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Tom Peryer |
What is wrong with us? asks CofE chief
‘Our schools consistently provide best education’
THE Church of England is fighting hostility to its plan to sponsor Camden’s new secondary school and is worried that it is being frozen out of the competition.
In an interview with the New Journal, Tom Peryer, Director of Education for the Diocese of London, said on Friday that the Church would press ahead with its bid to open a City Academy regardless of the opposition.
He said: “We intend to go on pressing the council to listen to what we have to say and to open up the process to an open competition and debate. We believe we have a strong case which will attract a good deal of support. We are not afraid to make our case in public alongside whoever else feels they could run a good school in Camden. We hope it won’t be a ‘behind closed doors’ decision.”
Mr Peryer felt the weight of the opposition at a recent public meeting when Holborn and St Pancras MP Frank Dobson warned against letting the Church take control of Camden’s new secondary. Mr Dobson said religious sponsorship would be divisive and is ideologically opposed to using the City Academy model.
Mr Peryer said: “People make these claims but where is their evidence that such schools would be divisive in the community? All the evidence, mainly Ofsted evidence, is that Church schools, certainly Camden Church schools work very well.
“Frank Dobson has a long history of being outspokenly critical of Church schools. I am sure he would rather they were all abolished.”
Camden is in line for £200 million of government funding to spend on one new school – provisionally set to open in Adelaide Road, Swiss Cottage – and the refurbishment of all of its existing secondaries
Education chiefs have not officially signed up to the City Academy model of attracting private sponsorship for the new school but have admitted they are in talks with potential backers.
Mr Peryer said that the Church had “limited reserves” and was partly funding its academy programme across London from contributions from worshippers.
He added: “For a long time we have wanted to have a secondary school in Camden and those other boroughs were we do not have at least one Church of England secondary school because we cannot meet the demand for places at our most popular schools. Those pupils in Camden who want a Church of England school have to travel out of Borough to get one.”
A growing band of unions, teachers and politicians are trying to persuade the council against using of City Academies at all, arguing that the new school should be a traditional state-run institution.
Mr Peryer said that the Church would not adopt an unfair admissions policy and appoint governors in a similar way to existing schools.
He said: “We would seek a balanced admissions policy which would be reflective of the mix of backgrounds in Camden, giving some priority to those with an explicitly Christian affiliation but ensuring that at least 50 per cent of places were available to those regardless of faith background.”
The other main contender in the sponsorship competition is the University College London in Bloomsbury.
University provost Martin Grant declined the invitation for an interview with the New Journal, adding only: “Secondary education policy in Camden is a matter for Camden Council.
“If they in due course decide that they wish to have a new school, and if they decide that it should be an Academy, we are willing to talk to them about the possibility of UCL becoming the sponsor. This would indeed be an unusual and innovative approach to academy sponsorship. However, Camden are not yet at that point, and so you will understand why I prefer not to comment further on the questions you raise.”
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