Have you a child about to start school? Or starting school in the next few years? If so this WILL affect you.
Middlemore residents have long campaigned for a school and a community building to be built within the estate, currently primary aged children are split across a number of other schools within the district, this makes it not only difficult to get children to school, its taking up places at other schools which in turn affects children local to that school getting places as they are taken up with Middlemore children.
We know that there are parents on Lang Farm and Ashby fields that equally have not been able to get a place for their child at their local school due to capacity issues, these parents too would benefit from a school being local to Middlemore.
Whilst we have the necessary numbers required by central government to submit our application, obviously the more demand we can show for a school the better chances we have to move to the next stage of the process.
What do we need you to do? – If you haven’t done so already, please show your support for our Free school application by emailing info@middlemore.co requesting a copy of the form.
Middlemore Residents’ Association is working in partnership with E-ACT to provide an E-ACT Primary Free School on the Middlemore Estate. We are carrying out a survey into parents’ and carers’ views on the proposed Free School and would be grateful if you would read and complete the questions below. The information that we collect will be kept in the strictest confidence and only used for research purposes only. It will not be possible to identify any particular individual or address in the results.
A Free School is a new type of maintained (state) school which will receive its funding directly from the government Department for Education. Parents will not have to pay for their children to attend. The government has invited groups of charities, parents, teachers, trusts and religious and voluntary groups to apply to set up free schools.
The decision about whether a free school should open will be made by the Department for Education, not the council, and can happen only with parental support for the project. While some local councils are currently involved in the running of most maintained (state) schools, they will not be involved in the running of free schools. The free schools will be maintained by an “education provider” or “sponsor”, although the day to day running of the school will be carried out by the head teacher and staff. The “education provider” or “sponsor” is not allowed to make a profit from running the school.
E-ACT, as sponsor, is planning to work with local parents and the community in Middlemore to provide a free school and is proposing an all-ability, mixed, non-faith, primary school (ages 4 – 11) on a site in Middlemore provided by Daventry District Council (DDC). There would be 210 places. It will be a safe and secure school. The sponsors are in cooperative dialogue with DDC and Northamptonshire County Council (NCC).
E-ACT describes the key features of its schools as follows:
- Children at the heart of everything the school does, with an ethos which encourages and celebrates high aspirations and achievement.
- Excellent communications between the staff, pupils and parents where views are listened to and regular feedback on pupils’ progress is given.
- An outstanding standard of school leadership by the headteacher, senior staff and governors.
- An exciting and relevant curriculum with tried and tested approaches to teaching and learning that interests and motivates pupils.
- High standards of pupil behaviour and care.
- A rich range of opportunities and extra-curricular activities, including out of school trips, lunchtime and after-school clubs.
- The school as a “community hub” available to the residents of the Middlemore estate.
