Open Evening for proposed Sikh Secondary School

9:42am Tuesday 12th March 2013 in News By Pete Grant

The proposed school site in Stoke Poges, currently occupied by Pioneer UK The proposed school site in Stoke Poges, currently occupied by Pioneer UK

Controversial plans for a new Sikh Secondary School in South Bucks are up for debate with the school’s Trustees at an Open Evening on April 18.

The Slough Sikh Education Trust will update the community, prospective parents or anyone with an interest in the plans for the new school in Stoke Poges, which is scheduled to open in September 2013.

Beaconsfield MP Dominic Grieve will attend the evening, along with Principal Designate, Rose Codling, who will talk about the school’s ethos and aspirations to achieve Ofsted ‘outstanding’ status within five years.

Chair of Trustees Nick Kandola said: “We’re really excited about the potential of Khalsa Secondary Academy to improve the choice for parents and pupils locally and offer an outstanding, non-selective education.

“We want to share our story with people who either want to be a part of it or have an interest in what we are doing."

Plans for the new school in Hollybush Hill have sparked anger from local residents who argue that it will bring an influx of traffic from Slough and create chaos on the roads.

There are two other schools in the near vicinity and Stoke Poges Parish Council said both Stoke Poges and the nearby villages will suffer as a result of the extra traffic.

Opponents also argue there is no demand or “basic need” for such a Free School on an 11-acre Green Belt site in the village and therefore that it does not meet the criteria set out by the Department of Education.

At the open evening, which will run from 7-9pm, Trustees hope to outline their commitment to working with the local community as well as the curriculum that will be on offer.

Though it would be a faith school, the admission policy states that 50 per cent of pupils at the Khalsa Secondary School can be non-Sikh.

Trustess hope to build on the success of the Khalsa Primary School in Slough, which is less than three miles from the Stoke Poges site, and achieved Ofsted ‘outsdtanding’ status in 2011, just four years after opening.

For further information on the open evening please visit www.khalsasecondaryschool.com or contact 07775 503167.

Comments(1)

Village Rascal says...
10:43am Tue 12 Mar 13

For "community" read "only the Sikh community in Slough" and not the real community likely to have their village ruined by this oversized project. At the last 'open day' villagers were met with dogs and security, they were met by arrogant and belligerent KSA 'volunteers' some of whom were reticent in the extreme to say who they were or what interest they had in the proposed school. 'Parents' and 'villagers' were segregated and given different 'consultation' forms. The whole issue has been divisive. This project will NOT give choice to parents, it will actually do the opposite, and it will hit them them in the pocket too. The 'local community' (that's the REAL one and not Nick Kandola's imaginary one) have said they don't want this. People in Stoke Poges aren't upset, they are are FURIOUS that they could be subjected to such underhand, lying, duplicitous and downright anti-democratic practices by the DfE, SBC and SSET. There is also a hint of Racism on the part of SSET - why else would they promote this almost universally within the Sikh community to the exclusion of all others? How come they advertised places within the Sikh Community a full 4 months before saying ANYTHING at all to the local schools or groups. If this had been white people doing this the mess would have hit the fan, heads would have rolled, and headlines appeared in the national press. Its sad to say but true.

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