Ok, this blog - what do we do with it? It was created as a 'discussion' area but I think we can all accept that it has become something of a wayward child. Some people are distressed by it, some people consider it cyber-bullying, many are concerned about its negative impact on the school, the church and the community.
The reason this blog started was that many people were distressed by what was going on at the school and felt that they could not get their concerns listened to, never mind addressed. Many people have reflected on the pain expressed by some of the posters here and perhaps it can be compared to the child having a tantrum in the supermarket - a bit embarrasing!
However, I also feel that this blog has been a success in as much as it has been noticed. Many people appear to have posted to it, although it is of course frustrating that it has been so anonymous. Some ex-staff members and some ex-parents have expressed sadness with their experiences at the school and have not had adequate closure, therefore they still hurt.
Following what has been suggested in several posts I therefore appeal to the Governors (and Diocese and LA if appropriate) to set up a credible process / review / whatever whereby people can feel their concerns are really being listened to and acted on as deemed appropriate by the appropriate authority. Once there is a better channel for these discusions / allegations / whatever to be expressed in, there will be no more need for this blog and it can vanish!
In the meantime 'comment moderation' has been activated in this site, meaning the administrator has vetoing powers over any comments submitted before they are visible to everyone. I hope this will go some way at least to reducing some of the unpleasantness that has taken place. It will also mean there will be a time delay between you posting a comment and it appearing.
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6 comments:
Teresa Anderson aka Teresa Roscow again.
Thank you for taking action to make the Blog less intimidating etc. The downside is that a few rightly anonymous voices will be excluded, but we know some of their stories and they can count in the grand picture.
I can only commend the idea of a Mediator/ review process etc to resolve the situaiton.
I go back to the point that the patient school community of St Vincents has seen two major changes of Head - from Mr Gallagher to Mrs Govan and from Mrs Govan to Mr Murphy and NOTHING like this happened then. Very different styles of Headship, no disaffected teachers or parents. At the very least we have a Head whose management and communication style needs altering.
At the end of the day this school community belongs to us the parents and to us the parish community and not to the Head. Our voice in how the school is run is as important as hers - she can have all the procedures and committees she wants, but we should have a say too
Agreed. The problem is that all the relevant authorities have known about serious concerns for a long time now.
These concerns predate any concerns at St. Vincents.
This is all a matter of lengthy record. We would not be aware of this were it not for a relationship with Hillingdon ( it being a neighbouring borough) Discovering this changed matters considerably.
The issues and problems there read like a carbon copy of St Vincents, but more so. This may be because there was no "track record" uncovered there, so their protests didn't carry the weight of "history". Eventually everyone left, and the complaints petered out. But the hurt remains, and people there still feel very raw and cynical about the claims of the diocese to be an open organisation striving to "always be willing to listen to concerns and anxieties and be ready to learn from them if appropriate."
The evidence of the written record seems to be that the diocese were alerted to many concerns. At one point the Bishop was visited by a Member of Parliament who had become alarmed at the reports of what was happening at the school.This MP was reassured by the Bishop that they took these matters seriously and he would see to it that it was looked into. The MP, happy with the bishops reassurance, went away satisifed. And so matters went on. For this reason, I don't imagine your meeting with Fr Wiley will be likely to bear much fruit.I hope I'm mistaken, but the evidence of history suggests otherwise.
My concern is this. People in our community have been very badly hurt, and in some cases, their reputations harmed unjustly. Their experiences match those of people in Hillingdon. This makes their accounts all the more credible.
What do we do about that? People have left jobs that they loved in a community that they loved and felt part of. They had imagined that the same community felt a measure of reciprocal affection. It seems that their experiences are being brushed aside, and that if they raise the red flag they are being accused of gossiping, a claim which IMO is quite risible.
It has been my growing impression that there is , among the people who have accountability in these matters,less of a concern for what is true and just, than there is for suppressing or even ridiculing "bad news".
