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Parents plan to build eco-friendly primary school
Last updated at 11:07am on 31.01.07
Clean slate: parents and children in Clapham, south London
Parents disillusioned with the narrow diet of education in state primary schools are to establish their own.
A pioneering group in south London plans to build an ecofriendly school that would concentrate on teaching the three Rs.
But there convention ends.
The Family School would not enter pupils in national tests and pupils would have no homework.
It would have, at most, 60 pupils aged three to 11 and classes would be small, with ages mixed.
The parents plan formal lessons with qualified teachers in the mornings and 'creative, active and practical activities' in the afternoons.
The school, which has yet to receive planning permission from Lambeth council, is the brainchild of ecoarchitect Dil Green, 44, and his partner Polly Griffiths, 41.
Mr Green came up with the idea because he remembered being bored at his state school and did not want his son Huxley, three, to have the same experience.
He said: "It shouldn't be difficult to do better. That was my position until we had a child. Then it was put-up or shut-up time."
Mr Green said he considered homeschooling his son but decided 'children do need time away from, as well as with, parents'.
Ms Griffiths raised the £150,000 needed to buy the plot, which has several mature trees that will be kept, by selling her business.
The couple will register as an independent school for inspection by Ofsted and plan to charge £5,000 a year.
As a non-profit-making charity, Mr Green hopes to be able to raise money for bursaries.
He wants the school to be ready by September.
