Paces

When all said and done, I doubt we could have done more.

When all said and done, I doubt we could have done more. A school that Ofsted said officially was "Good" and told us unofficially was nearly "Outstanding"; an application that independent readers told us was "compelling" and "impressive", in the end was not sufficient.

This morning DfE wrote to say that Paces was not being invited to take our Special Free School application to the final, Pre-Opening, stage for September 2012 .

This is a huge disappointment; for us at Paces, of course, but also, perhaps just a little, for the future of conductive education in England, and as well, maybe, as those children with cerebral palsy across South Yorkshire and beyond and their families, who will have to wait a while longer.

The reasons given in the letter were several and various. Over the telephone, the several reasons reduced to two: we had not successfully evidenced demand and assessors could not clearly determine value-for-money from the information we had supplied. I would comment, countering both, but do not yet feel so inclined - certainly not now. We shall, nevertheless, reflect on the reasons and learn lessons from them; we shall, in all probability, apply again next year.

By then, perhaps, DfE will have resolved issues around funding, assessment and decisions on placement, which are so important for parents and for those who would in that case, and no longer detered by the complexities and uncertainties, bring forward more proposals for special free schools. By then, too, the Government's SEN Green Paper ("consultation") should have progressed to White Paper ("planned legislation") - with some of the inherent contradictions sorted out.

For now, my grateful thanks to everyone who supported Paces in our application and wished us well. I am sorry we could not have 'come home with the gold medal' as the Olympians say. Maybe next year!

Sheffield endorses Paces' Special Free School application

"Thank you for your letter of 29th September 2011. I am happy to confirm formally our support for the application for Paces to become a Free School."

Dated 17 October 2011, the letter is signed personally by Dr Sonia Sharp, Executive Director, Children, Young People and Families.

Every parent everywhere, everyone everywhere who has battled for conductive education, will understand the the sense of joy, excitement and, yes, gratitude at the opening words of that second sentence: "I am happy to confirm formally our support ...." 

"I am happy to confirm formally our support ..." Joy, excitement, gratitude tinged almost with disbelief so that twenty and more times I have read it with relief since first reading late this afternoon.

"I am happy to confirm formally our support ...."

As part of the last step for Paces' application to open a Special free School before moving to "pre-opening", we were required by DfE to write to each of the ten local authorities we have served to confirm their expectation that pupils would be placed with us from September 2012. Sheffield, our home local authority, was always the most important.

We are still not clear of all obstacles. We must count no chickens before they are hatched. Today was the deadline for submitting to DfE, along with responses from local authorities, our financial projections for the Special Free School, revised in line with the "Interim Funding Arrangement" that will apply for the first two years. By this arrangement, Special Free Schools will receive £10,000 direct from central government (by whatever route) and the balance will have to be negotiated with local authorities.  As the Director goes on to end her letter, "we do not have absolute clarity on the funding of Free Schools as part of the broader school system" which sums it up precisely. The word we hear is that this is likely to take 18 months before it is resolved; a tricky period to navigate.

But for now, rejoice! "I am happy to confirm formally our support for the application for Paces to become a Free School."

 

Paces at NASS Annual Conference

I'm about to head off to the Annual Conference of NASS at South Normanton, near Derby;  looking forward to taking part in the Panel Discussion that rounds off the first day. My brief is to talk about our experience of applying to become a Free School.

"Panel Discussion: Survival of the Fittest - Surviving and Thriving in Difficult Times

• Tracy De Bernhardt Dunkin, West of England School & College - The Future Remodelled
• Olga Sullivan, Buckinghamshire CC  - Working with local authorities
• Sue Harrison, Xue - Developing a coaching culture
• Norman Perrin, Paces High Green School - Applying for Free School status

I'll slip in mention of conductive education, of course!

Paces Special Free School - Yes, says DfE.

The news we'd been waiting for, when it came, came by email late yesterday afternoon.

The first paragraph read:

Dear Mr Perrin
Free School Application: Paces
27 September 2011
I am pleased to inform you that after careful consideration, your application to establish a Special Free School in Sheffield will progress to the financial assessment stage of the Special Free Schools process.

The rest of the evening I spent ringing and emailing around the great news, as you wil imagine. Congratulations, especially to the core team responsible for the Proposal and those who submitted themselves to the DfE interview in London in August, poured in by email, twitter and Facebook. We are thrilled to say a huge thanks to Paces' many friends.

What does it mean for conductive education? Let us pause before we attempt an answer. Two elements are key to the Free Schools policy and "offer": (1) the word "Free" relates to freedom from local authority control and (2) funding will come from central government. In the exceptional case of Special Free Schools, however, both of these remain to be resolved.

In the matter of funding, interim arrangements will apply until the outcomes of the Government’s Consultation on funding are known which will determine the basis of a long term funding system for all schools including Special Free Schools. This will not be before the first Special Free Schools open in September 2012.

In the matter of freedom from local authorities, the SEND Green Paper sets out a strong role for local authorities with regard to SEN and until, at least, the funding arrangements are resolved, the precise role of local authorities in relation to Special Free Schools will not be entirely resolved.

Given these two caveats, I am perfectly clear that Special Free Schools will have the same freedoms as all Free Schools and Academies to arrange the curriculum, appoint staff and so on, as we wish and that Free Schools will be as much part of the educational mainstream as local authority schools and the increasing number of Academies. In Sheffield, we already know that when we "open" (all being well) as a Special Free School in September 2012, Paces School - a conductive education school founded by parents - will be part of the local "family of schools", a major stage on the long, long journey from 1986 or, for us in Sheffield, from 1992.

Let me just mention, too, that in November 2010 Paces School was formally declared to be a "Good" school, and, informally, in several respects "outstanding".

