Sorry - life has been busy and you deserve an update. Feedback from you all was 100% in favour of the blog continuing - so it remains business as usual. We are not dead yet!
As stated repeatedly though, if the Governors put in place a fair and reasonable process whereby someone independant can listen to our concerns and create a plan to address them, then this blog will go away.
Given the length of time you Governors are taking to progress a formal grievance there is little confidence that other concerns will be handled in a timely manner, never mind, well.
Saturday, June 30, 2007
Thursday, June 28, 2007
If you're not confused you're not paying attention...
It is worth remembering that our experience in St Vincents over the last 18 months or so is not unique. The fall off in staff and the disaffection of parents has been explained away as being related to the difficulty some have in coming to terms with necessary change. No doubt that may be partially true in many instances, nonetheless, to lose, say, 25% of your staff may be unfortunate, surely to lose 100% looks like, to borrow a swipe from Lady Bracknell...carelessness? As we saw from T.Ruths Hillingdon timeline posted here back in May, that is what happened there. Could these all have been Old Brigade die hards? Stick-in-the-muds who just couldn't move forward and 'get with the programme'?
There does seem to be a rather creepy echoing of events in Hillingdon here in Acton.
Lets, for the sake of argument, say that change did need to happen, that the ship was not in shape? Would that be the fault of the staff? Would a good leader make them feel as though it was ? Surely a good leader galvanises and motivates staff. An effective, visionary leader rallies troops and encourages and equips them with confidence, vision and purpose. Such a huge exodus of staff as we have seen suggests that this was not happening here. And goodness me, but one didn't have to scratch around for reasons to be cheerful. If the school was in need of change, they were managing to get some pretty fine results in spite of it ( and it was a cheery, welcoming place to boot) And who should we congratulate for that? Well, naturally the teachers. I would like to think that an incoming Head would see that, and congratulate them, and then share with them a vision for the future.
Perhaps that's the way it was. But if it did happen like that, why did we see, very early on, what looked like a dejected, demoralised bunch of staff taking off for other schools? This sad exodus followed up by a letter from Bishop Stack telling us that there had been prior concerns about the quality of education on offer at St V's? There's gratitude.
Funny isn't it, how they could be so concerned about an issue, where we neither find (or are given) any evidence for such concern. But the things that we are really concerned about, seem to bother them not a jot. The lofty attitude of the Diocese to our worries rather undermines their claim to believe that "In a Catholic school, parental concerns are of particular importance."
Here's the Hillindon timeline again ( hat tip to t.ruth)
Mrs Cleugh began as Head teacher of St Mary's in Hillingdon in Jan 2002. By July of 2003 a total of 26 members of staff had left. St Mary's school is a one form entry school, therefore this amounted to a mass exodus. Also during this time there remained only one original member of the governing body. Mrs Cleugh chose to announce staff that had left as going on to promotions or spending time with their families. These were not the reasons most chose to leave.Several became ill with stress. Below is a timeline of the types of letters written to various bodies between Feb 2002 and March 2004.1. Feb 2002 letter to Head teacher regarding concerns for special needs provision in the school.2. March 2002 Letter to chair of Governors regarding special needs provision, cc to union body. 3. May 2002 Letter to union body regarding concerns.4. June 2002 Letters to Hillingdon, Westminster Diocese and Union body regarding concerns.5. Aug 2002 Letter to chair of governors and cc to Hillingdon, the Diocese and Union regarding concerns for the school. 6. Nov 2002 Letter to Director of Education at Hillingdon, cc to secretary of state for education, MP , union bodies, Hillingdon asking for an independent enquiry regarding concerns at the school. 7. Jan 2003 Letter to MP indicating a lack of confidence and response by the Governors, LEA and the Diocese.Jan to July 2003 10 members of staff left. July 2003 Letter to MP regarding serious concerns for special needs. oct 2003 letter to OFSTED requesting inspector to revisit the school.Nov 2003 Letter to MP serious concerns Nov 2003 Letter to MP concerns for staff and pupils. Nov 2003 Letter to MP concerns for staff. Nov 2003 Letter to MP highlighting trauma for staff and colleagues at St Mary's. Nov 2003 Letter to MP regarding concerns at the school.Dec 2003 MP link with Cardinal and referred to Bishop regarding concerns at St Mary's. Meeting held with Bishop Stack, MP and Diocese. Jan2004 Letter from parents to OFSTED requesting urgent help. Other letters of complaint attached. Feb 2004 Letter to Hillingdon education authority outlining areas of concern. March 2004 Letter to Diocese outlining formal complaint. By now all original staff many of which were part of the community had left the school.
There does seem to be a rather creepy echoing of events in Hillingdon here in Acton.
