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Thank You

Today the Gipsy Hill Federation released the news that the opening of Gipsy Hill School will be delayed by a year until 2018. You can read about the full reasons behind this decision on the Federation's web site, but in short, the DfE's decision came down to inadequate time in the programme to allow for any construction delays. Obviously, as a result of this decision, Gipsy Hill School will not be opening at Paxton in 2017. This is great news for the pupils, parents, staff and residents of Paxton, who have experienced five months of uncertainty and who can now turn their focus back to enjoying their new school.

Unfortunately, it is disappointing news for the Federation and James Hadley, who has worked tirelessly to navigate a flawed system, and also for parents and pupils who hoped to start at Gipsy Hill School this September. It was everyone's ideal outcome (including ours) for Gipsy Hill School to open in temporary accommodation in 2017 at Glenbrook. Over the coming weeks, the Federation will be consulting internally on next steps, but they tell us their ambition now is to open in 2018 at Glenbrook.

We will share more information then. In the meantime, rest assured we will continue to apply pressure so that Paxton doesn't re-emerge as an option for an interim site in 2018, although right now the Federation tells us they don't see any scenario in which this will occur. We know this has been a long process, and we thank you again for your continued support.

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EFA decides Federation's two-year plan is too risky

Representatives from Paxton Matters met with Gipsy Hill School reps on the evening of 30th November. The headline from the meeting was that the EFA had deemed the Federation's two-year interim plan to be too risky. As a result, they said they would not grant funding for Gipsy Hill School unless a solution is found for three years of interim use. Paxton can only accommodate the school for two years, so now the EFA and the Federation are looking for an alternative site, although Paxton remains on the table.

One option is to forgo Paxton for another local site, which could accommodate Gipsy Hill School for three years from 2017 and would be everyone's ideal solution. There are several significant barriers to securing this site, but we have been working to apply political pressure to Lambeth Council as much as we can. Another option would be to build temporary structures on the Glenbrook site from the start of the construction programme, which would accommodate the secondary school from 2018 or 2019. Gipsy Hill School would still be at Paxton in 2017, but it could potentially be restricted to one year, or at the very least, we would know for sure the students would have somewhere to go after year 2. This plan must be considered from a technical, financial and educational standpoint, and the Federation does not expect a clear decision until February. We want to assure you that we continue to oppose Paxton as an interim site based on our original objections, and we have made that repeatedly clear to the Federation, the EFA and Lambeth. They are currently taking on board our thoughts and those of everyone who has filled in and attended the consultation. We have agreed with the Federation that if Paxton goes ahead as an interim site, we will be working closely with them to continue to chip away at the risks and hold them accountable to their promises.

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Gipsy Hill School Promotional Video Complaint

On November the 14th Gipsy Hill Federation decided to publish a video on YouTube promoting it's new secondary school.  

The timing of this video – coinciding with the first day of consultation with Paxton Primary parents and local residents, who are still coming to terms with the proposal of placing the secondary within Paxton Primary – is more that a little careless, especially considering there is no acknowledgement within the video that GHS is seeking to use Paxton as their interim site.  

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Letter to parents from the EFA

Today we heard back from the Educational Funding Agency (EFA) in response to our email sent at the start of October. We know many of you will have received the same response because of your participation in the letter-writing campaign. For those of you who haven't received the EFA's response, we have pasted it below. We have highlighted the phrases we think are of particular note:

To the parents of students at Paxton Primary School,

Thank you for taking the time to raise your concerns regarding the proposals for the temporary site for the Gipsy Hill Secondary School, which forms part of the Gipsy Hill Federation.  Firstly I would like to reassure you that no decision has been taken regarding the proposed temporary site for the school.

The Education Funding Agency (the EFA) is responsible for finding suitable and available schools sites for the Government’s Free School Programme.  This includes finding permanent school sites and in some cases a temporary school site where necessary.

