A preliminary consultation on a proposal to establish an innovative education partnership in the north of Lewisham borough will start on Monday 8 June 2009.
Under the proposal, three secondary schools – Addey and Stanhope, Deptford Green and Crossways Academy (a 16-19 maintained school) – would form a federation and establish an educational trust with Goldsmiths, University of London, to be known as the Goldsmiths Education Partnership.
The federation would have a single governing body enabling all the partners to work together creatively to raise achievement and build aspiration in the schools and their communities in Deptford and New Cross.
The six-week consultation will give stakeholders, including schools, pupils, parents and local residents, an opportunity to have their say on the proposal for the establishment of the partnership.
The proposal has come about because the governing bodies of the three schools want to work more closely together to sustain and build on their current success in raising the educational aspiration and achievement of their students. The best features and particular traditions of each of the three schools will continue, with each offering outstanding provision in its particular area of responsibility and expertise.
The schools already work closely with Goldsmiths, a renowned provider of education, and realise that the closer and more formal association of Goldsmiths as a trust partner would add further value to the proposed federation.
Through the establishment of the Goldsmiths Education Partnership, the four organisations aim to provide every young person in the area access to the highest quality education which will raise further their aspiration and ambition. The trust will become a hub for learning, social cohesion and enterprise for the local community.
The three schools would remain state comprehensive schools, funded just like others in Lewisham, working closely with other Lewisham schools and colleges, especially within the Lewisham 14-19 Partnership.
All parties involved in the proposed Goldsmiths Education Partnership are committed to supporting state comprehensive education. The schools' admissions criteria would not change at all, and they would continue to adhere to Lewisham’s policy on exclusions and its hard-to-place pupils protocol. Staff terms and conditions would also remain as they are now.
A drop-in public event to describe and discuss the proposal in greater detail will be held at Goldsmiths on Monday 29 June from 3.00pm until 8.00pm in the Great Hall, Richard Hoggart Building.
Following the consultation, the governing bodies of the three schools will reflect on the responses and decide in September 2009 whether to undertake a statutory consultation.