Free schools planned for Leeds, Enfield, Brentwood, Manchester... as Birbalsingh enters the fray

Katherine Birbalsingh is working on plans to open a Free School. I don't think she will be put off by having to fill in a hundred page form. As a teacher she is used to coping with bureaucracy. She gave an inspirational speech to the Conservative Conference last year.

The response of her school was to oust her (even though she had got permission from the school, St Michael and All Angels in Camberwell, to attend and from parents to mention their children as examples to illustrate her case.) Local parents did not find her removal encouraging - they applied to other schools to send their children prompting the school to close. Her book, To Miss with Love, is essential reading.

I don't know where she will open her new school but I am confident it will be a success.

There is also news of a proposed Jewish Free School in Leeds. A group of parents and teachers in Enfield are gathering support for a free school with a Christian ethos. In Brentwood a new secondary school free school is proposed.

In Manchester there is a proposal to open a new Steiner nursery and primary school in the Whalley Range area. Initially it would be fee paying and then apply for free school status later.