OPENING OF FREE SCHOOL IN CHAOS
About 100 children could be left without a school place this autumn after the opening of one of the Government's flagship free schools was thrown into chaos.
It has been disclosed that the Government has asked Fulham Boys School (FBS) in west London, due to begin taking pupils this autumn, to defer its opening for a year due to "uncertainties" over where it will be permanently sited.
In a statement, the school said it was challenging the decision, warning it is not in their students' best interests for the school's opening to be delayed.
Would-be pupils have already attended "transition days" to help them settle in and get to know each other ahead of the planned September 8 opening but now face a "frantic scramble" to find a different last-minute place, according to chairman of FBS governors Alex Wade. The boys have even tried on their new school uniforms.
A site on the Gibbs Green estate in west Kensington had been earmarked as its base for the first two years, where its intake was to include 120 Year 7 pupils.
FBS officials believe there has been enough time over the past two years for the Department for Education (DfE) which funds the Church of England secondary boys school, Hammersmith & Fulham Council and other interested parties to work through options for its permanent home
Mr Wade said: "It's imperative that this political misunderstanding is cleared up as a priority, because caught in the middle are nearly 100 boys and their families, whose interests are being ignored.
"We simply don't accept that political misunderstanding could or should result in the plug being pulled on FBS less than three weeks before the summer holidays.
"How can it be in the best educational interests of pupils? Parents are committed to FBS and its boy-focused academic curriculum. Boys have been fitted for their uniform and have got to know each other at our transition days. Our head, Alun Ebenezer, has recruited an outstanding team of teachers and support staff."
The aim was to have 800 boys attending the school by 2020.
Describing themselves as "devastated," Mr Wade added: "Our education plans have been signed off by the Department as the best they have seen. A few weeks ago we passed our pre-opening inspection from Ofsted. Do officials understand what this means for FBS parents, now forced to rethink their choice of secondary school, facing a frantic scramble and desperate hope that alternate last minute places might become available before September?"
A DfE spokesman said: "Due to difficulties in securing a permanent site, Fulham Boys' School will not open as planned in September 2014.
"We will work with the local authority to help parents find other secondary schools for their children, and with the proposers behind Fulham Boys School to work towards a successful opening."
