Help us to raise awareness about our Chichester Free School bid – our proposal submission deadline date is 24th February and we still need families to complete our online survey and say ‘Yes’ (in principle) that they will make Chichester Free School their first choice when applying for a school for their child.
Through January we will be hitting the streets of Bognor and the surrounds to talk to families and local people about the school.
Don’t be complacent about your child’s education.
The Chichester Free School voluntary team are working hard on a detailed education plan for our new bid; all you have to do is complete the survey at http://www.chichesterfreeschool.org.uk
Please complete the survey before Monday 6th February 2012.
In order to make sure the doors of this school open in September 2013 for your children, whether they are pre-nursery, primary, going into secondary or 6th form, you need to demonstrate that you want this school for now and the future. This is your chance to make it a reality and all you have to do is go onto our website and completer the survey, choosing the school as your number one choice. (The Department for Education require that it would be your first choice but you will not be held to this and will go through the admissions round for 2013 as usual).
Recent local Statistics:
The national average for 58% for 5 GCSE’s grade A-C including English and Maths.
Note – WSCC area is already below average at 52%
The Regis School 30%
Manhood Academy 32%
Littlehampton 34%
Bourne 43%
Westergate 48%
Chichester Boys 50%
Felpham 58%
Chichester Girls 60%
St Philip Howard 71%
Bishop Luffa 79%
A while ago, the Government announced their ‘free school’ policy and said that if you weren’t happy with the education provision in your area, they were going to give you the amazing opportunity to open a school for yourself. Any parent, teacher, church or community led group could put a proposal together to present to the Department of Education for a new school to fill the gap in the local area.
The group putting together this proposal was originally formed a year or so ago because we felt there was a total lack of choice of secondary schools in the Chichester area, there was either at best an average**single sex school or and an above average faith school. For parents who want to get their children into an above average school the choice is ‘simple’, either move within the catchment area for a slightly better chance or go to church every Sunday for 2 years. We strongly believe that all schools should be excellent and open to everyone, why should you have to jump through hoops just for your children to get a good education and why are some exisiting schools failing our children so badly?
We have a ‘one off’ opportunity to start a school from scratch and recruit the very best teachers to make our vision a reality. To start a school from the grass roots up, to make sure each pupil leaves, not just with a great set of exam results but armed with all the necessary life skills to success in the world. All the details of how we aim to do this are on our website http://www.chichesterfreeschool.org.uk
