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Pimlico school fears
• WESTMINISTER Council must respect the wishes of the stakeholders in Pimlico school – their responses to the council’s consultation on the school’s future have been strongly in favour of keeping Pimlico as a community school.
I am one of a number very committed teaching staff who want to see the school move forward to become the truly great school we know it has the potential to be. But we want the school to move forward with its status unchanged. Moving to trust or academy status would be a step towards privatisation and we don’t think that’s appropriate or desirable for our school.
Parents, too, are against a change of status; I have had many say to me that they chose Pimlico because they thought (and still think) that it was a good school and because they are themselves committed to giving their children a comprehensive education at one of the only two remaining community schools in the borough.
BRIDGET CHAPMAN
Pimlico School
• DO you know what we say to the private investors fronting this bid? – Academy School, No Thanks!
BLAKE _ CARTER WHITE , Pimlico School, Year 11
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THE luminous sides of Pimlico are constantly inspiring parents to apply for a place here. A good group of those who did get one, united into a lively PSA association, are leading the campaign to keep Pimlico as a community comprehensive school.
The spectre of an academy is much too scary for the majority of those who love this school, which has been there, lively and glorious and comprehensive, for 35 years.
The parents are meeting often, several times a week. All over the UK, parents are showing their opposition. In London, campaigns like Pimlico’s are achieving results: the parents’ initiative managed to stop Islington Green secondary school from becoming an academy – there’s no need to give up hope.
Other speakers, like Melissa Benn and Dennis Charman, gave hope to the parents gathered in the hall.
Writing to local MPs asking for support, checking www.antiacademies.org.uk, subscribing to the list keeppimlicocomprehensive@yahoo.co.uk, checking the website www. pimlicopsa. org.uk, are some of the things people can do.
Parents’ meeting like the present ones are a real eye-opener to understand the variety of this school. In the hall, you meet the families from local SW1 estates and residential areas, some from ethnic backgrounds, who just want a good local school for their children.
The fight is also a symbol of changing times in our schools. It could happen to any of us. Somehow, supporting their fight seems, at this moment in time, by far the best option. Not just for Pimlico: for all of us parents who want to keep their kids away from a sadly imposed way of ‘buying’ and manipulating our education system.
ANNALISA
Coppolaro Nowell
Churchill Gardens, SW1
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