In the case of Gipsy Hill Secondary School a site search was undertaken to locate a permanent school site and as part of that exercise the Federation put forward a proposal to redevelop one of their existing primary school sites (Glenbrook Primary School, Clarence Avenue, Lambeth).  Subject to consultation and planning, the primary school will be rebuilt and the new secondary school co-located on the remaining part of the site.  Please refer to the Gipsy Hill Federation’s website for more details about those proposals: http://www.gipsyhillfederation.org.uk/  

The timescale to open the new secondary school is therefore a number of years away and as such the EFA has also undertaken a site search to identify a temporary school site. The EFA is continuing to look for sites and is also considering the proposal recently put forward by the Federation to temporarily co-locate the new secondary school on the recently completed Paxton Primary School site, which also forms part of the Federation.

Since the Federation announced the proposal to use Paxton it has also attended meetings with local residents to listen to the concerns raised about the proposal.  The Federation has now written to local residents amending its original proposal e.g. by reducing the size of the school whilst it is in temporary accommodation and it has committed to consulting further with the EFA, Lambeth Local Authority and residents.

The EFA has also considered the viability of the site by looking at the available space for the time period required as well as other matters e.g. the planning conditions in place for the recently completed building.  The EFA also needs to consider other factors such as the anticipated construction programme for the proposed permanent site as well as the level of demand for school places in the coming years.

Any proposal needs to carefully consider the viability of locating a school on a particular site, including the educational as well as practical site matters.  This applies to the proposal put forward to use the Paxton Primary School site.  To reconfirm, a decision to proceed with Paxton has not yet been made – a decision is expected by December 2016 and will be communicated to local residents via the Gipsy Hill Federation.

I hope the above helps to clarify the position for you.

Yours sincerely

Peter Lauener

...........................................................................................................................

Peter Lauener

Chief Executive Education Funding Agency and Skills Funding Agency

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Helen Hayes MP meets with EFA on our behalf

Last week, Helen Hayes, MP for Dulwich and West Norwood, met with the Educational Funding Agency (EFA), which is responsible for funding new free schools. It's the EFA's job to assess the viability of Paxton as a site for Gipsy Hill School, which it will do in the coming days. Helen's purpose was to directly represent our community and communicate our concerns in advance of that assessment.

Her next step is to meet urgently with the Free Schools Group Director before a "Gateway Decision" is made. This decision will determine the free schools that are ready to open in September 2017.

Ms Hayes sent an email to us on the 3rd of November 2016 in regards to the meeting with the EFA. It is as follows:

Dear Parents: I wanted to update you on the meeting that local councillors and I had last week with the Education Funding Agency and about the Gipsy Hill Federation proposal to locate the new Gipsy Hill Secondary School on the Paxton Primary School site while the permanent site for the secondary school is developed.  We raised the following serious concerns with the EFA: 1.    That Paxton parents were not consulted about this proposal, and many are deeply unhappy about the proposal which potentially results in a loss of available facilities and play space for primary pupils as well as the loss of SEND facilities. 2.    That the local community has recently been through the very difficult process of the planning application for the redevelopment of Paxton Primary and a very intrusive programme of building works, and that the further disruption and impact associated with secondary pupils attending the site would not be acceptable. 3.    That we are concerned about agreement being reached that the school can open on a temporary site when a permanent site has not yet been fully agreed or secured. 4.    That the GHF is currently in a governance vacuum, having stood down the governing body of the Federation pending the formation of the multi-academy trust which was due to take place at the beginning of October but which has been delayed. 5.    That local councillors representing College and Gipsy Hill wards have not been contacted by the Federation in relation to the proposals for the Paxton site despite representing the residents most affected, and that the engagement with ward councillors in Thornton ward where Glenbrook School (the Federation's preferred permanent site for the secondary school) is located has also been poor. We expressed our grave concerns on behalf of local parents and residents, that the current plans as proposed are simply not workable and that the Education Funding Agency needs to do much more, both in terms of requiring the Federation to undertake much better engagement with the local community and assist with the identification of workable locations for the temporary and permanent school sites. We understand that the EFA is due to take a 'gateway' decision on whether the wave of free schools which includes the Gipsy Hill Secondary School have progressed sufficiently to be approved to open in September 2017, and we are currently seeking an urgent further meeting with the Free Schools Group director who is responsible for this process. We remain fully supportive of a new Gipsy Hill Federation Secondary School and want to see the new school open as soon as possible, but it must open on both temporary and permanent sites which work to provide a high quality school environment and are acceptable to the wider community. I would be very happy for you to post this update on your website and/or circulate it to your email list. I will provide a further update following my next meeting with the Free Schools Group. With best wishes Helen Helen Hayes MP Member of Parliament for Dulwich and West Norwood

