Some Little Gems from the Special Free School Proposal Process

I am pleased to announce that I handed in Gemstones’ proposal for a Special Free School to the Department on Tuesday afternoon, 24 hours before the deadline of 15^th June.  I decided that rather than trust the vagaries of the postal system I would prefer to make the trip myself.   Now having heard from a fellow Special Free Schooler that despite in their case, purchasing the guaranteed next day delivery service, one of their packages was still in the postal system more than two days later, I am mightily relieved that I acted as postman. 

In fact I was so relieved after handing in our proposal that I developed a migraine within 30 minutes of delivery time.  It took me two days to feel even halfway sane and out of pain. I have spent the weekend sleeping and mostly trying to relax and recover from the 18-hour days.  I imagine that the rest of the Gemstones team have enjoyed extra free time and a sharp reduction in demands by email and text asking for information or assistance of one sort or another.

The last few weeks have been hectic in the extreme.  On top of the day job I spent all other waking hours tied to the laptop typing furiously, making numerous revisions according to the feedback provided by the New Schools Network.  I continued to be amazed at the level of detail required. There were many examples but just a couple of examples will illustrate the point.

•  “You should explain exactly how you are planning to recruit governors – for example, where exactly are you planning to advertise?”  We do have 3 governors, including a Chair signed up already and I had included a recruitment plan, which was obviously not specific enough in this instance.
• A comment made about the behaviour policy we had included; “You need to give more detail about your rewards and sanctions ladder for both good and bad behaviour.”  Considering that in the first set of instructions provided in April, we were told we did not have to provide behaviour and attendance policies at this stage, I found this demand astonishing to say the least.

The real sticking point is still the LA statement, even though the LA have been supportive and have given an undertaking that the population exists for these types of SEN and that they would like to see this provision, this is not enough. “What you must do is show that the local authority would be prepared to name your Special Free School on children’s statements, in line with parental preferences.  If possible you should be able to say how many pupils the local authority would be happy to refer to you.”   I for one do not blame the local authority for declining to provide a carte blanche guarantee to place sufficient numbers of children in a school that at present, has no confirmed premises and is in all other respects effectively a virtual school. 

The Devil is in the Detail

On 16^th May a handbook was published containing a host of new detailed guidelines for the writing of Free School Proposals – all 117 pages of it!  This caused a period of frantic activity due to the huge task of amending the proposal to take into account these numerous and varied new requirements. Coincidentally, this was the very day that the window for Special Free School proposals opened. Yet another example of final details about this policy produced very late in the day.  

There are a host of new demands not contained in the original instructions.  I will not bore readers with them all (although it is quite difficult to choose one to highlight).  The one that incensed me though was the one requiring quite detailed information about parents who have responded to the questionnaire the Department ask you to set up to collect signatures of support, or more particularly those who will want to register their children at the Free School. 

The handbook produced by the New Schools Network specifies that you need to provide postcodes of families, the age of pupils along with their special educational need The example they provide is a table with individual rows for each child so that the postcode, special educational need and age of child are listed together.  The guidance also warns that the Department may at a later date ask for the names of parents and their children, although it stresses not to put these names in the proposal. Oh, and furthermore warns about the need to register with the Information Commissioners’ Office If any electronic data is held (cost of £35.00).

The Gemstones team have paid great attention throughout the document to preserving the confidentiality of respondents as we feel strongly that it is really important for us as a team to demonstrate respect for the families who have such a lot to contend with anyway. When parents or carers have provided responses to questions and we have collated and presented this information, we have done so in a way that removes anything which may identify the child, including diagnoses of one form or another, names of children, schools or any feature which I feel would breach confidentiality.

So needless to say, we have not followed the table format example provided in the handbook. We have instead grouped the information required as best we can so that special needs, post codes and an age span of several years is provided rather than a specific age.   Where there are postcodes that may be shared with only one or two houses, (which is a particular feature in rural areas), we have left off the second part of the postcode, so only a wider geographic area can be identified.   If this by itself means that our proposal is not successful, then so be it.

Are we alone in thinking this is a step too far?

Further Ups and Downs in the Writing of a Free School Proposal.

This week, when not working on the day job, I have been driving round the East Anglian Countryside collecting names for the paperwork to set up a Company Limited by Guarantee.  Due to the approaching deadline the decision has been made to pay extra and use the fast track system for registering the Company.  This involves of course a higher fee, which would have been unnecessary had the DfE provided the Articles of Association at a much earlier point.  Was this perhaps another part of the strategy to discourage Special Free School Proposers?

We worked on the finance plan this weekend.  Various members of the team came up trumps providing information to assist us whilst the Company Secretary and I began inserting the figures, conducting the benchmarking exercise and working out the cost per pupil place.  Whilst doing this we discovered, when reviewing information provided at the SEN and Alternative Free School Proposers Event, that we also need to consult with the LA about the cost of placements.  This requirement is not set out in the DfE guidance or criteria, so yet again a case of the goal posts being very mobile indeed.   This discovery meant another email had to be sent off to the LA with yet another request for assistance.  It is just as well the LA is being very supportive of the proposal.

