Letter from Cllr Harry Phibbs to the Fulham & Hammersmith Chronicle:
Dear Sir,
The approval for the expansion of the ARK Conway Primary School, in Hemlock Road, Shepherd's Bush is excellent news. Hammersmith and Fulham is a pioneering borough in the free schools revolution to make parental choice a reality and to drive up standards in our schools.
This school is run by the Ark educational charity with a proven record of success - notably at Burlington Danes Academy. Ark Conway's ethos is spot on. The school's prospectus says: "We want every child at Conway Primary to fulfil his or her potential. We will do everything possible to ensure that every pupil achieves year level expectations, every year. We won’t accept excuses and we won’t make any either." Emphasis is pleased on phonics to ensure that children learn to read.
At present the school is based at the old Wormholt library which been carefully restored and renovated. The school has paid tribute to the building's heritage by incorporating the original marble floor design in the new school's logo, as well as creating plans to locate the school library in the same area as the original library. But as the school expands to 220 pupils an additional building will be needed. Expanding the site will enhance the setting for the listed building which was sadly diminished by the A40.
The school has confirmed that the expanded premises would be available for out-of-hours use by community groups and the Wormholt Tenant and Residents' Association are holding sessions at the existing building without a booking fee. It is true that nine trees will be lost to make way for the new building but there will be 18 replacement trees.
To create a borough of opportunity we need to give the chance for the children in the Wormholt and White City Ward to achieve educational excellence. The opening of the Ark Conway free school is a fantastic contribution to that objective. For the Labour Party to seek to thwart it on spurious planning grounds is a contemptible betrayal.
Yours sincerely,
Cllr Harry Phibbs
Cabinet Member for Community Engagement
(Ravenscourt Park Ward. Conservative.)
Hammersmith Town Hall,
King Street,
W6 9JU.
I was exited to learn a new free school was opening in my area. Much to my disappointment, this school is very much like any other council school. If your child is more able chances are, they will be bored and will go unchallenged. A lot of time is spent on play and singing, but not much on reading, math and science. If you are just looking for a space, then Ark Conway is fine, if you are looking for a school that will challenge and help your child reach full potential, this school falls well short of that mark.
Posted by: Conway Parent | Friday, December 30, 2011 at 05:03 PM