The press release issued by the Department for Education on 5 September 2011.

• Two thirds of schools oversubscribed for their first year
• Demand for some schools three times more than places available

Thousands of parents have applied to send their children to the first 24 Free Schools that are aiming to open in next month. This comes as latest analysis by the Department for Education shows that Free Schools are targeting deprivation, with half of the schools located in the 30 per cent most deprived communities.

15 of the 24 schools are oversubscribed for their first year, with some seeing more than three applications for one school place.

For example:

• Moorlands School, Luton, received 420 applications for 115 places.
• The West London Free School, Hammersmith and Fulham, received over 500 applications for 120 places.
• Sandbach School, Cheshire, received 340 applications for 210 places.
• St Luke’s Church of England Primary School, Camden, received 54 applications for 15 places.

Department for Education analysis published today also shows that Free Schools are targeting deprivation. Based on Super Output Areas – the most accurate reflection of a school’s local community – the analysis finds that of the 24 Free Schools opening in the next two weeks:

• Over a third (9 schools) are located in the 20% most deprived communities.
• Half the schools (12 schools) are located in the 30% most deprived communities.

The figures clearly show that the Free Schools policy has already been a success in creating schools in disadvantaged areas and where there is a need for new places. Many of the Free Schools opening this September have been set up because passionate teachers and charities want to support the very poorest pupils who live in communities where results and aspiration have been low for generations.

Free Schools will be good, local schools funded by the Government, but have greater freedoms than local authority run schools. They are run by teachers – not local councils or Westminster politicians – and have freedom over things like the length of the school day, the curriculum, and how they spend their money. These schools are opening because of real, local demand from parents for a new or different type of education to benefit local children and their families. They will meet parents’ simple desire for good, local, state funded schools that have strong discipline and – in many cases – small class sizes.

The teachers running the outstanding Cuckoo Hall Academy, for example, have decided to set up a Free School – Woodpecker Hall Primary Academy – so they can reach more children in a part of North London that needs good new school places, and where the number of pupils on Free Schools Meals is high.

Patricia Sowter, executive principal of Woodpecker Hall Primary Academy, talking about her previous experience before setting up a Free School said:

It would break my heart. I couldn’t give places to half of the children in the nursery class because of local authority admission rules. I remember one Asian family whose mother had tears in her eyes as she pleaded with me to take her daughter. I knew I had to do more to help these parents get what was best for their children. I knew these children could succeed, despite the deprivation and despite what seemed to be a mindset of low expectations at the local authority.

Under the Coalition Government’s new plans, Free Schools will also be able to prioritise the most disadvantaged children (eligible for Free School Meals) in their school admissions arrangements. With the Pupil Premium – worth £430 per pupil this year – there will be an even greater incentive for Free Schools to attract pupils that are most in need of high-quality education.

From initial proposal to opening, the first Free Schools will have taken between ten and 15 months to set up from submitting initial application forms. In the past, it took between three and five years to set up a maintained school, with parent-promoted schools taking up to nine years. It also took five years to open the first 50 Academies. The Government is shaving years off this to respond to the urgent demand from parents, and to drive up standards more quickly – especially for the poorest pupils.

Schools Minister Lord Hill said:

What parents want is the chance to send their children to a good local school with high standards. These new free schools are designed to achieve exactly that and we are committed to opening many more in the next few years.

For too long, politicians in Westminster have assumed they know best and that more political control means better results. The opposite is true. Good schools know better than politicians how to run their own affairs and that’s why we’re confident these free schools – which give them real independence – will offer local children a great education. It’s not surprising many are oversubscribed.

Notes to editors

1. As of 1 September, the Free Schools that are oversubscribed this year are:

• Aldborough E-ACT Free School, Redbridge
• ARK Conway Primary Academy, Hammersmith & Fulham
• Batley Grammar School, Kirklees
• Bradford Science Academy, Bradford
• Canary Wharf College, Tower Hamlets
• Discovery New School, West Sussex
• Eden Primary School, Haringey
• Langley Hall Primary Academy, Slough
• Maharish School, Lancashire
• Moorlands School, Luton
• Sandbach School, Cheshire
• St Luke’s Church of England Primary School, Camden
• The Free School Norwich, Norfolk
• West London Free School, Hammersmith & Fulham
• Woodpecker Hall Academy, Enfield

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 5 September 2011.

• 1,000 new academies have opened in the last year

More children will have the opportunity of a great education as record numbers of weak schools are turned into academies this year.

