By Linda Tanner, Education Correspondent
EDUCATION Secretary Michael Gove has given final approval to detailed plans for a new Bristol state secondary school.
Bristol Free School is due to open in September, after a long campaign by parents in the north west of the city.
The school, which will based in Brentry at first, will be the largest of the new- style free schools in the country and the first in the region.
Free schools are a key policy of the coalition Government. They are set up in response to parental demand and are run independently of local authorities, with funding directly from Whitehall.
More than 100 11-year-olds have already signed up to start at the school and its leaders believe they will fill all 150 places in Year 7.
Bristol Free School will open in former Government offices in Burghill Road, Brentry, and will eventually move to the old St Ursula’s School buildings in Brecon Road, Westbury-on-Trym.
It will be run by the Bristol Free School Trust, which comprises members of the campaign group Parents Voice and its education partner the Russell Education Trust.
Bristol Free School Trust chairman Blair King said: “This is a very happy day for parents in North West Bristol, because the dream of a secondary school in our community is now a reality. This final approval comes at the end of a fast moving couple of weeks for us. We have held four prospective parents’ evenings and our office has been fielding a stream of inquiries about places for this year and for next.
“Over two thirds of our places are taken for Year 7 in September 2011 so far and we expect to be full. The level of interest for next year among Year 5 parents has been fantastic.”
Mr King said that during the next week, the school’s head teacher, Richard Clutterbuck, would be working with the BFS Trust to observe, interview and appoint teaching staff.
Mr Clutterbuck said: “The number and quality of applicants for these posts was very impressive. We shortlisted from more than 200 applicants and many of those were from Bristol. I intend to appoint those who not only teach well but share my excitement about creating a wonderful new school from scratch.”
Bristol Free School is continuing to work with the Department for Education, Bristol City Council and Oasis Community Learning on arrangements for the teaching of the secondary-aged pupils at the independent Oasis School Westbury after it closes on the St Ursula’s site in the summer.
Meanwhile, Mr Gove has also given the go-ahead for a primary academy to be run by the education provider E-ACT, to open at the former St Ursula’s site.
This will offer 60 reception class places as well as taking in the young Oasis School Westbury pupils.
The primary academy will launch in the St Ursula’s buildings and eventually move to new buildings in the nine-acre grounds.
Bristol North West Conservative MP Charlotte Leslie welcomed “a real victory for parent power”.
She said: “Local people have finally achieved what the BS9 community has campaigned for, for decades; a local secondary school they can call their own. Well done to all involved.”
Councillor Peter Abraham, group leader of the Tories on the city council, said: “This announcement is really wonderful news and is something we have been waiting and working towards for many years.
“Parents and children living in Westbury-on-Trym, Stoke Bishop and Henleaze have never had a genuinely local secondary school to call their own. At long last this omission looks set to be rectified.”
Councillor Peter Hammond, leader of the city’s Labour group, said concerns remained about the possible impact of the free school on other secondary schools in the neighbourhood.
Nina Franklin, president of the National Union of Teachers, said: “We are disgusted at Michael Gove’s lack of regard for education in Bristol and in particular for the local community schools, which will suffer because the Government has agreed to the wishes of a group of middle class parents who won’t accept that their children would be perfectly well served at Bristol community schools.”
Islamic schools protect Muslim children from the onslaught of Euro-centrism, homosexuality, racism, and secular tradition. They made pupils “aware of their future role as proactive young British Muslim me/ women” and left them “well-prepared for life in a multicultural society”. Under western education “our children will distance themselves from Islam until there is nothing left but their beautiful names”.
A man is a product of his culture, language anf faith. State funded Muslim schools with bilingual Muslim teachers would help bilingual Muslim children to develop their cultural, linguistic and spiritual identies before they are exposed to oher cultures and faiths. A bilingual muslim child must learn and be well versed in standard English to follow the Natioanl Curriculum and go for higher studies and research to serve humanity. At the same time he/she must learn and be well versed in Arabic to recite and understand the Holy Quran. On top of that he/she must learn Urdu and other community languages to keep in touch with his/her cultural heritage and enjoy the beauty of his/her literature and poetry. Without Muslim schools, Muslim children are not going to develop their Islamic identity, crucial fo their mental, social, emotional and personality development. We have already lost four generations and fifth one is in the process of loosing its cultural, linguistic and spiritual Identities.
A child who has English as a second language is seen as having a special need – not as having a skill to be lauded from the rooftops. Language has a profound effect in shaping the ways people think and act. Almost all recent research literature agrees that if you want children whose home language is not English to excel in English –medium schools, it is important to nurture and acknowledge that first language alongside their English development. Cultivating bilingualism could and should promote pupil’s linguistic development. Children need bilingual teachers as role models during their developmental periods.
English language is not only a lingua franca but also lingua frankensteinia. Human right also covers linguistic right. Cultural and linguistic genocide are very common. British schooling is murdering community languages like Arabic, Urdu and others. English is today the world killer language. Linguistic genocide is a crime against humanity and British schooling is guilty of committing this crime.
British schooling is the home of institutional racism and British teachers are chicken racist. This is one of the main reason why Muslims, Hindus and Sikh communities have been setting up their own schools with their own teachers. Even Black community is thinking of setting up its own schools with Black teachers. Nearly 88,000 racist incidents were recorded in Britain’s schools between 2007 and 2011, the BBC has found. Data from 90 areas shows 87,915 cases of racist bullying, which can include name calling and physical abuse. Racism is a very real issue in many classrooms around the country, but cases of racist bullying are notoriously underreported.We are seeing a real increase in racism in some areas which is down to factors like a growth of Islamaphobia in society which is filtering into classrooms.
IA
http://www.londonschoolofislam…