Almost 100 boys no longer have school places this September after the government threw out a free school application at the last hurdle.
Fulham Boys School (FBS) parents were told on Tuesday (June 1), just three weeks before the summer term ends, that the school would not be opening on September 8 after funding negotiations with the Department for Education (DfE) broke down.
The department is blaming difficulties in securing a permanent site, meaning the Church of England school can now not open on its temporary two-year site in Gibbs Green, West Kensington, as agreed two years ago.
A spokeswoman said: “We will work with the local authority to help parents find other secondary schools for their children, and with the proposers behind FBS to work towards a successful opening.”
Free schools are not under local authority control and their applications are approved solely by the DfE.
School governors are accusing the new Hammersmith and Fulham Council Labour administration for not standing up for FBS, saying it is a political fight between education secretary Michael Gove and the council.
Alex Wade, chairman of FBS governors, said: “It’s imperative this political misunderstanding is cleared up as a priority, because caught in the middle are nearly 100 boys and their families, whose interests are being ignored.
“We simply don’t accept political misunderstanding could or should result in the plug being pulled on FBS.”
The council is denying the accusations, with education boss Sue Macmillan saying the 11th-hour block is extremely disappointing.
She said: “We don’t understand why it has been stopped at the last minute. H&F Council will do everything possible to help and support these families in finding other places and we have already written to everyone affected.”
Greg Hands, Chelsea and Fulham MP, blamed the decision on the Labour council reviewing plans to merge Sulivan Primary School and New King’s School.
FBS was going to be built on Sulivan’s Parsons Green site while its pupils would have to go to the nearby New King’s School site. Sulivan has been fighting its closure for the past year and when Labour won May’s local elections their first act was to review the closure, putting it on hold for a year.
Mr Hands said: “Today’s decision is a consequence of the new Labour council reversing policy on the merger of Sulivan and New King’s Schools, and providing the extra school places on the freed-up site.
“However, I am hoping we can now all work together to find a new site for FBS and deliver something as soon as possible for local parents. I am also seeking an urgent meeting with the DfE.”
Hammersmith MP Andy Slaughter called the accusations ‘outrageous’ and asked why Mr Gove does not help find another suitable site instead.
