Mobile Library and Steering Groups for a School

http://www.camberwellonline.co.uk/2011/04/mobile-library/#comment-268429

Here are some of the steering group for the new school: http://bit.ly/ixzbUs

I think we gave a really good account of the proposition at the Sun and Doves' meeting. The Q&A had to be brought to a close because it was clear that it was about to turn into a shouting aggressive anti Free School propaganda opportunity by a bunch of uninformed protestors we had the good nature to allow into the meeting. If their tone had been one of discourse instead of loud and filled with invective it would have continued in open session. Instead the audience were able to ask steering group members one to one about the proposal and the teachers who had come from secondary schools as far away as Croydon, considering applying for a job, were able to find out more directly. One prospective parent couple left in tears shortly after the meeting was called down, saying "I can't understand why people who disagree with this have to be so aggressive, all we want is for our children to get into a school that's not going to ruin their lives".

It was emotional. I well up each time I describe what happened to one of my eldest son's classmates - the one who didn't get a place at all - and it was no different explaining how I came to be involved in the steering group from the outset in front of a hundred or so people in my own back garden. I'm totally behind this happening. I'm NOT a Tory and this is NOT a Tory plot. It's for ordinary people and, Dagmar, the people most interested in putting their kids down for a place at Michaela Community School CANNOT afford a private place anywhere. This is NOT about privatisation by the back door it's about providing a state funded school that actually works in an area that is patently desperately short of places.

www.michaelacommunityschool.co.uk sign up there...