22 November 2019
The government policy of all new schools having to be academies or free schools is creating some of the issues with school places. Academies are not the responsibility of the local authority and the local authority cannot make academies accept particular pupils or take additional pupils.
Whilst all academies are not bad, there is a poor level of accountability and often a lack of transparency from the Trusts that run academies.
Anyone can apply to open a free school. There is a bidding process and the government decides on who gets funding. This does not necessarily correlate where there is a need for places.
The recent bididng process for Wave 14 of funding for free schools has now closed. We know that Higham Lane School, Finham Park School and Coventry Bluecoat school have put in bids to run a new school in Nuneaton, on the Top Farm site. It is far from clear if any of these bids will be successful as the site does not have any planning permission as yet.
We believe that the need for another secondary school in Nuneaton is not on Higham Lane but should be somewhere on nearer the developments off The Long Shoot or towards Whitestone. The site on Eastboro Way, by the Crow's Nest would be ideal.
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