Education: Free School Funding Debate

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Department: Department for Education

Education: Free School Funding

Baroness Perry of Southwark Excerpts
Monday 12th May 2014

(10 years, 6 months ago)

Lords Chamber
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Baroness Perry of Southwark Portrait Baroness Perry of Southwark (Con)
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Will my noble friend confirm that one of the most heartening aspects of the free schools programme is that every free school is opened only after extensive consultation with the local community? By the time the free school is open, it has huge community support, and the parents who have been involved in the setting up of the school have overwhelming enthusiasm and are greatly involved in the life of the school in a way that, in my experience, has been seen in very few local authority schools.

Lord Nash Portrait Lord Nash
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I can confirm what my noble friend says. I encourage noble Lords from across the House to visit schools such as Dixons Trinity Bradford, Reach Academy Feltham, Canary Wharf College or ARK Conway Primary Academy, all of which have been rated outstanding within months of opening.