English to Russian Social Sciences Journalism Politics

(another article about FREE SCHOOLS)


Three very different schools, but with some common features. The first is that they are all in areas in which there are more children than there are school places. That has made it relatively easy to establish themselves. (I say "relatively": at the opening of the West London Free School, Toby Young, its founder, recounted how he had invited a man who had established a school to speak to his steering committee, in hope of inspiration. The chap told of how it had taken him ten years to found a school and his children were now too old to attend, that the experience had almost cost his marriage and that he was almost bankrupt as a result of the process.)


The second is that none has been established in the face of opposition by the local authority. Planning laws may be reformed to presume in favour of the creation of schools, but I suspect that hostile local authorities will be perfectly capable of finding valid reasons to deny them.


And the third is that at each there were parents almost weeping with relief that their child had gained a place. (And, at one, a parent almost weeping with disappointment that there was no place for her child.) They may be ***politically contentious*** (although, curiously, those who approve and disapprove cannot be separated by party lines) but free schools do seem to be popular with parents.

Thank you!