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Gipsy Hill School letter: 20th October 2016

Gipsy Hill School sent home a letter to parents last week, explaining that it will restrict its intake during its interim years at Paxton. In theory, this proposal means building temporary structures on site will not be necessary. 

While we feel this is a step in the right direction and a small victory for our campaign, we continue to have grave concerns about the lack of formal channels for consultation with parents and residents, and the risks associated with overruns on the permanent site. As a result, until we see more concrete plans, Paxton Matters will continue to pursue the removal of Paxton as an option for Gipsy Hill School's interim site.

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Meeting with Federation

Meeting between Gipsy Hill Federation Governors and representatives of Paxton Matters

8pm, Wednesday 19 October

NOTES

Attendees

Federation (GHF)

Sir Craig Tunstall - CEO GHF Sarah Williams - Chair of Trustees Pervin Sivanathan - Member and former Chair of GHF GB Sarah Wintle - Trustee and former Chair of GHF GB Michael Corden - Local Governor

James Hadley - Head of Gipsy Hill Secondary School

Paxton Matters (PM)

Michelle Roffe - Reception parent

Nick Burt - Reception and year 4 parent

Matthew Flint - year 5 parent and former Chair of Friends group

Debbie Jackson - Reception parent

Key points

GHF clarified that the formal transition to Academy status has still not happened due to some technical legal issues.  These will be resolved and the Federation will transition but it’s taking longer than expected.  For now, the Federation governing body are responsible for the primary schools, and the Trust is responsible for the Gipsy Hill Secondary (GHS).  Post academisation, the Trust will be responsible for everything.  Representatives of both the Trust and the Governors were at the meeting.

PM clarified that while they seek to represent the views of the parents and residents, they are not elected to do so and cannot be responsible for taking decisions or indicating what will or won’t be acceptable on behalf of the wider Paxton community.  PM is a conduit for the views of the wider community to GHF and vice versa.

It was unclear whether other sites are being pursued for the temporary provision.  At one stage GHF said details of other sites could not be revealed as it is commercially confidential, but the impression from the meeting is that no other sites are being pursued.  It is clear that the suggestion of bringing Glenbrook forward to allow the secondary to move there from 2018 is off the table, GHF also stated that the EFA had said the Chapel Road site is a ‘dead end’.  GHF confirmed the suggestion to use Paxton was generated by GHF and not the EFA.

GHF stated that having listened to concerns and carried out further work, their current proposal is to limit the intake of the GHS so that no temporary buildings are required.  They stated that at this stage it is not possible to confirm how many pupils or FE but it would not impact on any of the specialist facilities enjoyed by the primary school children (eg, SEN, music room, nursery).

The GHF is meeting with the Leader of Lambeth Council on Friday to discuss the outcome of the consultation on the Glenbrook site for the GHS.  GHF were unable to provide a firm timescale for the development of GHS but did state a planning application would be ‘summer 2017’.

GHF stated that the pressure to open in 2017 is to respond to parent demand for a better choice in the children’s secondary education.  They went on to refer to the need for secondary places but this was presented as context rather than the core reason.

When asked if deferral until 2018 is an option, GHF stated that the DfE/EFA have confirmed it is possible but the key barrier is that they have appointed staff (the Head and Deputy Head) for GHS and there is no funding for these staff for an additional year.  GHS has been deferred by one year already.

GHF confirmed that if GHS opened with 4FE for two years it would fulfil the basic need in terms of projected demand in pupil places.

