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Quintin Kynaston could be asked to help drag up the standards of its neighbour |
Rescue plan besieged school
In a bid to find a solution for its problems, Pimlico School could be forced into an alliance with the successful Quintin Kynaston
IT is a tale of two schools: one improving year on year and boasting one of London’s longest waiting list for places, the other saddled with an unenviable Ofsted report and apparently in the midst of crisis.
But while Quintin Kynaston (QK) in St John’s Wood and beleaguered Pimlico School may seem worlds apart, the two unlikeliest of bedfellows could be on the brink of forming a historic confederation as one of the country’s first-ever mergers.
QK has won government praise for its exam scores and was chosen as the perfect place for Prime Minister Tony Blair when he was looking for stages to issue a statement about his future last September.
Pimlico’s future has been bleak since a controversial Ofsted inspection – albeit hotly disputed by parents, teachers and union officials – put the school in special measures in December.
The latest blow for the Lupus Street school was an update from Ofsted which said that it had “inadequately progressed”.
Inspectors said there were serious weaknesses in teaching quality, poor conditions, with a lack of playground space and that adequate support from Westminster City Council was missing.
Pupils were described as lacking motivation.
The warning from the Department of Education and Skills (DfES) is clear: if Pimlico does not substantially improve by December the government is likely to intervene and go as far as closing it down.
The stark message has led City Hall to draw up a series of options for Pimlico – one of which is the potential merger with QK.
Mysteriously, senior officials at the council are unwilling to talk in depth about the proposal although it is now undeniable that a ‘federation’ idea is being discussed behind closed doors.
The schools have no combined history and are situated at different ends of the borough. But the one thing that they do have in common is Jo Shuter, dubbed the ‘hardest-working woman in education’ after agreeing to be the headteacher of both schools on a temporary basis. Ms Shuter has been splitting her time between the two – the last traditional community schools in Westminster.
Ms Shuter said: “It is up to the schools to decide how they go forward. If Pimlico became a trust school or city academy, we would have to think about what QK does next. It could be difficult if QK was the only school in Westminster being supported by the councils while all the others are able to do their own thing.”
Pimlico has been linked to several opportunities to opt out of local authority control with potential suitors sizing up a city academy deal.
Ms Shuter said that she believed in community education but that schools had a duty to look at all the options – including outside sponsorship.
She added: “I think if you look at some of the potential sponsors that have been coming forward in recent times they have had education at their heart, like the RSA (Royal Society of the Arts).”
Ms Shuter is due to return to taking on QK full-time in August.
She said: “If the schools merge in that way, somebody would probably be an executive head with a headteacher at each school. I don’t think I would want to be an executive head of both because I would miss the hands-on experience.”
Parent governors have been replaced at Pimlico by an interim executive board made up of council officials and a representative from the DfES.
On June 6 it will give its recommendation to the council for Pimlico’s future.
Julie Jones, deputy chief executive of Westminster City Council, said: “The council’s cabinet is due to make a recommendation on the future form of the school. Currently, the Interim Executive Board is supporting the school to come out of special measures and will consider all options about Pimlico’s future, whether it remain a community school, or become a trust or an academy. Expressions of interest from potential sponsors will become clear at the meeting of the Children and Young Persons Overview and Scrutiny Committee on June 6.”
She added: “The council is very clear that our first duty to parents and pupils is to increase their chances of success through excellent teaching. We are fully committed to driving the school’s improvement plan forward.”
The council has also tabled proposals to create a formal alliance between the community schools.
The federation system – a new government idea which has only been tried once before and never in London – is where a failing school is twinned with a more successful one nearby. Due to the lack of open discussions, it is not clear how the federation would work, but pupils at Pimlico could potentially gain access to the improved facilities at QK.
Ms Shuter was parachuted into Pimlico after Philip Bernard quit following the Ofsted bombshell.
Westminster NUT secretary Padraic Finn said parents and teachers at Pimlico opposed the federation rescue package.
He said: “The PSA (Pimlico School Association) has sent a letter to QK governors telling them that they are not interested in a federation. They have done this because the idea seems to come part-and-parcel with privatisation.
“Ofsted say Pimlico has an inadequate playground, but I don’t think any school in London has adequate playground. QK’s playground is certainly not much better. How are we going to get kids from Pimlico to St John’s Wood?”
He added: “The overwhelming opinion of Pimlico parents, pupils, stakeholders and feeder primary schools, of which there are 73, is to keep Pimlico comprehensive. The objection to Trust status is slightly smaller. The council should be considering how they can support Pimlico as a comprehensive.”
The PSA’s staunch stand against anything but community school status has already struck a blow with potential bidders.
Among the bidders to take control of Pimlico are the United Learning Trust, sponsoring the botched Paddington Academy in North Wharf Road, Mayfair landlords Grosvenor Estates and Absolute Return for Kids (Ark), the hedge-fund charity which sponsors the King Solomon Academy in Paddington.
The Royal Society of the Arts, which Ms Shuter has hinted could be a more palatable sponsor, tabled a bid to turn the school into a Trust, but has since withdrawn its interest.
RSA chief executive Matthew Taylor said: “The RSA has said all along that we would only take forward a possible role as a Trust partner is there was support for this from the school stakeholders.
“I see no sign that the PSA will do other than demand that Pimlico remain a Westminster Council run secondary school so I think it very unlikely that our offer will go any further.”
Lucy Heller, Managing Director of Ark, said: “We are very interested in sponsoring the school if the council decides it should become an academy – but we will not go where we are not wanted.” |
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