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  • "I would just like to address Derek Winterburn's comments above.

    First I am sorry Derek feels the need to gloat - it is unbecoming of a Dean of the Church of England.
    What he is all too aware of is that it was the very people who publicised those trivial complaints to the Advertising Authority who in fact lodged the complaints in the first place.
    Perhaps he is not aware that ALL of the funding for the Maharishi School Richmond campaign was donated by two individuals: one was a school alumni who felt that his experience at the School in Lancashire was so positive that he wanted to make it available to other children, the other was a parent from the existing School who likewise felt that the School had been wonderful for her children.

    Second I would like to remind Derek that over 600 parents representing nearly 900 children had chosen Maharishi School as their 'First Choice' school - and perhaps Derek could remind us how many signatures his bid received.

    Finally, Derek suggests yet again that a state secondary school is not needed in Hampton. However, maybe Derek would like to confirm publicly what many of us discreetly kept quiet during the campaign - that he has sent his own two children to Hampton School.

    On another more important matter I would like to state that in my experience Richmond Council do a very good job under very difficult circumstances.

    I am ever so sorry that our bid has been unsuccessful and that I have disappointed so many parents who have been so supportive.

    I really hope you find a very good school for your children.

    warmest wishes

    Richard Scott
    Trustee, Maharishi School"
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Maharishi Free School loses bid to open in Richmond

5:24pm Friday 13th July 2012 in Richmond By Paul Teed

A Maharishi school trust has failed in its bid to open a new free school in Hampton.

The Maharishi Free School Richmond team lost out to St Mary’s Church, in Church Street, Hampton, which submitted a competing application to the Department for Education (DfE) for a primary school on the same site, in Oldfield Road. The Thomson House School, which applied to open in Barnes, Mortlake or East Sheen, was also among the 102 new free schools across the country that the DfE approved today.

Its proposal was for a primary school providing places for 336 children.

The Maharishi Free School Richmond team’s failed bid raises questions over Richmond Council’s long-term plan to overcome a lack of secondary school places in the borough.

The school, which would have taught pupils aged four to 18, was due to open in September next year. It proposed teaching children transcendental meditation, a technique based on the teachings of guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, as part of its curriculum.

Richard Scott, of the Maharishi Free School Richmond team, said: “On behalf of the Maharishi School team I would like to thank all the parents in Richmond who have been so supportive of our application. In fact I have always felt that these parents have been a critical part of our team.

“Today the DfE has published the list of approved free schools and I am sorry to say that Maharishi School was not on it. They have raised some points that they have asked us to work through with them before re-applying next year.

“This is certainly disappointing after all the hard work, but there is nothing that we cannot address while keeping the special quality of the Maharishi School; it does mean that we will not be in a position to open a Maharishi School in Richmond in 2013.”

Mr Scott said he had no doubt the school’s educational methods worked.

He said parents of children at a Maharishi free school in Lancashire had all said in a survey that they were happy with it. He added: “Our biggest concern is for the parents who will be disappointed by this decision and the children who would have been our pupils. I sincerely hope that they find a school for them that helps them to develop their full potential.”

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