J Mark Dodds 04 May at 09:24
Hi Charlie, I'm Mark Dodds, one of the steering group for the new school. Thanks for commenting on the Michaela page. My eldest son has been offered a place at an all boys' Roman Catholic school which was not in his priority list - which also pointed out that, if he didn't get a place, he would like a secular mixed school. Faith problems aside, the school cannot not give him anything like the stimulation he needs. This, together with finding out that a friend of his was not offered a place at all, got me determined to try to help change this stupid system that is failing so many people.

Where are you based now? It would be interesting to have a discussion about all of this sometime if you have time. My email is mdodds58@gmail.com would be good to hear from you. Best wishes. Mark

Charlie Carroll 07 May at 20:43 Report
Hi Mark,

Thanks for getting in touch. Sorry it's taken me a while to reply, but I'm currently teaching full-time, and therefore enduring all that that entails.

I must admit, I still don't quite know what to think about free schools, and am taking a wait-and-see approach to it. I fully commend people like yourself for taking the initiative to try something like this. The crux is, education simply isn't working in some areas of the country, and we need to try something different. Whether free schools will work or not remains to be seen, but I admire your drive and your will to try and make a difference. Ultimately, that's exactly what we need - individuals like yourself.

I'm currently based in Bristol, and don't often have the time to make it up to London, but I would definitely be up for a chat some time if you would still like to.

All the best,

Charlie