New school opening celebrated but is 15 years too long to plan a school?

Last week was the opening of the Chelsea Academy. This is the first new secondary school for over 50 years to open in the borough. Seeing the first pupils attending the first assembly was a wonderful reward for the 15 years spent trying to get a school built in Chelsea. It was great to meet the new pupils and I know the next few years will be incredibly exciting as the school grows and takes shape.

Demand for places in our secondary schools is high and because of this too many pupils are left disappointed at not being able to continue their education in a Royal Borough school. There are about 660 resident pupils in the secondary transfer each year and only about 300 of these get a school place in the borough.  The limited number of places in the Royal Borough has meant that only between 50 and 60 per cent of pupils transferring to secondary school get their first preference school.

I think it is important to give children the opportunity to be educated locally.

The Chelsea Academy means fewer children will have to travel out of the borough and, in some cases, accept places in less highly rated schools. The Chelsea Academy will eventually provide places for 1,160 pupils including a sixth form of 260 pupils.

We’ve also recognised that there is a need for another secondary school in the north of the borough. I don’t want it to be another 15 years before we can offer a place to families in north Kensington at a Royal Borough school.

We need things to move more quickly than they did for the Chelsea Academy. Of course finding a site in a densely populated borough like ours is never going to be easy. The site we found for the Chelsea Academy on Lots Road in SW10, just off the King’s Road is of enormous value and we had to assemble it and hand it over to the Academy.

But we also experienced delays getting the Council accepted as a co-sponsor of the new academy. Despite our many successes as a local education authority and the fact that we had proposed the new school and provided the site there were objections to us being sponsors.

How can we reform the system so we can get schools built quicker? Do you agree with me that it should be easier for educators with proven track records to expand their provisions? Do you have thoughts on the type of school needed in North Kensington and how it could be distinctive?