven" (see here). The idea was to develop a 'framework of preferred providers' for free schools but the new Mayor's statement is categorical that "The Star Academy Trust is not part of this framework, and nor has the framework been used prior to this decision being formed". Dennett and Merry conclude: "The manner by which we have learned about this proposal is extremely concerning, as is the current lack of clarity around the proposed details of the scheme..."
Main photo shows pupils campaigning to keep St George's School open
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Mr Brexit wrote
at 08:24:46 on 29 June 2019 |
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| Arnold rimmer......”the council hasn't controlled any schools or their finances for at least 7 years”. ...
Then why is Salford Council and especially the Labour Party having schools send this letter out, why is this Salford Council politicising this letter if the education department isn’t funded through the council. Once again mr Rimmer, your talking utter bollocks, not related to mr sunshine are we or are you both just smoking the same batch. Sorry you talk about oversight of these schools and there finances, oversight by who, you mean you’d like Salford Council to oversee these schools, the same council that can’t control its own finances, millions on fountains, rugby stadiums, bridges, etc, the same council that closes care homes for children and the elderly, scraps buses for the same people. I’d like a pint of what your drinking, i could do with a few hours in la la land. |
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Rayofsunshine wrote
at 17:13:58 on 26 June 2019 |
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| Mr.Brexit,Brexit itself can be seen as a damming indictment of the general level of education in Britain today ;17.4 million fell for the bogus,irrational and downright mendacious claims of Farage,Johnson and Gove! |
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Arnold Rimmer wrote
at 17:13:09 on 26 June 2019 |
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| Not sure what dimension Mr. Brxit and Co are living in but the council hasn't controlled any schools or their finances for at least 7 years.
School finances are the sole responsibility of schools which is why an increased number have had financial difficulties as they don't have the regular oversight to keep them in check. |
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Rayofsunshine wrote
at 17:12:49 on 26 June 2019 |
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| The key issue to grasp here is not LA endorsed versus Academy Schools but coordination of school provision throughout the city versus an anarchic free for all!
Cllr.Merry is far from blameless,in the past,when he was leader,he championed reactionary and blatantly anti socialist measures to promote Academies in Salford! |
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THE END wrote
at 19:24:54 on 25 June 2019 |
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| Spot on Mr Brexit. Salford council were appalling as an LA and even worse when part of an academy chain. they are the primary reason for so many failed generations in Salford's education system. |
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bob the regular wrote
at 16:26:34 on 20 June 2019 |
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Mr Brexit wrote
at 19:20:40 on 19 June 2019 |
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| Maybe this labour controlled council don’t like the idea of a school that’s not controlled by them, doing well, showing their incompetence in Salford’s Labour education system. If I remember rightly, on this site a number of years ago, on one of the posts it revealed that Salford schools were second from the bottom of the northwest schools league table, beaten only by was it Tameside, this was out of 39 areas of the northwest. But then again this is why Labour only pay lip service to education in Britain, the lower of the standard of your education, the more likely you are to vote Labour, so it benefits Labour to have a lower education standards in its heartlands, keep them numb, keep them Labour and in Salford, it’s worked like a dream, you’ve only got to look at rayofsunshine the Labour councillor, still counting his IQ on his fingers, go on ray, if it goes just over ten, we’ll let you use your toes as well. |
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Kev wrote
at 19:19:46 on 19 June 2019 |
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| Are Dennett and Merry against it because there's nothing in it for them or their mates? |
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bob the regular wrote
at 13:27:29 on 19 June 2019 |
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| Great minds think alike Gareth.Good to see someone else is on the ball.What we need in Salford is proper schools like we had years ago, not daft schools like these looneys on all sides of the political spectrum
dream uo.My mum left school at 14 ,worked in a factory, called herself a dunce at school, but she could write and never spell a word wrong, add and subtract,never getting it wrong, all without calculators and spelling checkers. There again,they did not waste time in schools in them days on political correctness,kids just had to be polite to everyone. |
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Gareth L wrote
at 06:55:18 on 19 June 2019 |
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| Salford Labour councilors complaining about a lack of clarity? That's ironic!
I did read about this in the MEN, their article had an additional focus on the Star Academy Trust's background and commented on the number of faith schools. I can't make my mind up if they were scaremongering. |
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bob the regular wrote
at 06:54:27 on 19 June 2019 |
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| Just to show the value of a varied and free press, just look at the article on this same subject in in that toe rag of a rag, the Manchester Evening News. I never normally read it as it never slags off the people I like to see slagged off. The MEN put a slightly different spin on it. Read it online. |
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