Lets, for the sake of argument, say that change did need to happen, that the ship was not in shape? Would that be the fault of the staff? Would a good leader make them feel as though it was ? Surely a good leader galvanises and motivates staff. An effective, visionary leader rallies troops and encourages and equips them with confidence, vision and purpose. Such a huge exodus of staff as we have seen suggests that this was not happening here. And goodness me, but one didn't have to scratch around for reasons to be cheerful. If the school was in need of change, they were managing to get some pretty fine results in spite of it ( and it was a cheery, welcoming place to boot) And who should we congratulate for that? Well, naturally the teachers. I would like to think that an incoming Head would see that, and congratulate them, and then share with them a vision for the future.
Perhaps that's the way it was. But if it did happen like that, why did we see, very early on, what looked like a dejected, demoralised bunch of staff taking off for other schools? This sad exodus followed up by a letter from Bishop Stack telling us that there had been prior concerns about the quality of education on offer at St V's? There's gratitude.
Funny isn't it, how they could be so concerned about an issue, where we neither find (or are given) any evidence for such concern. But the things that we are really concerned about, seem to bother them not a jot. The lofty attitude of the Diocese to our worries rather undermines their claim to believe that "In a Catholic school, parental concerns are of particular importance."
Here's the Hillindon timeline again ( hat tip to t.ruth)
Mrs Cleugh began as Head teacher of St Mary's in Hillingdon in Jan 2002. By July of 2003 a total of 26 members of staff had left. St Mary's school is a one form entry school, therefore this amounted to a mass exodus. Also during this time there remained only one original member of the governing body. Mrs Cleugh chose to announce staff that had left as going on to promotions or spending time with their families. These were not the reasons most chose to leave.Several became ill with stress. Below is a timeline of the types of letters written to various bodies between Feb 2002 and March 2004.1. Feb 2002 letter to Head teacher regarding concerns for special needs provision in the school.2. March 2002 Letter to chair of Governors regarding special needs provision, cc to union body. 3. May 2002 Letter to union body regarding concerns.4. June 2002 Letters to Hillingdon, Westminster Diocese and Union body regarding concerns.5. Aug 2002 Letter to chair of governors and cc to Hillingdon, the Diocese and Union regarding concerns for the school. 6. Nov 2002 Letter to Director of Education at Hillingdon, cc to secretary of state for education, MP , union bodies, Hillingdon asking for an independent enquiry regarding concerns at the school. 7. Jan 2003 Letter to MP indicating a lack of confidence and response by the Governors, LEA and the Diocese.Jan to July 2003 10 members of staff left. July 2003 Letter to MP regarding serious concerns for special needs. oct 2003 letter to OFSTED requesting inspector to revisit the school.Nov 2003 Letter to MP serious concerns Nov 2003 Letter to MP concerns for staff and pupils. Nov 2003 Letter to MP concerns for staff. Nov 2003 Letter to MP highlighting trauma for staff and colleagues at St Mary's. Nov 2003 Letter to MP regarding concerns at the school.Dec 2003 MP link with Cardinal and referred to Bishop regarding concerns at St Mary's. Meeting held with Bishop Stack, MP and Diocese. Jan2004 Letter from parents to OFSTED requesting urgent help. Other letters of complaint attached. Feb 2004 Letter to Hillingdon education authority outlining areas of concern. March 2004 Letter to Diocese outlining formal complaint. By now all original staff many of which were part of the community had left the school.
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Just revisiting a couple of points...
From time to time, it may be useful to highlight in the main post some comments that have been left here. Some people have said that it's hard to wade through all the comments ( we have amassed quite a few now). Here are a couple that deserve to be aired again.
The first one is about the website. I did think that the explanation of the website being'locked' just didn't quite stack up. But then, the feeling of things 'not quite stacking up' is one we are becoming quite familiar with. This comment was left a couple of weeks ago:
"I was curious about the claim made to parents that the school website was somehow 'blocked' and therefore currenly innaccesible for updating etc. This was the explanation given to the question about why the website has been so neglected of late.I decided to phone the webmaster and find out if this was true. IT IS'NT.Mrs Cleugh told him when he first made contact with her shortly after her arrival in post that she no longer needed his services.Unpaid and as a matter of goodwill, he continued to post newsletters as they were sent to him by Mrs Goodrick. This all stopped in October last year ( which would correspond I think to when she went off sick). he continues to monitor the message board as a goodwill gesture. Rather noble of him I think. Particularly in the light of his dismissal, and subsequent suggestions that he has left the school 'in the lurch' in terms of making the website inaccessible."
Also worth highlighting for those who may have missed it is this:
" Dear "A worried parent" Please join the people who are trying to do something about this situation teresa@stratlink.co.uk"
If you saw any others which you think deserve a wider reading, leave a comment.
