Parents Meeting

Well the first parents meeting with the Governors has now taken place and I will share what I know and some thoughts.

Firstly, credit where it is due and all that, they must have put in a lot of work to prepare for the session. Papers and proposals to be discussed and voted on related to each of the areas of the survey. It was disappointing that so few parents were actually there. If that was all of the parents in the whole school who volunteered to be there then that is a real shame.

I gather there was some confusion also as to what was expected of those attending - did they represent their classes or not? I also gather there was some confusion over the role of parent governors and were they supposed to represent anyone or not. I think there was some good discussion overall and hopefully some helpful steers to the Governors. I wonder how they will represent this information though come the full parents open evening. I hope that is better attended! Hopefully it will be well publicised.

What perhaps was more interesting were the things that were not discussed. The issue of staff and families moving on was glossed over, with a few glaring inaccuracies. The conduct of the head-teacher in particular seemed to be a no-go zone. This is a real shame as this is where the heart of the current crisis lies. If the Governors are not up for talking about this then we are stuck in a no-mans land. The school will not be able to move on and hurt and frustration will remain.

An interesting example was the discussion on making the school a friendlier and more inviting place. Lots of options were discussed, but there was no mention things like

• a head-teacher who comes out to parents after school, chats with them and is interested in them and their children
• parents being able to drop their children off in the playground
• parents being able to have brief chats easily with class teachers i.e. without having to make appointments

Surely these would be easier than some of the ideas being discussed, and they have all worked very well in the past!

Boooootiful weather!

What wonderful weather we have been having! It was delightful Easter weekend and holiday for the childern with glorious skies. We will all be moaning about the heat and hosepipe bans soon enough I expect.

So what did happen in the end on the subject of sunshades for the playgrounds............?

Summer Term has come...

Google has now found this blog! Hopefully that means a few more people will find it too. We have even had contact from one reader in Australia! I will also try and post a little more regularly, especially after the holiday silence. Please feel very free to add a comment or email me.

Summer term has come, the weather is great and don't the children look wonderful in their summer unforms. Sadly the atmosphere in the school remains somewhat tense and frosty.

One family has not returned this term though. Three Polish children are no longer at the school but have gone elsewhere. Apparently they were not happy with how the head-teacher was treating their children and have voted with their feet. Rumour has it that someone has been putting it around the staff room that they have moved house and thats why they have gone - now why would they say that?

St George or the Dragon?

Lets talk about our head teacher now, Mrs Tina Cleugh. She is a remarkable woman, as anyone who has met her will tell you, as everyone who has met her falls into one of two, very clearly divided camps: those who think she is up there with St George, and those who think she has more in common with the dragon!

To many of our Governors she remains an excellent choice of head teacher and is doing a great job. To many of the staff who have left the school and to many of the parents who have removed their children from the school she is definitely a dragon.

Dragons are also considered to be able to flatter and confuse if need be. It is my assessment that our head teacher keeps her most charming and beguiling behaviour for those whom she considers useful. If you are not useful, or more worryingly if you are an obstacle or a threat, then I fear you will feel a dragon’s wrath.

A head teacher should be concerned for the institution that is the school in their care: the teaching staff, the support staff, the pupils, the parents. I suspect that the only institution that our head teacher is really concerned for though is herself – all her actions can be measured and understood by this.

So, St George, or the Dragon? What have your experiences been? Please leave a comment so we all can know.

Comments

I am starting to understand this more: we now have correct times on the blog and I have made it easier to leave comments. All feedback gratefully received.

Parents Survey Results Published!

Well, they did wait until the last day of term, but the survey has now been published. It was in the book bags that the children brought home. Now, credit where credit is due; this is a very impressive peice of work - I mean it. Thank you Governors - a lot of work has gone into this. An 84% return by parents is a great response, but it does create a lot of work for whoever is going to have to read it all and make sense of it. This seems to have been done, and done well. It took some time in coming, and it would have been great if our expectations could have been managed a little better, but thank you.

Overall what the survey shows is that we do still have a good school. Many parents are happy with the way the school is being run. This is a great result and very reassuring. "What more could you ask for then?", I hear you say. What the survey also shows is that there is a significant minority of people who are very unhappy. Some of the quotes also indicate this.

What I hope is that the meetings outlined by the Governors will go some further way to allowing these parents to be really listened to and where appropriate have their issues addressed. There have been a large number of rumours flying around and there are some people who are very vocal about their unhappiness. I suspect that the only way to get these people to be quiet is to listen to them and deal with their concerns, as far as is possible. This would also be the Christian way of going about things.

The survey made the very valid point that we must not be complacent about where things are good. I was dissapointed though not see any reference to putting right the issues that parents are concerned with. Hopefully we can take that for granted...

Well done all you parents who responded to the survey. Keep involved with your school. Keep praying for the school and all the staff and our Governors.

Discsussion points I want to raise in the future will include

• whose school is it anyway?
• what sort of ethos should a Catholic shool have?
• if it has that ethos what does that feel like day to day?
• what are these concerns that this site keeps alluding to?
• what should we expect of our Governors (there were some points about that in the survey)?
• what is the role of the Diocese and the Local Authority?
• where does the PFA fit into the picture?
• what do we want of a head-teacher?

Anyting else? We could keep going for ages! Any, have a great holiday and a Happy Easter! Oh yes, and go easy on the chocolate....