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.