"PLANS to open a new free school in Oxford have been rejected by the Government.

The steering group behind Oxford New School hoped to open a 360-place secondary school in south-east Oxford, taking in children in September 2013.

The aim was to offer a mix of academic subjects and 21st century vocational skills in a mixed comprehensive school.

But the Department for Education told the group their bid had been unsuccessful.

The DfE asked for more information on how the curriculum would be delivered, examples of the kinds of things children would be studying, what resources would be used and what activities would be involved.

Eylan Ezekiel, lead proposer for the school, said: “We are a little bit disappointed but not hugely surprised. We were originally aiming for 2014 so to some extent we ran for this year to see if we had the strength and support we needed.”

He said the key issues with the proposal were to do with lack of detail in certain areas.

He said: “They were happy with lots of parts of the proposal but we need to do more.

“We were complimented for our community links and the work we had done in the community and on our curriculum and educational plan.

“They were impressed with our clear vision and our ethos – we weren’t sure how they would go down, but they went down well so we were heartened.”

A post from Leyla Okhai, of the ONSchool Steering Group.  Leyla is a Senior Equality Advisor at the University of Oxford with experience of running widening access projects with BME young people in inner-city areas. She joined the ONSchool team in January 2012, as she is passionate about diversity and equality in society and that it should be a key part of a school's agenda.  She is also a nominated Fellow of the RSA.

We are used to seeing headlines about the dreaming spires, elitism and Oxford. However, behind those headlines lies a very different picture. Oxford City, as a whole, is rich in cultural diversity, well beyond the University.  Oxford has a wealth of cultures to enliven school life, from the depth of history of this ancient university town, to the brightness and music of a number of growing communities.

According to information from Oxford City Council, in 2009, 19.6% of the population were estimated to be from black and minority ethnic backgrounds, compared to an England average of 12.5%.  The largest BME (Black and Ethnic Minority) groups represented are Indian, Pakistani and Black African.

This is what makes living in Oxford, as a resident, so exciting. The benefits of living in a diverse society are many, and include living alongside and meeting people from different walks of life enhances our own. An example of this is the wonderful Cowley Road Carnival (which is having a break this year), which brings together families, younger residents, older residents and students together to celebrate the community around the Cowley Road in East Oxford. As an annual event where local primary schools develop their own festival parade art work and walk side-by-side you can see diversity coming alive. This builds appreciation at an early and vital stage. This side of Oxford isn’t often communicated more widely outside the City, but once you see this, one realises how it makes a positive impact on Oxford as a City.

To build on this, ONSchool is ensuring that we work with community groups to ensure we are reaching out and engaging with them, to shape the school and the all important community agenda.

So where do these diverse populations live? For more information the City Council has some excellent maps of the City and its ethnic make-up, such as this clear infographic below:

Given our community focused ethos, we have a deep commitment to reaching out and drawing in the wider community.

That’s why ONSchool is making links with key community stakeholders like African Caribbean and African Kultural Heritage Initiative, Oxfordshire Chinese Community & Advice Centre, local mosques and families within the Donnington Bridge and Rose Hill area. By doing this we are ensuring that we meet the needs of local pupils and ensure that the wider community voices are being heard. In addition, we as  will work closely with the internationally renowned KidsCo, the Phoenix  Counselling Cooperative and Local Authority Youth Hubs to build trust and ongoing support to change generations of disengagement from education.

Over the years Oxfordshire County Council haven’t always been able to engage all groups in mainstream education and opportunities have been missed, largely to learn from other diverse cities and harness the wealth of cultures into school life. All too often, there is a tendency towards the dependence on the "... ghost of 1970s multiculturalism and the dreaded ‘saris, samosas and steel bands’ ideology".

There is some wonderful work going on in some schools in the city, especially in the primary schools - but all too often community cohesion is claimed to be a success just because a school has a diverse intake. Having kids of different backgrounds in the same class is not the same as community cohesion!

We have engaged with the many national examples of best practice and are determined to bring these lessons to Oxford, and share the successes of others doing great work in the community. ONSchool aims to provide a school for people from diverse communities, to bring people together and build on Oxford’s rich culture.

We believe that ONSchool offers a way to help ensure cohesion for future years to come, by working with young people to learn with peers and those across the generations in the community to share the best Oxford has to offer.

We were, mostly, just amazed that we had got into the papers - and were going on the theory that all publicity is good - right? We have also admitted that we could have done better in our use of language, and hopefully showed that we can see the funny side.

However, we also wanted to set the record straight. So, we have sent a letter to The Guardian - which we hope will clear a few important misconceptions up.

Dear Sir/Madam

 

While the text relating to ONSchool quoted by Simon Hoggart in Saturday's Guardian was not our proudest moment he fails to recognise that we are a group of unpaid volunteers juggling full time jobs, raising children while trying do something good. We do not have the luxury of editors and proof readers but are trying to create a new school which will improve the educational opportunities for local children. Government processes around the creation of Free Schools are considerable and complex. We have had to work hard to communicate with local parents, many of whom have understandable fears about what Free Schools mean and questions about why one is needed here. South and East Oxford have an astonishingly poor recent history, educationally. Oxford is the second worst city in the country in terms of primary school results and none of our three closest secondary schools have performed even satisfactorily in recent years. While there are signs of improvement there is also a looming demographic change which will see a need for over a thousand new secondary school places in the next few years, a demand that can only, due to government decisions, be met by new Free Schools. We have submitted an application, amassed on the back of hundreds of volunteering hours, that aims to create something that is led by the local community and reflects the diversity and talents of the local children. We will not be the principals of the school, they will be recruited and paid by the school governors, some of whom will  be drawn from our number. Go to our website www.ONSchool.org.uk and read about our plans for establishing an innovative new school in Oxford, I'm sure you will find more mistakes but hopefully also a bit more about what we are trying to do.

 

"An anonymous reader has sent a leaflet about a proposed new free school in Oxford, trendily entitled ONschool. It should open next year. 

It plans to show that "intergenerational understanding can develop and bridges in the community are sustained and built on social justice … children will develop esafety [sic] behaviours and work through ethical considerations in social networking and global citizenship and the digital divide." Would you send your child to a school whose principals could use language like that?"

OK - it was not the whole-hearted support we'd like (and will get!) but we come out of it ok, I think (?). It is also important to say that the anonymous reader was not anyone in our team!

To be honest, I think he makes a fair point, despite the fact that he has taken the quotes from our leaflet out of context and chopped it up out of all recognition.  We did use too much jargon in the leaflet and tried to say too much in too many words. We will try for a 'Plain English Crystal Mark'  time. Perhaps Simon would like to help,...

But, I also think that all schools (and the education sector) has gone over the edge with jargon- and that although we could have done better - we are in good company:

Allow me to selectively quote from Simon Hoggart's old school, the private (fee paying independent) Hymers  College:

"We seek to provide an environment in which all pupils may develop their abilities and personalities to the full. ...  The pursuit of excellence pervades all that is done, whether it is in academic, extra-curricular or non-teaching areas, or in matters of personal conduct and development.  ... we aim: To foster moral and spiritual development; To encourage involvement in worthwhile activities which will promote physical, cultural and aesthetic capabilities; and To encourage the development of responsible attitudes in relation to him or herself and others, and concern about the welfare of other people, both within the school and outside."

Who'd pay £9000 per year to send their kids to a school whose principal uses language like that?

We are very excited about our plans to work more closely with The Oxford Trust, an independent charitable trust founded by Sir Martin Wood, and the work it does through Science Oxford ...it’s goal being "to encourage the pursuit of science and enterprise".

This would bring their considerable expertise to support the teaching of the STEM subjects, (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) the experiences of the breadth of STEM careers in the county, and nurturing the culture of enterprise.

By integrating their existing proven programmes and support, we intend to transform the range of experiences of learning around STEM, into a systemic and transferable approach, that could be used by other schools in the city, and further afield.

Science Oxford can help ONSchool to enrich the STEM curriculum and to make links with the STEM working world through the STEM Ambassador programme and their 'Life Lab' resource. We plan to build on this to develop a school wide, a la carte menu for children to explore their passions and gather experiences of what they need to do to be successful on that career pathway.

Science Oxford also works with its partner, Oxford Innovation, to support entrepreneurial business. Science Oxford hosts the Oxford Centre for Innovation, which is managed by Oxford Innovation. We plan to use Science Oxford’s links to enterprise and their understanding of the behaviours and graft needed to make a good idea a successful one, available to all our pupils to give their learning a real life context - and to give them a reason to push themselves a little harder!

Bridget Holligan, Head of Learning at Science Oxford said:

“We are happy to be working with ONSchool to see how we can support learning in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM). It is part of our mission to make young people excited by the creative opportunities that STEM can offer them and we would be pleased to help ONSchool to develop relationships with the wider STEM community.”

We do not agree with Faith Schools, and are yet to see a compelling argument for including religion in the running of a school.

It is true that there are some great schools that are run by those who place religion at the heart of the school - but it is because there is great teaching and a positive learning environment where children are encouraged to aspire and thrive - with a supportive community behind them! ONSchool proposes that all of this is possible without religion.

However, we do not want to throw the 'baby out with the bathwater'! Although Richard Dawkins is a great scientist and a powerful polemicist for the rational mindset, we believe that it is possible to capture both the majesty and wonder of the physical and observable universe, without losing the poetry and and emotional depth that religion can bring.

We would like to build on the ideas of the philosopher, Alain de Botton, and his proposal for Atheism 2.0, where those who do not believe in 'God' or deities learn and build on the best of our culture from those who do: the 'lessons' of religion: of a strong community, of ritual, of taking time for reflection, charity, and making use of rich media (art, music, literature) to help build individual values.

We believe that religion is a personal choice, which is supported by families and the community that children grow up in. 'Culture' and identity are, for many people, intertwined with 'Faith'. While we will not be conducting religious practices of any type in the school - we will be allowing children to express their faith, culture and identity in a way that adds to the learning and 'richness' of the school community.

At ONSchool, we do not intend to disrupt the teaching and learning to follow every festival in all religions, or allow any practices that actively supports discrimination or disrupts the sense of a whole school community. We do believe that different dress, religious practice, ceremony and behaviors can add to the learning that happens as part of the normal run of the school day and the educational activities taking place - as this best reflects 'real life'.

We believe we can do this fairly, clearly, and to promote community cohesion at ONSchool in the way that many of the best schools in the country already do.

It is easy to see what we believe in - the best and most up-to-date educational outcomes for the young people in the city.

We have faith in our young people.

We have faith in each other.

We hope you will support us, and help us in our own creation story - to build a new covenant with the parents and children of the city of Oxford.

Sign up today. 

So - here is the ONSchool Leaflet  - please feel free to print and distribute!

Here is a copy of the sign up sheet: which we are using to capture evidence of parental demand: ONSchool Demand Survey

Below are the logos, which you can use to insert into your own letters and posters:

Thanks for your support : )

Image taken from The Oxford Mail

Another day, another piece of media coverage. This time it's The Oxford Mail who have lent a hand to promoting ONSchool. And it shows how important it is to get out there and meet the parents of the young people of Oxford.

There is a demand for change in education and the curriculum in Oxford. And we know that we need more places. But it is good to see that parents acknowledge this need too.

With so many parents signing up already, due to the hard work of Eylan and a few others, we could become complacent. But it isn't time to rest on our laurels just yet.

We need more signatures. We need more parents, like Tracey Atkins (shown in the image above) to sign up and show their support for ONSchool.

Please help us spread the word and get people signing up. 'Like' us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter to help us get the message out there. We can't do this without you!

"The right school can transform a child’s life and help them achieve things they may never have imagined, yet in most school systems, there is insufficient opportunity for parents to be able to find a learning environment that is best suited to their aspirations and their children’s learning styles. Behind the Free Schools programme lies a great opportunity for the evolution in how we educate our children, which I believe will lead to more pupils finding schools that motive and engage them in their learning journeys.

With a stated specialism of Innovation, ONSchool proposes to offer parents and pupils an opportunity to choose a stimulating option for secondary education where positive change is threaded throughout the vision and ethos of the school. I am pleased to lend my support to this exciting proposal for a great local school in Oxford, and to the Free School programme in general."

So how did this come about? William came to talk to me after my talk at the Guardian Innovation event in November, and we exchange cards, with his parting shot being, "I really like what you are doing and I would like to be involved". To be honest, I did not expect to hear from him. Google are one of those companies that are beyond a 'brand', beyond 'big', and I felt sure that this guy would be too busy to take the time with our proposal.

So I was very surprised a week or so later when I found myself in a Google + Hangout with William, who turned out to be personally very excited about ONSchool.  Not with his Google 'hat' on - but as a father, businessman, and someone passionate (and extremely knowledgeable) about education.  I found myself almost 'interviewing' him to see if there was a 'fit' for him with ethos of our proposal - and was pleased to find that not only was there a fit - but a great guy who wanted to help us realise our goal, who I enjoyed talking with. We met again last week to talk things through further and I am pleased to say that William is now part of the ONSchool team! : )

It is important to say that we had been planning to depend heavily on Google services to establish a technology environment for ONSchool, but William did not know the extent of this plan when he asked to be involved, and the Google services to schools are free, so there is no 'gain' for Google in this relationship.

The hard thing for me, the rest of the steering group, (as it perhaps will be for some of you), was in separating William from the company he works for and the role he has there. It does say something about the quality, content and seriousness of our proposal that someone with William's 'clout' is getting involved. But, let me make it clear:  Google are not interested in running our school. Google are not giving us any money. Google are not giving us any help.

This is not about Google. This is about William, who has stepped forward to be part of the ONSchool team.

We welcome William, his expertise and his enthusiasm, and hope you will too.