We have been blessed with support from the community, LA, schools and it is this that keeps me going when frustration and the huge amount of work gets the better of me.   I do feel though, as if I am becoming somewhat of a stalker and what is worse a stalker of those very people who are providing invaluable assistance.  Not only have I been pursing, with relentless persistence, the Trustees to sign the paperwork but also Officers of the LA have been the recipients of numerous demands for information and co-operation with aspects of the proposal.  This kind of behaviour is not normally the most effective strategy for winning friends and influencing people, so I hope they do have not only resilience but also a great deal of patience. 

The major proverbial spanner in the works this week has been the news that the building we had identified as the best option for the school and which has been available for the last 6 months, is going up for auction on Friday, just before the person from Partnership for Schools is due to come out to conduct a survey of the property.  The race is on therefore, to find another building option just in case the property we identified as our preferred option on the proposal disappears under the hammer.  Anyone know of a suitable building in Ipswich?

Frustration with the Special Free Schools process worthy of a John Cleese moment

As a Free School proposer my experience in the past week has further compounded my feelings of utter frustration with the process. Waiting for the Articles of Association to appear from the Department for Education has prevented us for some time from registering as a company limited by Guarantee with Companies House (an essential requirement of the DfE).  On Thursday 5^th May this document finally appeared and this is now only 11 days before the window for applications opens.  

I now need to collect signatures from all those who have agreed to become ‘members’ of the company and as these are all very busy people who live in geographically dispersed areas of East Anglia, co-ordinating this on top of the day job in London in the short time scale is something of a logistical nightmare.  Anxiety about reliance on postal deliveries only adds to the tension. 

The documents then need to be sent off to Companies House for registration, which again relies on post and a quick turn around from them.  I was reminded by someone from the New Schools Network that I have a full month before the final deadline of 15^th June, but as the proposal documents need to be posted and arrive in good time before this date, time available is again in short supply.  There does seem to be an assumption that we don’t work, go on holiday or have any other life.  Oh and given that interviews are scheduled for 1^st until 19^th August I definitely won’t be having a holiday during August.

This is not the only frustration either.  On the subject of holidays I need a current passport for the proposal process and as luck would have it this is due to run out in July.   I am becoming really well known at the post office now, as this has alone required several trips to have documentation checked and sent off.  The passport will hopefully arrive before the end of May.

I then asked today about the specific requirements to do with the statement form Local Authorities about placing children in the school when it is opened. I was told that this ‘statement’ needs to specify the exact number of children they expect to place. This was enough of a shock but more was to follow.  I found out that to demonstrate the parental demand part I need:

    a) responses from parents amounting to 75%  of the total number of planned pupil places      (in this case 36),

   b) these responses need to be from parents who have children in the right year groups for opening in September 2012  and

  c) their children have a Statements of SEN for these types of need. 

On Saturday I had an evening off and went to watch John Cleese in his one man show.  Images shown of John Cleese as one or other of his comedy characters, such as Basil Fawlty, jumping up and down in frustration gave some comedic release for my feelings about this torturous process.

SEN and AP Free Schoolers Event: "Carrot snatched away!"

 The week started, with what I hoped would be a motivating and inspiring event run by the New Schools Network in London for Special Educational Needs and Alternative Provision Free School Proposers.   The event was much smaller than the main Free School event that had been held in London several weeks before.  The select few assembled had expectations, that judging from the reactions observed and views expressed, were cruelly dashed. Things became lively early on.  In fact the first presenter Hassan Al-Damluji, head of Strategy for the New Schools Network, did not get halfway through his slides before the interruptions began.   The first was an interjection in response to the information that any proposals for SEN or AP Free Schools can admit only pupils with Statements.   As one delegate commented, “You dangled a carrot and now have snatched it away.”  The presenters gave up quickly on their slides after that and mostly tried valiantly to answer questions and deal with comments.

For some delegates, particularly those wanting to set up Alternative Provision Free Schools, the stumbling block was that to be successful this type of Free School proposals had to cater solely for pupils with Statements.   Some existing Independent Special schools also expressed dismay at this revelation.  There emerged a regional variation in policy about the issuing of Statements and for some delegates finding pupils with a Statement was going to be more difficult than finding the proverbial ‘needle in a haystack’.  There was a civil servant who spoke briefly about funding reviews as the Green Paper but essentially said nothing that the audience did not already know.   Brian Lamb, who was second on the agenda to speak, tried to deal with the Statement issue and told one delegate that if their local authority claimed their policy to avoid issuing Statements was based on his report they could quote him directly to the effect that this was most definitely not accurate. 

