Since last September, I’ve been leading the efforts of a group of parents and teachers to set up a state secondary school in Acton. If we prevail, we will be in exclusive company. All three main political parties are in favour of parents becoming more involved in state education, but so far only two groups have actually succeeded in setting up state secondary schools, one in Lambeth, the other in Barnet Barnet. Alongside them are dozens of groups -- perhaps hundreds -- who’ve failed.
It’s fiendishly difficult. Take the parents in Barnet. Their aim was to establish a voluntary-aided Jewish faith school for all Jews, regardless of denomination. The problem with London’s existing Jewish faith schools is that they only accept the children of Jews who can prove their bona fides to the satisfaction of the Chief Rabbi -- a practice that was successfully challenged in a recent court case. (To read more, click here.)
