The Free School Bid
The bid
The bid to open a new school seemed like the only way to solve the problem in Roundhay. If anyone reading this is thinking of doing the same, think very carefully! It was hard!!
The bid itself was a 100 page document that required:
- Creating an overarching vision and goals for the school
- Drafting detailed educational plans and staffing structures for the growth of the school
- Showing demand from the community and getting signatures from parents in the area with children that might attend the school
- Summarising the governance structure and recruiting Trustees
- Creating detailed 8 year financial plans and how they would be amended if 30% of the budget was cut due to a poor intake
- Setting out thoughts on where the school could be located
All of these were tough in their own ways but at the same time we were also building a brand that we hoped people could believe in and getting our message out as much as we could.
It wasn't all just hard though. Some of it was fun - we met some great new people and got involved in things we never thought we would.
Media coverage
We were extremely fortunate to have some fantastic media coverage along the way. Thanks go to John Roberts at the Yorkshire Post, all at Made in Leeds, BBC Look North, ITV Calendar, Radio Aire and North Leeds Life.
Our most high profile coverage though was appearing on the OneShow just before Christmas in 2015. It was a great experience and probably helped settle our interview nerves as the fiming was more nerve wracking!
Moving on
At the end of the summer, I decided it was time to move on and leave the Trust we had formed and I had personally paid to set-up. In all honesty, this probably partly reflected a need for a break as the bid had been 100% for over a year putting strains on everything. But it did also unfortunately reflect significant differences in outlook as well. If we were a band we'd have probably said we'd split due to "Musical Differences".
Roundhay still very much needs a school though and the Trust left behind needs to do its utmost deliver it. I therefore wish the school every success and in the meantime will do what I can to make sure the community interests are served.