This month, the local podcast In The Meantime, which is recorded at the Meridian Radio studio in Queen Elizabeth Hospital, features an interview with Mary Pfeiffer, the executive head of the of the soon to be Shooters Hill Primary School Of Arts. It’s far more in depth than any of the previous coverage seen in the newsshopper and mercury, and the educational philosophy of the school is discussed at length, which includes ‘creating the best business leaders’ and a commitment to ‘healthy competition’ in education. It was also revealed that Adair House, which is opposite the old Royal Herbert Hospital, is no longer going to be the site of the new school, although it wasn’t made entirely clear where, or even if, the new school has a home as yet.
Showing a neat sense of balance, the show also includes an interview with a head from the comprehensive system, Michael Murphy, the head of the newly built Crown Woods College. Many children from the local area go to Crown Woods, and it will be interesting to see how the ‘school of schools’ theory works out for the students who are joining up now. The head has plans to pave the future careers of all students from Trades to Oxbridge destinations in a non-elitist, comprehensive way, whilst also retaining community links to the lea…which sounds like a principled ambition, but will he persuade local kids who might otherwise commute to Bexley grammar schools to stay in the local area, and will the smaller size of each school (450 per school) help?
