Success

SUCCESS AT LAST: NORTH KINGSTON PARENTS WIN CAMPAIGN FOR NEW SCHOOL
For more than two years, North Kingston Parents and local Conservatives have lobbied Kingston’s Lib Dem Council to provide a new secondary school. On November 17th, in a last ditch effort to be heard, a hundred and fifty parents gathered at the Hawker Centre for a public meeting organised by Conservative Parliamentary candidate, Zac Goldsmith. Now, finally, the Lib Dem council has announced plans to provide for a new 6 form entry secondary school and to expand neighbouring Greycourt school in Ham. Local parent, Angela Norton-Bilsby, who was responsible with local Conservatives for collecting 3,000 signatures calling for a new school welcomed the announcement. She said: "I am thrilled that at long last the council has acknowledged the need for a new school. I am also delighted that Grey Court is included in the BSF strategy. With the option of both of these schools, parents in the north of the borough will at last have a choice of secondary school. However, we won't be celebrating yet. We now need to work to ensure that the school is built as soon as possible.” In her speech to parents at the Hawker Centre on the 17th, Mrs Norton-Bilsby told residents; “The conservatives have helped to steer us through the processes, helped us to garner information and generally keep us informed where the current administration would have left us in the dark.” In November last year, Susan Kramer described the Conservative campaign for a new school as “deeply irresponsible”. Kingston’s Conservative Education spokesman, Cllr Nick Kilby, said “What a difference a year makes. Susan Kramer and Derek Osborne are both on the record for saying that the parents and Conservatives were wrong! We will now push the Council to agree a suitable location for this new school and to get it open as soon as possible. In the meantime we welcome the inclusion of Grey Court into the BSF programme. Without its expansion we cannot deal with the short term problem, and parental choice can only be achieved with both Grey Court and the new school. Well done to the parents of North Kingston! It has been a pleasure to support them.” Zac Goldsmith said, “Because of the recession, more and more people are going to have to think again about whether or not they can afford to send their children to private schools, and the pressure on existing state schools can only escalate. This is welcome news.”