the Oxford Mail reported (January 5) on a call to parents to register their interest and back the proposals for the establishment of a ‘free’ school in North Oxfordshire, the Heyford Park Free School.

The backers claimed that they want to create a “new, vibrant school that truly supports the needs of the local people’ and that they are ‘committed to bringing [educational excellence] to the heart of Upper Heyford”.

What they failed to mention is that it is the prospect of making a financial profit out of the ‘free’ school some time in the future that is the driving motive behind their proposals.

The following letter released to the Stock Exchange in November by Wey Education, a company headed by Zenna Atkins, former chairman of Ofsted, on the steering committee and one of the principal backers of the proposal, makes this abundantly clear: “The company will concentrate on becoming a leading education company focusing on providing a single-solution to school.

“Wey is responding to the English market opportunity brought about by the transfer of state-run schools to independent charitable entities and the deconstruction of the education function within local authorities.

“Within the £53bn English education system, the standards achieved by pupils and the rounded quality of the education they receive need to be significantly improved.

“Additionally, the evidential efficiencies that can be made in the operation of schools combine to make a clear opportunity to make a substantial return to investors and improve education in the UK.”

At the risk of repeating the concerns I raised in my previous letter to the Oxford Mail last month about ‘free’ schools (December 27, 2011) I would urge all those parents, students, governors, teachers and others who are concerned about the future of education and schools to reject this proposal and campaign instead for the extension of democratic, accountable and locally controlled, state comprehensive education.

DR CHRIS BLAKEY, National executive member, National Union of Teachers, Warneford Road, Oxford