Parent consultation

I was invited to the Human Scale Education Annual Conference and AGM on Saturday 5 July
at The Charity Centre, Directory of Social Change in London. James Wetz was the keynote speaker, presenting "An Urban Village School -A new approach to schooling for all young people in our inner cities".www.hse.org.uk

In his film ‘The Children Left Behind’ (which was shown in the Channel 4 Dispatches series in February) James showed how large, unreconstructed schools are failing to meet the needs of many children and young people. Based on the evidence of successful small schools in the US and on his own experience, James is developing a model of an urban village school which will be small, personal, community based and radically different in its approach to the real needs of young people.

The afternoon focused on how an urban village school might be achieved. It was attended by headteachers, education writers and practitioners from across the country. There was a lot of interest in what we are trying to achieve here in Bristol.

Our next step is to commission a consultation report within Ashley Ward to find out what parents in our community want for their children from secondary school education and whether they feel that is available within the existing provision. We will then take the results of this consultation to Heather Tomlinson and continue the discussion.

Please feel free to publish comments on the blog or, if you prefer, to my email address for me to publish your comments.