Newham parents are being asked to support a campaign that aims to provide a Christian secondary school for children in the Borough and across East London.

So far, 350 parents have signed up in support of the ‘East Park School’ scheme. But before it can go ahead, an application has to be made to the Department for Education when it next invites bids to set up publicly funded ‘free’ schools.

Lawyer Sarah Wilkes, a mother of four who lives in Forest Gate, is one of the core team pursuing the proposal. She told Newham Voices that while there are a number of Christian-based primary schools in the area, there is no secondary school available for senior pupils to move on to.

“Children should have the option to continue their faith-based education when they leave primary school, but the provision is just not there,” she explained. “We think that gap needs to be filled.”

Sarah says the school would not be driven by a ‘holier than thou’ ethos, but would play a major role in serving the wider community with 50 per cent of students made up of church attendees and 50 per cent from the general community.

“We would expect all pupils to behave respectfully,” she said. “It would not be a matter of brainwashing but of encouraging a really honest debate.”

Church schools are generally seen as successful, and the East Park vision assumes small classes of no more than 24, and a longer teaching day.

The scheme is working under the auspices of the Fulham Boys School Trust, which, in spite of its name, aims to provide education that is Christian-based and nurtures enterprise for both girls and boys.

East Park has already identified a potential home at the Raines School across the Borough boundary in Bethnal Green. Raines, a Church of England school, closed in 2020 but Sarah says that it would be ideal for the East Park project. She explained: “It is very accessible to students from Newham, and it means we would be able to move in straight away as it is already set up as a school.”

More information here.

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