Crawley MP, Henry Smith, has today joined with parents and pupils at Discovery New School in Westminster to petition Number 10 Downing Street to reverse the Department of Education’s decision to withdraw funding from the free school.
Commenting outside the Prime Minister’s residence, Henry said:
“I’m deeply disappointed by the Department for Education’s decision to close Discovery New School from next April.
“The current support structure is failing pupils at Discovery New School and so today I’ve joined parents and pupils to deliver a petition to 10 Downing Street calling on a reversal the decision. In addition, this morning I petitioned the Leader of the House of Commons to assist me in my efforts to meet with the responsible Education Minister, Lord Nash, who has so far eluded my repeated requests to meet with him and the school’s governors.
“The Department for Education has lessons to learn from the way it has handled its decision to close the school, but before that can happen it needs to ensure that urgent action is taken to identify permanent school placements for those children affected if closure is confirmed.
"Afterwards I was delighted to give the children a tour of Parliament. They were all polite, charming and engaging. I'm proud to have them as Crawley pupils."
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Notes
Please follow this link to see Henry’s Parliamentary Question earlier today.