Another stumbling block, which created anger, was that the relevant local authorities have to support the proposal, provide key data and a statement that the LA would place children in the school.  I felt fortunate indeed that Suffolk LA have been very helpful.   Although I was disturbed to learn at one point that having sent off registration to Companies House to set up a Company Limited by guarantee, (as directed by the guidance to do so), there was a requirement for ‘members’ of the company to sign specially drafted memoranda and articles of association which had not yet been published.  Furthermore we were informed that these specially driafted articles of association were unlikely to appear for several weeks! 

Given that the clock is already ticking with regard to submission of proposals, I was going to have to find a way round changing the memoranda issue without delay. I was, therefore, frustrated to say the least. Fortunately Companies house was very helpful when I rang the next day and explained my problem and so a solution was in fact found. There was, however, one encouraging development this week, which was that the financial plan spread sheet that has to be completed as part of the submission, was finally published on Thursday.  So at least we now have most (if not all) information and documents necessary to submit a proposal.

I spent a large part of the rest of the week drafting sections of the proposal form, sending out initial drafts to a number of associates and attending various meetings to develop the content and format of our application.    Other tasks involved, a recruitment campaign to identify more Trustees plus research to develop my own understanding of their role, establishing communication and consulting with parents and colleagues from voluntary and statutory agencies about our proposals. The email received in the middle of the week from the New Schools Network attempting to reassure us that our success with this process was entirely within the realms of possibility sounded a little too emphatic. Could this be a case maybe of they “doth protest too much?”  At this point I’ m just trying to remember when I last felt this frustrated and also what I did with my ‘spare’ time before I embarked on this metaphorical hurdling event.

Another Week in the Life of a Free School Proposer

The long awaited form for Special Free School applications arrived by email last Friday afternoon.  This was 3 weeks after the mainstream version was made available and 8 days after the revised date promised by the Department for Education.  Unfortunately, it was still incomplete as it was minus the crucial financial planning form.  This meant that I had to rearrange a weekend meeting set with the School Business Manager, that was due to take place to develop the business case.   Weekends are sometimes the only option when very busy, but committed people who are juggling full time day jobs also take on the writing of a Free School proposal.  Oh well, I suppose at least we both got a Saturday to ourselves. 

Suddenly having a Saturday without a Free School agenda,  was though, a bit of a relief since the week had been frenetic, involving serious multi tasking and a huge amount of networking with parents and professionals alike. Activities involved setting up a Campaign website with no previous experience, establishing a company limited by guarantee contacting parents and parent groups, meeting with other like minded but also gifted educators, plus others with media and marketing experience, all of whom have most generously leant their expertise and given their time freely.  By the end of the week I had learned huge amounts and new skills in ICT, marketing and promotion for use on the Free School campaign trail.  This just leaves me wondering how I will again manage the juggling act of resuming full time work in London after the Easter Break, whilst keeping the proposal on track and to time scale.  It does though make me feel very thankful for school holidays!

Another DfE communication also arrived towards the end of last week which was an invitation to an event scheduled for next week for those of us intending to submit proposals for Special and Alternative forms of Free Schools.  I responded by return just in case over subscription is an issue again.  Thankfully my time is more flexible at the moment and I can make the most of such invitations.  I am still waiting to hear 5 days later if I have a place at the conference, but I live in hope and expectation.  This is a state of mind, which I am finding, is very useful for ensuring that a Free School proposal gets to the first round.

The London Openers' Conference: A lesson in how to set up your own Free School

On Saturday I set off on the train to London to attend the conference being run by the New Schools Network for groups such as ours intending to set up a Free School.  As warned by a series of emails the event was heavily oversubscribed and sure enough the large conference hall was indeed packed to the gunwales . 


Rachel Wolfe, Director of the New Schools Network promised us that although the requirements for submitting a proposal to open a Free School had become more demanding it was perfectly possible and we should not be daunted.   Speakers who have already got through the first (less demanding) round of applications were able to enlighten us to the ease with which they had managed to secure their place in the race to be one of the few Free Schools due to open in the coming months.  


Some of the audience expressed frustration that the process is now indeed more arduous and also struggled to grasp some of the detail of inter-related issues such as roles and responsibilities of school leaders, Governors and the Board of Trustees plus the mechanism for morphing a company limited by guarantee (the latter is now a prerequisite of the initial proposal),into Trust status.  Questions were asked about funding for both capital and revenue streams, admissions plus appointments of school leaders and whether a 'Principal Designate' can also be a Trustee.  The answer to the latter was yes!


I attended the SEND workshop in the afternoon provided by Brian Lamb.   This was more aimed at informing would be Free Schoolers of their statutory duties towards pupils who have special educational needs or disabilities.  I had hoped it would provide some enlightenment about policy regarding the establishment of Free Special Schools and was disappointed.  I did discover however,  that there will be another event for groups such as ourselves wishing to set up a Special form of Free School and that the New Schools Network still do not know when the Forms for Special Free Schools will be issued, even though publicity earlier in March promised they would be released on 17th March.  Still we wait in hope and expectation.


A number of other attendees and I agreed though that the lunch was excellent.