New Bristol secondary school moves step closer

Parents in north west Bristol have seen their dream of a new secondary school move a small step closer.

They have teamed up with a new organisation called New Schools Network to investigate the possibility of setting up their own independent state school.

The families behind the move have children at Westbury-on-Trym Church of England Primary School.

They say their youngsters have to travel far and wide to school from the age of 11 because there is no state secondary within walking distance.

Bristol City Council opened a new school at Redland Green three years ago but families in Westbury can usually only get their children in there if they move house.

The school is so popular – it had 598 applications for 189 places this year – that places are allocated only to those who live very close to the school.

The nearest other schools are Henbury School and Oasis Academy Brightstowe, in Shirehampton, but some parents in the area currently send their children out of Bristol altogether.

Karen Foster, one of the parents behind the campaign, said people were desperate for another school.

Many believed the new Redland school should have been built at Stoke Lodge, where it would have served people from Westbury, Henleaze and Stoke Bishop.

"In this area houses are sold on the basis that the primary schools are so good," she said.

"Secondary schools are really not as good and most people go outside of Bristol. I would really like my children to go to a school with their friends that we could walk to. I'm not in a position to move so there isn't another option other than putting them on the bus for a long time."

Mrs Foster, 37, of Canford Lane, who has two daughters, Abby, six, and Holly, four, said about 140 people had so far signed a petition in favour of a new secondary for the area.

"We hope the New Schools Network will help us move ahead and help us with the political and legal processes," she said.

Parent-promoted schools are already permitted under current legislation but only two have so far been created in England.

However, the Conservatives say that if they win the next general election they will encourage more parents to set up their own schools.

The New Schools Network is an independent charity. Its director Rachel Wolf, a former adviser to Tory schools spokesman Michael Gove, said its aim was to help parents set up schools in areas where they are not happy with local authority provision.

Fiona Wisloff, a mother of three children at Westbury, said: "This gives us a bit of hope that something might happen. At last someone is listening to us."

Blair King, another of the Westbury parents, who has three children, said: "This is a great area to live in with good primary schools but when kids get to the age of secondary education what do you do?

"There are many other parents who are in the same situation and are having to consider getting up early and driving to the other side or even out of Bristol.

"Some are even moving to another area altogether to get near a school that would benefit their children."

Mrs Foster said that of the 41 children that left Westbury-on-Trym Primary School this summer, 12 had taken up school places in North Somerset while all the rest had been spread among seven Bristol academies, faith schools and local authority schools. None had opted for fee-charging schools.

Bristol City Council is looking again at the need for another secondary school in north west Bristol. It is concerned that rising population in the area – as evidenced by the shortage of primary school places – and increased demand as fewer families opt for the private sector or to pay to transport their children to schools outside Bristol could mean a shortage of places at secondary level in years to come.

Clare Campion-Smith, cabinet councillor for schools, told councillors last week: "One thing that people who were affected by the primary school place shortage would not forgive us for is if in seven years' time we don't have a secondary school place for them."