GHF confirmed that the admissions criteria for Glenbrook are under consultation.

GHF confirmed that prospective GHS parents and Paxton parents would be informed on 20/10 of the proposed reduction in intake at the temporary site at Paxton.

GHF confirmed that there would be a consultation to take on views before a decision is taken.

PM confirmed that their mandate is to campaign for Paxton primary to be off the table as a site for the temporary provision of GHS.  As the proposal remains, the campaign continues.  PM will communicate the key points from the discussion with the parent and resident community.

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London Live News

Melinda, a member of the Paxton Matters team concerned about the Gipsy Hill Federation's proposal to place a new secondary school within Paxton Primary School, spoke to London Live News about the proposals.

We would like to emphasise our objections are aimed solely towards the Gipsy Hill Federation and not Paxton Primary School or any of it's staff who continue to do fantastic work despite this difficult situation which was not of their own making.

London Live Video

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Letter Writing Campaign

Please could you help support the campaign by writing emails to your MP, local councillors, and the Department of Education and Educational Funding Agency, opposing the plans to co-locate Gipsy Hill Secondary School at Paxton Primary.

To aid you in doing this we have created ready made letter templates and directions.

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The promise of incremental growth

When the Gipsy Hill Federation decided to expand Paxton Primary from one-form to three-form entry, parents, prospective parents and the local community were concerned about the impact on the quality of education and on the surrounding infrastructure. While many could see the need for a larger school in the area, Paxton had long thrived as an outstanding school on a small scale on a constrained urban site. How would it effectively triple in size without negatively impacting the quality of education and the community?

To allay parents and residents' fears and those of Lambeth planners, the Federation promised incremental growth. The school would accept three forms of entry into reception in the first year of the new building, and grow from there with two additional classes each year. The suggestion was that the school would preserve its small-school feel for existing students, and it could assure new parents the school would walk before it ran during the scaled expansion.

Most importantly, it gave local residents a chance to get accustomed to parking challenges. As part of its planning process,Paxton promised to review its travel plan every year and adjust if needed to reduce the burden of more traffic on the area.

Today, rather than uphold those promises, the Gipsy Hill Federation is pushing a new plan to increase the number of children on site by 158% in two years, taking the site significantly over-capacity. Clearly, this is far from the incremental growth the community, staff and parents were promised.

These minutes from Lambeth’s September 2015 Planning Committee show the Council's conditions to planning approval for the Paxton Expansion.

Although Paxton Primary will still technically grow incrementally as new classes are added, for many stakeholders on the receiving end of that promise, the benefits of slow growth will be stripped away by the addition of the secondary school. From next year, the primary school is likely to suffer from a significant increase in traffic, unprecedented logistical challenges, and crowded common spaces.

The Headteacher's Welcome on the Paxton Primary School web site still advertises incremental growth.

The Federation continues to leverage the promise of "incremental growth" even now. On its Gipsy Hill School web site, it touts great facilities for the secondary school by citing the incremental growth of the primary school, despite the fact that the school will be 270 students over capacity in its second year.

The Gipsy Hill School has now shifted its incremental growth promise to attract secondary school students.

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No shortage of places in 2017

If you listened to BBC Radio London this morning, you heard several of us talking about how there is no need to open the Gipsy Hill Secondary School in 2017, as there is no shortage of places in Lambeth and Southwark. As we've said all along, we are very much in support of the secondary school opening, but we don't see why the opening of the school can't be delayed until a permanent site is ready or a more suitable interim site is found.

A representative from the Federation went on the radio after us this morning and refuted our claim that there is no shortage of places. Below, we show why our claim is the accurate one.

This table is taken from the Lambeth Pupil Place Planning Report. The number of projected places shown for 2017 includes the opening of the Gipsy Hill School, but even if it didn't open, there would still be a surplus of places in Lambeth in 2017. (Lambeth conducted an independent study earlier this year which further validates its projections.)

Lambeth projections for secondary school places in 2017 and beyond.

As Paxton Primary School sits directly on the border of Southwark, it's also worth nothing the projected places in that borough for 2017. This table is taken from the Southwark Primary and Secondary Place Report.

