Yorkshire leads revolution as parents line up to run schools

Groups of parents and teachers in Bradford, Huddersfield, Ripon, York and the Spen Valley are among those who have expressed an interest in running their own state-funded schools, according to education campaigners.

The Tories' free schools policy, based on education reforms in Sweden, would allow parents who are unhappy with the choice on offer in their local area to open up and manage their own school.

Parents in Kirklees, who last month had a bid to open an 900-place secondary school rejected by Schools Secretary Ed Balls, plan to be among first wave to open if the Tories are elected.

The New Schools Network says the West Yorkshire group is among 350 across the country who want to be involved in the project. The network was set up as a charity last year to help support parents who wanted to get involved in providing their children's education.

Director Rachel Wolf told the Yorkshire Post that in less than a year they had talks with around 25 separate groups and individuals in Yorkshire who were keen to embrace the initiative.

These include Bradford teacher Sajid Hussain, 37, who aims to create a chain of small schools containing 500 to 600 children in the city. The father of three, who was privately educated, wants to give children in Bradford similar opportunities at state-funded schools which would focus on teaching pupils "social etiquette and manners" as well as encouraging children to aim for top exam grades.

And Tory Shadow Schools Secretary Michael Gove told the Yorkshire Post the numbers of parents coming forward would increase if his party was successful in the General Election.

The Tory free school policy would mean parent-led schools would be run with the same freedoms as academies, which operate outside local council control with the powers to set their own timetable, curriculum and admissions arrangements.

Last month Schools Secretary Ed Balls turned down an application from parents in Birkenshaw, Birstall and Gomersal who wanted to run their own school in Kirklees because of fears over how it would affect neighbouring schools.

A Tory government would remove local councils' rights to block any new school opening in their area and Mr Gove has already pledged to support the parents in Kirklees.

He said: "These parents in Yorkshire demonstrate the enormous enthusiasm people have to be given the chance to a play a bigger part in running schools.

"We don't expect that all parents will want to run their own school but we do think they should have the chance to have a bigger say and there are already a lot, 350 across the country and 25 in Yorkshire, who are interested.

"You can imagine that once you have a new Government outlining how these proposals will work the numbers will increase further."

Mr Balls claims the Tory plan would mean taking money away from existing schools, while new secondaries could open in areas where there is already a surplus of places.

He said: "The problem with saying that the taxpayer will pay for new schools wherever anybody wants to set one up, and where there are already enough places, is that they can only be paid for by taking money away from existing schools.

"This would mean lots of existing schools being left to slowly wither and decline with falling rolls and budget cuts."

A Liberal Democrat spokes-man said: "We think the Tory proposals are misguided. The idea that making it easier for new providers to open schools will drive up standards across the country is a nonsense.

"Their policy will be costly and they haven't fully explained where the money will come from.

"We support the idea of new providers entering the system, but there needs to be local accountability and oversight as well as recognition that this isn't the answer to ensuring every child gets an excellent education."