West End Extra - Leters: Academy

Publications by New Journal Enterprises

Home

Archive

Competition

West End Extra - LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
Published: 13 July 2007

Academy is way forward for school

• NOT everyone will agree with the council’s decision to support Pimlico in becoming an academy, but the fact remains that the school has been failing and our priority is to change this as quickly as possible.
There is evidence academies improve school standards more quickly than any other type of school and we believe this is the best way of making sure Pimlico’s pupils get a good education, both now and in the future. The key evidence for this lies in the most recent annual evaluation carried out by PriceWaterhouseCoopers for the government, and in the National Audit Office report published in March this year.
The cabinet does not believe allowing Pimlico to remain a community school will guarantee that the school improves, in fact we believe the school could slip back again. This is a tough decision for the council to make, but things have to change.
Pimlico has already started to improve, but the school cannot be run indefinitely by an interim executive board nor a headteacher who is responsible for another school.
It is now time to decide on the long-term future for Pimlico and that is what we have done.
Not only will academy status mean Pimlico gets significant extra funding, it also offers the potential of allowing the popular specialist music facility at the school to remain.
A brand-new school is being built at Pimlico as part of Westminster City Council’s £152 million Building Schools for the Future programme and the specialist music and performing arts facilities have been built into the design.
Also, we have listened to the calls for the school to remain comprehensive and secular and academy status will secure this.
Academy status
offers the best chance of achieving a good education for pupils, more money for the school, and the best chance of keeping the specialist music
provision at Pimlico.
That was enough to convince the cabinet.
Cllr SARAH RICHARDSON
Westminster City Council Cabinet Member for Children’s Services

Send your letters to: The Letters Editor, West End Extra, 40 Camden Road, London, NW1 9DR or email to letters@westendextra.co.uk. The deadline for letters is midday Wednesday. The editor regrets that anonymous letters cannot be published, although names and addresses can be withheld. Please include a full name, postal address and telephone number.
Letters may be edited for reasons of space.

Comment on this article.
(You must supply your full name and email address for your comment to be published)

Name:

Email:

Comment: