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16^th December 2016

 

To All Parents and Students who elected Barclay Secondary School as their first choice for September 2017

 

I write to express my deep disappointment in the news that the opening of Barclay Secondary School has been deferred for 12 months.  This decision was taken by Lord Nash, the Secretary of State for Schools in the Department of Education, and was relayed to us in writing on 12^th December 2016.

 

This means we will not be opening in September 2017 and we will not be able to offer your child(ren) a place at our school. The Trust and project team have never made your choice to attend Barclay Secondary School publicly available and we are 100% certain that this will have no impact on the choices you completed online via the London-wide secondary admissions process in your respective Local Authority.

 

The project has been deferred because of concerns around planning not being achieved in time on the site – a complex process of managing multiple requirements and technical issues, which the Department and their teams have worked very hard to resolve. There are however some who oppose the opening of the new school on the site that was secured, on the basis of this being classified ‘Metropolitan Open Land’ and are thus seeking to delay the opening of the school. We have also encountered some rather unwelcome views from local politicians and officers at the Waltham Forest Council, which have been unhelpful and have made the chances of opening successfully in September 2017 less likely.  With this in mind, we would never want to place your child’s secondary education at risk – and are thus reluctantly forced to accept this decision.  

 

Although I appreciate this means Barclay Secondary will not open in time in September, the project is very much supported by both the DfE and the Trust and we will continue to fight to get this much needed investment in a better education locally open for families as soon as we can.

 

I thank you for choosing Barclay Secondary School as your first choice – on behalf of the Trust and the project team, I am very sorry we have had this outcome imposed on us.

 

Should you wish to discuss any aspect of this further, please contact Chris Stark, our project lead, on Christopher@lionacademytrust.net or 07765256237.  

Wishing you the very best for next year and your journey into Year 7 and beyond.

 Justin James

CEO - Lion Education Trust