The first one is about the website. I did think that the explanation of the website being'locked' just didn't quite stack up. But then, the feeling of things 'not quite stacking up' is one we are becoming quite familiar with. This comment was left a couple of weeks ago:
"I was curious about the claim made to parents that the school website was somehow 'blocked' and therefore currenly innaccesible for updating etc. This was the explanation given to the question about why the website has been so neglected of late.I decided to phone the webmaster and find out if this was true. IT IS'NT.Mrs Cleugh told him when he first made contact with her shortly after her arrival in post that she no longer needed his services.Unpaid and as a matter of goodwill, he continued to post newsletters as they were sent to him by Mrs Goodrick. This all stopped in October last year ( which would correspond I think to when she went off sick). he continues to monitor the message board as a goodwill gesture. Rather noble of him I think. Particularly in the light of his dismissal, and subsequent suggestions that he has left the school 'in the lurch' in terms of making the website inaccessible."
Also worth highlighting for those who may have missed it is this:
" Dear "A worried parent" Please join the people who are trying to do something about this situation teresa@stratlink.co.uk"
If you saw any others which you think deserve a wider reading, leave a comment.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
To be or not to be...?
Contacting your MP: Any concerns about the school can always be addressed to our MP, Andy Slaughter at: MP for Ealing and Acton, House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA or via the House of Commons switchboard: 020 7219 3000. Alternatively by email at http://www.writetothem.com/ or finally via http://www.andyslaughter.com/contact.php
Firstly, for the sake of clarity I must point out that the TG who writes these posts is not anyone who shares those initials, including ex-members of staff. Apologies to her in particular for any confusion or discomfort this has created for her.
There was a long piece in the last school newsletter asking for this blog to go away, or at least for all you readers to stop reading it and certainly stop commenting. Even good comments are bad news apparently! This blog finds this a strange approach - a while back a way was suggested for this blog to go away but the suggestion has been completely ignored.
Of course the Board of Governors would like issues to be raised directly, or in writing, but there is no trust. Governors and Head Teacher - some (maybe many) parents do not trust you. This is regretable, but reality. If you are serious about rebuilding trust then please put in place a meaningful and safe process to hear people's concerns and then actually address them. Yes, there are issues of confidentiality, but it is not a get out clause to be hidden behind. The recent obsession with confidentiality is probably one of the reasons why trust is vanishing...
Anyway - how about a sort of vote on the future of the blog? Please leave comments on the blog that will not be published. I really would prefer a name and a reason. Options are a) completely vanish forever, b) go 'on hold' until the end of term, c) business as usual or d) some other option that has not occurred to me.
Over to you.
Thursday, June 7, 2007
Governors in the press....
In case you have not seen it, school Governors are in the press a certain amount just now. In a nutshell it seems their responsibilities and the complexities of the job have increased dramatically over the last few years. However, the skills and abilities of those in the job have not always increased in the same way.
The BBC reports it like this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6720593.stm
The Times puts it like this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article1884393.ece
Interestingly they comment that performance managing a head-teacher is one of their harder jobs.
Let us not forget though that our Governors are a dedicated bunch, giving a lot of time to our school, and doing their very best.
The BBC reports it like this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/6720593.stm
The Times puts it like this:
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article1884393.ece
Interestingly they comment that performance managing a head-teacher is one of their harder jobs.
Let us not forget though that our Governors are a dedicated bunch, giving a lot of time to our school, and doing their very best.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Teachas r great...
Hello, back again, and isn't nice to be on the final push to the summer hols. We can look forward to Wimbledon, stawberries, summer getaways and hopefully the final stage in the grievance case against the head-teacher...
Now apparently someone has been saying that the teaching staff are anxious that they might start featuring in this blog. Well so they don't feel left out, here you are:
Thank you - you are doing a great job in incredibly difficult circumstances. The school environment must be very tricky these days and yet you soldier on caring for the children. You have our admiration and support. The fact that our head has been promoted so quickly does of course mean she has very little actual classroom experience, but I am sure she does her best to support you. We would like to get to know you better and work more closely with you. Unfortunately, the current Siberian climate makes this difficult for all of us.
Now apparently someone has been saying that the teaching staff are anxious that they might start featuring in this blog. Well so they don't feel left out, here you are:
Thank you - you are doing a great job in incredibly difficult circumstances. The school environment must be very tricky these days and yet you soldier on caring for the children. You have our admiration and support. The fact that our head has been promoted so quickly does of course mean she has very little actual classroom experience, but I am sure she does her best to support you. We would like to get to know you better and work more closely with you. Unfortunately, the current Siberian climate makes this difficult for all of us.
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