Forum Topic

The free school is back on ??

Surely that will help house prices?

Simon Wycombe ● 4310d12 Comments

Yes, Ealing should be proud of its secondary, middle and jumior schools - they are excellent imo. The old Ealing Grammar school used to be very good.

Gerry Tan ● 4305d

Indeed.Personally, I would be rather apprehensive to say the least, to send my children to a free school, if the flagship West London Free School which is seeking its third headteacher in as many years since it opened, teachers leaving mid-year and some parents withdrawing their children, is anything to go by.Ealing already has 86% of its pupils attending some of the top secondary state schools nationally with Twyford CofE, Drayton Manor and Cardinal Wiseman all rated Oustanding by Ofsted, with their exam results and newly acquired facilities to rival the paid-for, selective alternatives.

Tom Carroll ● 4305d

I see loads of kids walking down Swyncombe in Elthorne High uniforms every morning. The Pope's Lane part of south Ealing is in the catchment area for Acton High.

Nigel Brooks ● 4306d

Thomas, I disagree.In South Ealing, there is little chance of getting into Elthorne/Twyford or Drayton Manor.If you live in certain parts of Ealing,you have to move to get a decent 2ndary school.

Simon Wycombe ● 4306d

As we have no grammar schools Gerry and haven't had any since the early 1980's I can't ever see them returning.Education has changed radically since my grammar school days with a headlong rush to send every child to university for a, sometimes worthless, degree but a guaranteed £27,000 debt! I would love to see a return to proper apprenticeships for less academically gifted rather than making these poor kids 'languish' in education until they are 18 bored witless simply because successive governments think that 'university for all' is a good idea.

Nigel Brooks ● 4307d

What's the feeling on this forum about grammar schools? Should we have more grammar schools in the borough?

Gerry Tan ● 4307d

1) All local secondaries already are good2) There's no urgent secondary place crisis in South Ealing (unlike Hanwell, north Ealing and Acton) so the expenditure on the luxury of extra places is questionable given the serious place crisis elsewhere in the capital.3) There's no guarantee a Free School will be any good, quite a lot of them have gone badly wrong, particularly ones with problems finding a site.  It's safest and most cost efficient to expand existing good schools with proper sites than shoe-horn someone's vanity product into an unsuitable location.

Thomas Barry ● 4307d

But as we are all local surely a good 2ndary school would not go amiss.

Simon Wycombe ● 4309d

It's wages that need help.

Debbie Edwards ● 4309d

Do house prices need any help?

Keith Iddon ● 4309d

Not sure of site but it says South Ealing.

Simon Wycombe ● 4309d

Which free school Simon?

Gerry Tan ● 4310d