In all, a cause, I think, for a modest celebration! 

... and so back to business-as-usual: a work-in-progress

Sorry folks for not following up our Free School interview with a quick posting.  How did it go? Did we have a good day in London? I'll tell you in 6-8 weeks when DfE announces which groups have been successful!

Returning to Sheffield on the train, we chewed over the whole experience and where we might have given a better response. We were all agreed the questions ranged widely over our proposal and that members of the interviewing panel seemed familiar with our application. We thought the questioning thorough, balanced and fair, with all the opportunity we needed to make our case in the 90 minutes allotted to us.

I'm not sure if we could have done better. As an existing School, we are so close to the reality and actuality of running a school, we are close to so much that for aspirant groups is still to come - a different perspective, altogether.

So, we wait. And return to business-as-usual, for now: an ERDF bid to take to the next stage in partnership with High Green Development Trust; a DoH fund to consider; supporting another group at Paces Campus develop a training proposal and so on.

Friday evening. A weekend of relaxation in prospect, not every minute thinking about what needs to be done. Mind you, on Sept 21st we've got the visit of HRH the Duke of Gloucester, so I must check on Monday if ...... and so it goes on, a work-in-progress.

Thanks to all the very many people who encouraged us with best wishes for the DfE interview.

Little more than a weekend before Paces' Special Free School interview

Monday will see 5 of us in London at the Department for Education for our Free School proposal interview. We are looking forward to it, with some excitement and trepidation.

Earlier this week, on Tuesday we got the interview team together to go through the advice supplied by the New Schools Network.

Tomorrow, Friday, we are having a training session with Tom Legge of Place group, in the form of a mock interview.

We aim to be as prepared as we can possibly be. You might say that after 20 years preparing, we ought to be!

Paces invited by DfE to next stage Free Schools interview

News in haste:

Paces has today been invited by DfE to the next stage, to attend for interview on 15th August, in our application to open a Free School.

The news we were all waiting for: Paces has passed the initial vetting stage of the process to open a Special Free School. We are delighted that DfE have invited us to  attend an interview as the next part of our assessment process.  The interview will give us the chance to demonstrate in person to an expert panel our vision, motivation and ability run a Free School.

The panel will be made up of senior DfE officials plus advisers from education, finance, business and, because ours is a Special Free School application, a local authority representative.

Following the interview, DfE will decide if our proposal should move on to the final financial planning stage.

First analysis of (some) Free School applications

According to research from the Institute of Education ("Free Schools in the Big Society: Aims, Governance and Inclusion"), almost a quarter of the 300 Free School applications are led by would-be headteachers.  Of the research led by Dr Rob Higham, the Institute's own report says "Interestingly, nearly all the lead teacher-proposers appear to aspire to become the free school's head teacher from usually a teacher or middle leader level. For most it would represent very rapid promotion."

This may be a premature conclusion, given that Dr Higham according to the report has "identified 135 of the approximately 300 groups". Odd choice of verb "identified". I wonder what process lies behind it? Or why he could not "identify" the other approximately 165? Without this information, we readers cannot assess the sample or attribute any reliability to the report.

Nevertheless, on Twitter, this led @teachertomo (who describes herself as a "Teacher trade unionist. Passionate about education but not always the version we deliver in schools. vehemently against privatisation i.e academies.") to tweet: "Want to be a Headteacher? skip the interview process. Set up your own free school".

Knockabout politics aside, there are some suggestive numbers and observations in this early study. I was interested to read that "A quarter overall (25 per cent) are parent groups, most of whom hope to set up secondary schools", a higher proportion than I might have expected.  Likewise, "some 13 per cent of applications are from existing private schools, either to move their own institution into the state sector or to set up a satellite operation", which the report of the research notes as an example of "some unexpected ways in which the free schools policy appears to be developing".

Personally, I would have thought that one of the merits - maybe the purpose - of the Free Schools programme was its encouragement of innovation, which must by definition be largely "unexpected".  Dr Higham, of course, asserts the importance of research, "to provide data that can test the assumptions on both sides of the debate". I doubt that the "debate" has just two sides (for and against, no doubt) but I would like to see some research into the extent which the Free Schools programme has and does encourage innovation, in any way.

Nothing about Special Free Schools, though.

Children do not have motor disorders only in school term-time

The other day, I was reflecting on the possibilities 'Flexi-schools' offer for year-round conductive education.

Today, I have been reading of the possibilities open to Free Schools. ( The Daily Telegraph reports a speech by Education Secretary Michael Gove to the Policy Exchange.)

The Free School Norwich for instance, plans to open six days a week for 51 weeks of the year, which will integrating high-quality education and child care all year-round. Freedom to set their own staff pay and conditions, means that they are able to change the school day to fit their requirements. This means working parents will be able to make full use of the affordable extended school provision, which will be available on the school premises for six days each week, 51 weeks of the year.''

The West London Free School expects pupils to stay in school, or at music and drama clubs until 5pm between Monday and Friday. Mossbourne Academy, which was opened under the last Labour Government, already operates a longer school day and opens at weekends.

Do I need to spell out the possibilities for conductive education in such models?

20 applications to open Special Free Schools

The BBC is reporting that the Department for Education has received 20 bids to open special free schools in England in the second round of applications that closed on 15th June.

Of the 281 bids in the whole second round, 227 were for mainstream schools, 20 for schools for children with special educational needs, and 34 for alternative provision schools, such as pupil referral units.

Of the 227 mainstream applications, 56% were from local groups, with 18% from independent schools wishing to move into the state sector, and 5% from existing academy schools.

The successful bidders will be announced in September.

Michael Gove is due to give a speech on the free schools programme on Monday, in which he will say there have been some "extremely promising proposals".