A TEACHER whose vision of a free school championing male education and steering youths away from crime says it is "scandalous" the application was rejected.

Kay Johnston says the school's ethos is to give strong male role models and combat boys drifting into trouble in Lewisham - which currently has the highest unemployment rate in the country for 16-24-year-olds.

But after the application was dismissed by the Department for Education last month [July 13], the teacher-of-33-years says she will not give up the fight.

The 56-year-old said: "I found this [the application’s rejection] scandalous.

"If they think this educational plan is too ambitious - what should children from disadvantaged backgrounds aspire to? This is completely unsatisfactory.

"I will go ahead somehow or other."

Plans for the 5-18 all-boys school include pupils being assigned a male mentor who offers work experience and support throughout their education plus a three-month work placement on finishing.

Ms Johnston said: "I want to create the next role models.

"I wanted to get the boys sorted out without the distraction of girls - there will be plenty of time for that!

"There are so many children in this borough who need a strong male figure and we have been dissatisfied with the one -size-fits-all approach - they are being steered into choices they don’t want to do."

The free school would follow the International Primary and Middle Years Curriculums with hands-on subjects such as construction, painting, and carpentry taught alongside the more traditional.

She said: "What I am worried about is those who didn’t do well at A-levels. A lot who don’t have parents’ support will go to the streets - that’s the worry and we have to do something different to the other schools to combat that and so these young people don’t drift into crime."

Diaspora High School - so-named because of the hoped-for movement from education to work - was set to open its doors to pupils in September 2013 on approval. Ms Johnston says she will steam ahead with the date and seek private funding.

A Department for Education spokesman said: "Applications that were unsuccessful were provided with feedback and are welcome to re-apply in future rounds. It is essential that plans are robust and that we are confident that the school will work."