Forty-five sponsored academies will open in September, with a further forty-nine due to open during this academic year. This is the highest ever number of new sponsored academies to open in one year.

In addition, 185 good schools will become academies this month – on top of the 796 who have already converted. These schools can now take charge of their own affairs and enjoy the professional freedom and control that academy status brings.

Since September 2010, 1,097 schools have become academies (116 sponsored academies, 981 converter academies), meaning that 1300 academies are now open, compared to 203 opened before the Academies Act of July 2011. This is more than a six-fold increase.

This means that more than 40 per cent of all secondary schools are now open or in the process of opening as academies.

As of this September:

• there are 1,300 Academies open across the country
• in 29 local authorities, the majority of secondary schools are academies
• in addition to the open academies, a further 575 are in the pipeline, with more applications expected in the new school year
• the first 12 special schools have become Academies and we are working with 25 who are interested in doing so over the next year.

Education Secretary, Michael Gove, said today:

Teachers, not politicians or bureaucrats, should run schools. They should be free to innovate in the classroom. That is why thousands of schools are becoming academies.

Every child should be able to attend a good school. But we have inherited one of the most stratified and segregated education systems in the developed world.

Thankfully, record numbers of weak schools are becoming academies this year, so we are giving more and more children opportunities that have historically been the preserve of those from wealthy backgrounds.

Academies benefit from greater freedoms to innovate and raise standards. These include:

• freedom from local and central government control
• the ability to set their own pay and conditions for staff
• freedoms around the delivery of the curriculum
• freedom to change the lengths of terms and school days.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 31 August 2011.

Sir,

It is disappointing that Monday’s article plays down the hard work and achievement of so many passionate teachers, parents and charities that have set up new schools to improve education for children in their area (Pupil numbers are scaled back after failure to fill places, Monday 29 August 2011).

Contrary to the gloomy picture painted, many of the free schools opening for the first time in September report that they are oversubscribed – with some receiving four applications for one place.

The fact that hundreds of families are putting their faith in these brand new schools – schools that do not yet have exam results or Ofsted ratings to prove their worth – is remarkable. It clearly shows that parents want a better choice of local schools – run by teachers, not bureaucrats – which offer strong discipline, excellent teaching and high standards.

Lord Hill of Oareford CBE

Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Schools

 

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 26 August 2011.

The number of disabled children receiving short breaks more than doubled between April 2008 and March 2011, with increases in every area of the country. The findings are published today in a report by Together for Disabled Children (TDC), commissioned by the government.

Short breaks give disabled children and their families the chance of a normal life and opportunities that other children can take for granted such as playing with their friends, learning new hobbies or going on holiday. Short breaks also give parents a well needed rest from their caring responsibilities and a chance to recharge.

The government has now made it statutory for local authorities to provide short breaks, as of April 2011. The new regulations require local authorities to publish information to parents describing what short breaks services are on offer in their area.

The government has committed over £800 million for local authorities to invest in short breaks between April 2011 and March 2015 through the Early Intervention Grant. This compares with £270 million which was made available between 2008 and 2011.

The number of disabled children receiving short breaks rose from 57,383 in 2008-09 to 162,831 in 2010-11 – an increase of over 105,000 children. This has contributed to a decrease in social care interventions and a fall in the number of disabled children entering the looked after system.

The TDC report also analysed the success of parent forums across the country between 2008 and 2011. Over 1,700 parents of disabled children are now actively involved in planning services in their area through parent forums – over three times more than in 2008.

Children’s Minister, Sarah Teather, said:

Disabled children and their parents rely on support and free time to have a normal family life. Weekends away, overnight care and fun activities give parents a valuable break from caring and give disabled children a chance to learn a new skill or make new friends.

The success of the short breaks programme is clearly down to local authorities working in partnership with parents of disabled children, so that services are shaped by their needs. The families involved benefit and services are better value for money so other families get to enjoy more short breaks services.

Short breaks provide families with early help so they can cope better in times of stress, and are less likely to need help from social care services. That’s why it’s vital that local authorities continue to invest in short breaks and make it a priority. We have backed this up with a new duty on local authorities to provide short breaks.

We want to give parents more influence and control over local services. In our green paper on special educational needs (SEN) and disability we have set out a range of ways that parents should be involved in local decision making. Increasing parent participation means more services are being delivered that are more responsive to the needs of local disabled children.

