Free schools: now the really hard work begins Learning House

Free schools: now the really hard work begins

August 28, 2011 – 1:18 pm

‘It hasn’t been plain sailing’: Toby Young in the gym of the West London Free School

I got an email this morning from a distressed mum telling me the outfitters for the West London Free School didn’t have any blazers left in her son’s size. She wanted to know what to do – a reasonable enough question given that we’ve told all the parents to make sure their children are properly attired for the school’s official opening on September 9. The Mayor of London is cutting the ribbon and we’re anxious to make a good impression.

Luckily, a quick email to Billings & Edmonds managed to sort that out – they’ve agreed to adjust one in a smaller size, free of charge – but the last-minute headaches are multiplying thick and fast. Apollo Education, a specialist building firm, is racing to get the school ready by September 7 when our first 120 pupils (more than 500 applied) are due to arrive and I can’t set foot on the site without being peppered with questions. What height should the dado rails be? Should there be blinds or curtains in the library? Was I aware there’s no emergency lighting?

I embarked on this journey two years ago, full of grand ideas about how to transform state education. I believe that all children can benefit from learning Latin, from seeing the plays of Shakespeare and from studying our island story. To deny them that opportunity on the grounds that those things are “elitist” is inverted snobbery. We’ll never dismantle the English class system if poor children are herded into media studies classes and forced to watch EastEnders while the children of the rich are introduced to the best that’s been thought and said. That’s not social justice, it’s social apartheid.

But as the big day approaches, I’ve had to focus on more mundane matters, such as what colour the school chairs should be. It’s the perennial complaint of political idealists the world over. You start out wanting to change the world and end up worrying about how to get the trains to run on time – or, in our case, how we’re going to afford a minibus. (All donations welcome, incidentally. Go to www.wlfs.org and click on Just Giving.) Still, I mustn’t grumble. I would much prefer to be in this position, sorting out a few teething problems in the run-up to opening, than stuck at the drawing-board stage. The Department for Education has received 323 applications from free school proposer groups, only 24 of which have been approved to open this year. We’re one of the lucky ones.

My wife jokes that if I’d devoted as much time to my career as I have to the school, we’d have enough money to send all our kids to Eton. For the past two years, I’ve been spending between 40 and 60 hours a week on this project and I’m only one of 15 volunteers working flat-out. Most of us are parents, but the steering committee also boasts some educationalists, such as John McIntosh, the ex-head of the London Oratory School.

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