My interest in education as Chair of Cardwell Primary and Trustee of Corelli Academy in Kidbrooke drew me to the Acadamies Show at ExCel. I thought about taking the cable car but instead opted for the good old DLR. I was amazed to see such a large number of people wanting to pick up as much information as they could. The seminars were delivering the Gove mantra and the DFE sales people were available to help smooth the path to Academy status. Failed to understand the complexity of the new funding regime.
I caught up with staff from the Education Funding Agency to find out why, on the one hand, they were ploughing funding to free schools while failing to invest in existing schools. Corelli was not totally successful in raising the necessary funding to fund the New Sports Hall and Arts Centre. Very helpful discussion promised to look to a visit to see the issues for themselves. Some progress. Quick run round the large number of Trade Stalls, argued the case for Fairtrade School uniforms and ended the morning with my very good friend John Rolfe from the British Council. Very interesting funding streams for the Connecting Classrooms programme.