On short breaks the report finds that:

• Over eight million additional hours of daytime short breaks were provided to disabled children and their families – the number of daytime hours rose from 6,079,681 hours in 2008 to 14,308,283 hours by March 2011.
• An additional 193,000 nights of care are being provided either in the child’s own home, in hospices, holiday parks or on weekend breaks. The number of nights of care rose from 587,095 nights in 2008 to 780,827 nights by March 2011.
• Local authorities have particularly improved activities and breaks for children with severe challenging behaviour and complex health needs.
• Providing a range of short breaks services has led to greater satisfaction from disabled children and their parents and is more cost effective than only using expensive residential care.
• Greater parental involvement in commissioning short breaks services has led to better value for money, and therefore more services are being delivered to more children.
• There have been particular increases in the number of voluntary and community sector organisations, particularly small local groups, delivering services.

Christine Lenehan, Council for Disabled Children (CDC), said:

Short breaks are essential for families with disabled children. Caring for a disabled child can be a full time job. This often means that parents of disabled children have little time to do day-to-day tasks such as cleaning, taking a shower and sitting down to eat a meal.

Access to regular, reliable, high quality short breaks can be life changing for families, providing time to do day-to-day activities, to rest and to build their relationships. Even more importantly, they give disabled children and young people themselves the opportunity to take part in positive activities, to build friendships and to play an active part in their communities.

CDC warmly welcomes the increase in access to short breaks, particularly for children with the most complex needs. However, this is not the end of the story. It is crucial that the Government continues to monitor local delivery of short breaks under the Early Intervention Grant.

The government today announced that Contact a Family, a charity providing advice and support for the parents of disabled children, has won the contract to strengthen parents’ involvement in local decision making across the country. Contact a Family will carry through the commitments in the SEN and disability green paper to give parents more control over the support their child and family needs, and to fund parent forums in every local area.

Parent forums have been developed in almost all local authorities to help parents have a say in the range and quality of services for disabled children. This includes, for example, the supply and delivery of equipment, therapy services, and the local SEN transport policy.

An increase in parent participation and the active involvement of parents in shaping services has resulted in:

• Lower stress for families, helping them feel in control of their child’s wellbeing.
• An increase in value for money services.
• Better, more coordinated local information for families of disabled children.
• Some parents have personally benefitted and have returned to work as a result of the confidence of being part of a group.
• Three pilot projects in Leicester, Hull and Tower Hamlets successfully increased the number of black and ethnic minority parents by tackling barriers such as lack of information and language differences.

Srabani Sen, Chief Executive of Contact a Family, said:

We are delighted the government has committed to continue funding parent forums which have played a vital role in shaping services to meet the needs of families with disabled children over the last three years.

The results speak for themselves: more and more parents’ voices are being heard, parents feel more in control and this has led to a range of improved outcomes for children, young people and their families.

Strengthening parent participation is at the heart of Contact a Family’s work and we look forward to supporting parent carer forums to continue their excellent work.

Local parent forums share experiences, provide peer support, and get updates on national developments via the regional parent forum networks. A National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF), established in March 2010, supports local and regional forums. This has helped ensure that parents are engaged in shaping national policy, and that their voices are heard.

The NNPCF has worked closely with the government in formulating national policy. Specifically they are involved in the selection of green paper pathfinders that will test the single education, health and care plan and personal budgets.

Anna Gill and Carrie Britton, co-chairs of the NNPCF, said:

We are delighted that the government values the unique and crucial perspective that Parent Carers can bring to strategic decision making at all levels, from national commissioning and policy making through to the local allocation of scarce resources; the ongoing commitment to support the development of all Parent Carer Forums through Contact a Family will help us ensure that the voice of even more families will be heard.

Voluntary and community sector and other organisations have been invited to bid to support local areas, including their ongoing provision of short breaks.

The press release issued by the Department for Education on 28 July 2011.

Responding to the Education Select Committee’s report on the English Baccalaureate, Schools Minister Nick Gibb said:

We believe very strongly that all children have the right to a broad and balanced education that includes English, maths, science, a language and a humanity.

These academic subjects reflect the knowledge and skills young people need to progress to further study or to rewarding employment. It cannot be right that children from the poorest backgrounds are significantly less likely to have the opportunity to take GCSEs in these subjects than children from more advantaged areas. Just 8% of children eligible for Free School Meals were entered for the E-Bacc subjects next last year compared to 22% overall.

Closing the attainment gap between children from wealthier and poorer backgrounds is a key objective of the Government and the E-Bacc measure plays an important part in helping to deliver that objective. The E-Bacc is not compulsory but it is about closing the attainment gap between rich and poor and about increasing opportunity.