Southwark projected places for 2017 and beyond.

While we appreciate that secondary school places are needed over the coming years, quite simply there is no need for Gipsy Hill School to open in 2017 at Paxton Primary School. Given an extra year to pursue an alternate interim site, the Federation would not be rushed into a significant compromise on the Paxton Primary site and could find a more suitable solution.

OCTOBER 13, 2016

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Follow-up letter to parents from the Federation

This letter was sent home to parents from the Federation on the 11th of October.

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Gipsy Hill Open Day At Paxton

A number of Paxton parents attended the Gipsy Hill Secondary school open day on the 1st of October where they were taken on a tour of the top floor of Paxton School.

Parents on the tour were informed that Paxton was to be the site of Gipsy Hill School for an interim period of two years starting from the first intake in September 2017.

From placing the original letter in Paxton children's book bags on the 28th of October the Federation had wasted little time in fixing Gipsy Hill signs into the walls of Paxton's unfinished primary school building.

Parents taken on the tour were informed with the following message posted on one of the display boards:

We are building relationships with businesses and community groups to ensure that our students have an entirely positive, effective relationship with the local community.

Evidence thus far from the local community’s response to these plans and the Federation’s handling of the situation would suggest otherwise.

Unfortunately, despite Sir Craig Tunstall's assurances to Paxton parents and local community members (on 4th of October 2016) that he would correct the poor communication to parents who attended the tour – in regards to the status of the site – and amend going forwards, social media communications from the Gipsy Hill School and the Federation following that meeting appear to have done little to clarify the situation.

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Traffic conflict

These measures by the Gipsy Hill Federation will bring them into direct conflict with Lambeth Planning Committee's grounds for granting planing, which despite serious concerns over 'parking stress' and 'volume of traffic', was granted citing that 'the school expansion would occur gradually over a number of years' – from September 1st 2015, Lambeth Planning Committee minutes for application of new primary school building of 3 form intake.

An increase of 158% pupil numbers within 2 years - due to the addition of 480 Gipsy Hill Secondary School students coming from a catchment area of beyond 10km - makes a farce of Lambeth's and the Department for Education's 'decision in principle'.

The school have to put in place a travel plan due to the council's very serious concerns in regards to traffic and inform parents of the plan. The plan has to be reviewed annually.

The  condition, from Lambeth’s Planning Committee upon the expansion of the school from 1 form to 3 form entry, was applied due to concern over the potential impact of traffic and parking stress.

This is not a Gradual increase by anyone's standards.

Full report can be found here: Lambeth Planning Applications Committee minutes (page 12)

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The Guardian: 'Parents' Fury' article

Today the Guardian has Published an article by Warwick Mansell highlighting the issues surrounding our campaign in both their printed and online editions.

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South London Press

Toby Porter of the South London Press came down on Tuesday the 4th of October to report on the local community meeting concerning the Federation’s plans.

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Where’s the space?

HERE ARE THE FLOOR PLANS OF PAXTON PRIMARY SCHOOL – 23 CLASSROOMS WITH 1 MULTI PURPOSE ROOM AND 1 MUSIC ROOM. SPACE IS ONE OFF THE MAIN ARGUMENTS FOR WHY PLACING A SECONDARY SCHOOL ON SITE WON'T WORK. HERE IS A BREAKDOWN OF THE NUMBER OF CLASSES WITHIN THE PAXTON SCHOOL PREMISES BY 2018-19.

Paxton will have: 2 Nursery Classes •3 Reception classes • 3 Yr 1 classes • 3 Yr 2 classes • 2 Yr 3 Classes • 1 Yr 4 Class • 1 Yr 5 Class • 1 Yr 6 Class = 16 Filled Primary School Classrooms

Gipsy Hill School will have: two years of 8 form entry = 16 Classes

This would leave at very least a shortage of 9 classrooms by 2018 and mean the school building would be over capacity by approximately 240 students to the detriment of the education of both Gipsy Hill and Paxton students.