New Labour earmarks top state schools for closure

[TonyGosling]

In the morning, this headteacher was told his school was one of the best in England ... In the afternoon, he was told it would be closed
...........This isn't Noah's Ark. It's the local comprehensive school, Fairfield High in Peterchurch, which serves the rugged and remote Golden Valley on the Welsh border.
But based in what was once a Victorian country gentleman's residence, it isn't exactly what you call a bog-standard comprehensive.
The head is not bog-standard either.
At 57, Chris Barker has near shoulder-length black hair and is widely admired for his charisma, his originality - finding an obscure source of funding to acquire the alpacas was a typical stunt - and his results.
In 2006, Ofsted inspectors rated Fairfield as "outstanding" and talked of the "exceptional climate for learning".
Last year, it ranked second among Herefordshire state schools for GCSE results and top for "added value".
Indeed, on that reckoning, it's the 14th best school in England.
It is over-subscribed to the point where it is not unknown for parents to set up bogus addresses in the catchment area.
"You'd move from Mars to get your child into Fairfield," says Janine Vaughan Winter, chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association.
You might think educational theorists would try to find Peterchurch on their satnav to discover how it's done.
You might think Herefordshire County Council would be chuffed to bits and would be doing everything it could to protect and cherish Fairfield.
But no, this is England.......
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[suraci]

Such a school may very well succeed in educating on the state purse thousands of children to a standard where they actually question the world they live in. Some of them may even go on to challenge the elite's grip on power, reinforced by their own schooling system called private education (known as public schools in the UK for some reason). Such a thing can never be allowed to happen.

State schools are there to turn out workforce fodder to work in their factories and offices, pay them taxes, and fight their future illegal wars.