Why can’t Bridget Phillipson admit she’s wrong about free schools?
From our UK edition
Back when the free school policy was in its infancy, the general secretary of Britain’s largest headteacher union described them as ‘a reckless waste of public money…untried, untested and almost certainly unwanted’. Ten years later, West London Free School, the free school where I am joint headteacher, has been chosen as the Sunday Times's state comprehensive school of the year. In the English education system, longevity has often been an indicator of quality. Ancient public schools, grammar schools founded by Tudor monarchs, Victorian pioneers of female education – these have always dominated the league tables. Now they have free schools to contend with. The West London Free School was established in 2011, as one of the first of a new breed of state-funded schools.
