Swedish specialists drafted in for parent-run school in Battersea

The Neighbourhood School Campaign aims to create a good comprehensive school in south Battersea to stop middle class parents turning to the private sector.

Representatives met with Swedish firm International English School (IES), which specialises in setting up parent-led schools, and the Harris Federation, which already runs nine academies in south London.

Peter Fyles, chief executive of IES, said: “We fit perfectly into the gap between fee-paying and state comprehensives. The parents groups in England want to create schools because it is very obvious that the good schools are already full.”

The campaigners, who have already earmarked the disused Bolingbroke Hospital as a possible school site, said they were fed up of living in a “black hole” for state secondary schools.

South Battersea is one of the only parts of the borough with no comprehensive school.

Jon De Maria, one of the parents leading the campaign, said: “Despite being well catered for in terms of state primary schools children from the area have been sent to over 49 different secondary schools recently, this is indicative of the lack of secondary schools in the area.”

The seven square mile area is served by four large state primary schools, Alderbrook Primary, High View, Belleville and Honeywell, but parents are at a loss as to where to send their children afterwards.

Mr De Maria added: “For many parents, sending your children to private schools isn't financially viable but the borough’s state schools accept their students based on the child's proximity, which leaves us in the lurch.”

The campaign has now gathered more than 1,000 members and features in a upcoming documentary with Michael Portillo, called “Power to the People”.

The Conservatives have said they want parents, charities and companies to take over failing schools or set up new ones if they win power.

For more information or to sign an online petition, visit thensc.net