Parents' school drive targetsex-rail canteen

John Roberts Education Correspondent

A CAMPAIGN to open a small parent-led school for 200 pupils is aiming to convert a derelict former railway workers’ canteen – deemed unsafe by its owners – into classrooms.

The group of parents behind the York Free School movement have identified at least three potential sites in the Holgate area of the city, with the canteen their preferred choice.

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They also hope to acquire an area of neighbouring land owned by Network Rail for the secondary school plan.

The canteen building is owned by regional development agency Yorkshire Forward which is set to be abolished in around 18 months time.

Campaigners met education directors from the quango Partnerships for Schools, which is helping groups to open up their own state-funded free schools, this week to discuss their plans.

Campaign leader Tim Moat, said the officials were “taken” with the plan to locate a new school in the canteen building and would be seeking a second opinion over its safety. He said it would be ideal if some of the building could be retained as it would reflect the railway heritage of the Holgate area. However, he said the site may need major building work.

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An alternative site for the school has also been identified at Melton Language College where parents hope the school could be co-located. Both their sites are in Holgate Road.

Now parents are to approach the canteen’s owners Yorkshire Forward and the language college to see if the buildings could be used for a new school. Mr Moat said they were also exploring a third site but declined to say where.

They aim to open their school in September 2012. The Government’s Free School plan is encouraging parents, teachers and communities to establish their own state-funded schools in areas where people are unhappy with the choice on offer from the local education authority.

Mr Moat said: “This campaign has developed over a relatively short period of time from a simple idea, to a fundamental rethink of secondary education and how we, a group of parents and teachers, can work together on something really special for our children and for Holgate.

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“We want choice where there is currently none – statistics show that Holgate is the worst area of York, by some margin, in securing first choice applications for secondary schools. Just over 25 per cent – that’s one in four – do not get the school they want. We aim to help solve that.”

A Yorkshire Forward spokeswoman said that the railway workers canteen had been deemed unsafe and had been secured. The agency said it was working with local authority partners to identify ways of disposing of its assets to benefit the region.

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