High-flyer wantsto go home andset up free school

John Roberts

A YORKSHIRE teacher who has been identified as a “future leader” of education wants to return to her home town to set up a free school under the coalition Government’s flagship policy.

Charlotte Blencowe is looking for support from parents in Rotherham for a small secondary school with 500 places which would serve the entire town.

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She aims to have the Rotherham Central Free School open at the start of the next academic year and is working on a business case to submit to the Department for Education.

The 30-year-old, now an assistant head at a school in Kirklees, said: “I went to an outstanding school in Rotherham and had an outstanding education but I feel that there is room for improvement in the catchment area. I want to open a smaller school as they are all large schools in the town.

“The support I have varies from parents who feel their children are not being stretched to those who have concerns about the standard of their children’s literacy and numeracy.”

She has already had backing from 50 parents and is looking for 50 more to demonstrate support for her plan. The free school is also being backed by a trust made up of businessmen, a university academic and education professionals.

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Several sites in Rotherham have been identified as potential bases for the new school.

She said: “At the moment I am the principal designate for the school but that does not mean I will end up running it. It will be up to the trust.

“What is important to me is being able to open this kind of school in Rotherham, not me having a job at the end of it. Ideally it would be fantastic to be able to lead it.”

For the past year she has been involved in the Future Leaders education programme which looks to fast-track promising teachers into senior positions at schools in challenging urban areas.

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It was through this programme that she was introduced to Education Secretary Michael Gove who outlined his vision for parents and teachers to be able to open up their own free schools.

The policy aims to allow communities to launch their own schools which are state-funded but run independently from local councils wherever they are unhappy with the choice on offer in their area.