Free School controversy is over

THE controversial proposal to set up a Free School in Warrington, using the Woolston High School buildings, has been axed.
Borough council chiefs have received a letter from schools’ minister Lord Hill, confirming that the school site is no longer being considered as a location for a Free School.
This means the council’s own plans to move the existing Green Lane and Fox Wood special schools into the high school buildings after the school closes next month, can go ahead.
Borough education chiefs have been working on the plans since 2009, but in recent months proposals for the King’s Free School, put forward by a group of parents at Woolston, have thrown the whole scheme into confusion.
The parents’ group also wanted to use the high school buildings and the Department for Education (DfE) would not rule out their proposals.
But after the borough council agreed to offer the King’s School temporary accommodation in vacant buildings at Bruche Primary School, the DfE has changed its stance.
The way is now clear for the two special schools to move into the Woolston buildings and the council has also identified a potential permanent site for the Free School on land in Hillock Lane, Woolston – subject to planning consent being granted.
Cllr Colin Froggatt (pictured), the council’s executive board member for children and young people’s services said: “I was delighted to receive this letter – it puts an end to months of worry and uncertainty.
“Elected members and officers of the council have consistently made the DfE aware of our plans to expand and improve education facilities in the borough for learners with special needs and now this threat has been removed, these plans can become a reality.”
Conversion of the high school buildings will begin after the school closes at the end of July and the new facilities for Green Lane and Foxwood should be in operation from September next year.
A question mark still hangs over the future of the Free School, however.
It is set to open this September, but there are doubts about the number of pupils it will attract and whether conversion work at Bruche Primary can be completed in time. But staff are already signed up to cater for up to about 120 pupils when the school opens.
This Sunday, the parents group is taking several coach loads of Year Six pupils from the Woolston area who are already enrolled to go to the new school on an outing to Jodrell Bank radio telescope, near Knutsford.
Borough councillors of all the three main political parties have indicated they do not believe Warrington needs a Free School and have cast doubt on its viability.