With its historic red-brick buildings and stunning views across London, Harrow School sits in rarefied surroundings on top of a hill dotted with upmarket cafés and uniform outfitters.
The new free school it is backing will be only a mile away in the town below but in a very different world: its home will be the former offices of a DIY chain on a busy main road, opposite a bed shop, the Kabul-Beirut supermarket and a Tesco superstore.
A bilingual church school, it is due to open this September even though the newly acquired site still has corporate fixtures and fittings and the name Wickes House remains above the door.
Finding a suitable location has been the main challenge for free schools — and six of them have opened or are in the pipeline in Harrow. It will eventually have one of the biggest concentrations of the independent state schools, alongside its famous public school.
It may be no coincidence that Harrow East and Harrow West are both marginal constituencies. Harrow East is set to be a key battleground in the general election in less than eight weeks; Labour has identified it as a seat to win from the Tories to form a government. Meanwhile the Conservatives are pressing hard to take Harrow West from Labour. Both have majorities of fewer than 3,500 votes.
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St Jérôme C of E Bilingual School is in Harrow West, but only yards from the boundary and will take pupils from both constituencies when it opens. It will teach in English and French and is already oversubscribed.
The school was the brainchild of a group of parents, with support from a neighbouring church school, and three of its seven governors are staff at Harrow School. The public school will be an “educational partner” to the new school.
Parent power was the driving force behind another free school approved this week, provisionally called the New School for Harrow, which is expected to open in September next year. There is a desperate need for more school places in Harrow. Despite widescale expansion creating 23 extra reception classes across the borough’s primary schools, thousands more spaces will be required in the next three years.
However, parents are also creating diversity in provision, which is part of the spirit of the free school movement, established by Michael Gove.
Ros Jenkins, one of the parent founders of the New School, said the co-operative school would teach through “child-led projects” and offer flexible holidays, allowing families to go away in term-time. She said: “By starting a free school, we can provide a new primary for Harrow and offer something a little different, increasing parental choice.
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“There was a growing concern about school places and even though schools had expanded, many had an intake of 120 children a year which was scary for parents. Where we live was a blackspot with absolutely no chance of getting into nearby schools. Some people were talking about remortgaging their house to put their children into private school while they went on the waiting list of the nearest state schools.”
Two other free schools in Harrow — a primary and a secondary — are being established by collectives of head teachers to create more provision.
Gareth Thomas, Labour MP for Harrow West, said: “The head teachers on my patch are really innovative. They’ve identified gaps in provision and a pot of money to access. No doubt it helps that Harrow is heavily contested in general election terms.”
This was echoed by Simon Brown, a Labour councillor, who said the number of primary school reception places had risen from 2,200 a decade ago to 3,400 next year. He said: “The Tories have been busy with high-profile visits to Harrow recently and . . . it is obvious that they are using education in Harrow as a political tool, so I believe that there is absolutely a political element to approving free schools in Harrow . . . The Tories believe they are vote winners.”
Bob Blackman, the Tory MP for Harrow East, agreed that free schools were vote winners, saying they were hugely important to his constituents. The borough is home to people from more than 100 nations, who speak 88 different languages, driving demand for diverse schools, he said.
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He said: “Free schools offer greater parental choice — and because they’re free of local authority control they can get on with the job of educating children in the way that parents want. People in Harrow can see the benefit of them. Their only frustration is that it takes time for them to come to fruition.”
Class act
The first free schools opened in September 2011. They were the pet project of Michael Gove, the former education secretary. While many have been rated outstanding, others have been deemed inadequate and three have had their funding withdrawn, forcing closure.
24 free schools were approved in the first wave — 17 primary, five secondary and two for pupils of all ages
400 have either opened or been approved in the past four years, creating more than 230,000 places
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300 have a site finalised, while dozens of others are still confirming their exact location. More than 100 are in London