If as much energy had gone into seeking to listen to and support ALL the people affected by this, rather than in closing down, silencing, or hiding complaint, I don't believe this blog would ever have happened.
Teresa Roscow here
Just an innocent question...why did that letter circulated to all parents come from Bishop Stack, rather than the Auxiliary Bishop for the Ealing area, Bishop Alan Hopes? PLs could someone enlighten me about Bishop Stack's responsibilities here, as most unfortunately we seem to have thrown the letter away...
thanks
Hello Teresa,
not sure if mine is the definitive answer, but since there aren't yet many ( it seems) who have signed up to Blogger, I'll give you my understanding.
Bishop Stack is the chairman of the Diocesan department for education. Bishop Hopes is an auxilliary bishop with pastoral responsibilties. I guess there are areas where their interests would overlap ( where educational concerns become pastoral ones)But as far as educational matters are concerned, Bishop Stack is the principle bishop with oversight in this area.
See the Diocese website for further info. HTH.
Clare
Below is a copy of a letter I have sent to Mrs Blyth, Chair of Governors, following my removal from the meeting last week. I have been waiting for over a year to speak to the Governors about the situation in the school and its impact on my family.
Dear Mrs Blyth,
I am writing to you to raise some concerns I have with the current situation at St Vincent’s and the events that have occurred over the past 18 months. I would have raised these points at the ‘open’ meeting at the school on Thursday, but as it was you who removed me from the meeting, you will understand my reasons for being unable to do so.
As you may be aware both of my children attended St Vincent’s and my wife Nicola worked there, firstly on a voluntary basis and then as an employee. I have been active within the PFA for over 7 years. I therefore feel that I have a very firm connection with the school.
Until recently I was of the opinion that it was a privilege for my children to attend such a lovely school, now I am thankful they have left. My daughter has moved on to High School and my son who would have been in year 5 is now taught elsewhere within Ealing. My wife Nicola has also left, being one of the many staff who could no longer tolerate the working conditions within the school.
I was hoping that at the meeting I would have heard about the ‘changes’ that have taken place at the school. I hoped that the loss of so many good teachers and other staff and the reasons for so many children being withdrawn from the school would be explained and also why it has taken a year for the Governors to meet with parents.
Why has it taken so long? If you had been acting in a responsible role as Governors surely you would have picked-up on what was happening earlier. You know from previous correspondence from myself how deeply unhappy we were with the treatment my son was receiving, unfortunately you did nothing. Eventually with the support of teachers who have now left we managed to secure a Statement for him. I know that we were not the only family with a special needs child in the school who were very unhappy with the level of support and care that their child received since Mrs. Cleugh’s arrival. I also know that many parents from Mrs Cleugh’s previous school St Mary’s in Hillingdon had serious concerns and I believe there is a pattern emerging.
I am also amazed at your silence on the loss of staff. Surely, the people who had made St Vincent’s what it was, weren’t suddenly changed into incompetents or malcontents. There had to be a major underlying reason for the mass exodus, but you and the other Governors to your eternal shame chose to ignore it.
At no time did any Governor question my wife as to why she was leaving. Why not? Don’t you care when staff leave? Didn’t you start to question what was happening, did you speak to any other members of staff who left? Did you try to persuade them to stay?
I believe that the arrival of Mrs Cleugh was the trigger for the series of departures. What references were supplied and did any of the Governors look at her past record at St Mary’s in Hillingdon? (Where I believe she engineered an even larger turnover of staff within a year).
Have the Governors questioned the recent Ofsted report? How come within one term, the school which had achieved the best SAT’s results in the Borough, suddenly became a failing school, although there had been no significant change in the staff? Have any Governors spoken to staff at the school about the management of the school during the Ofsted inspection? From what I hear there were a number of anomalies or at least very unusual scenarios that would not have occurred in other schools.
My concerns for the school are not based on a fear of change, indeed I welcome it but how can anyone say that what has happened and is still happening at St Vincent’s is for the better? You may not have noticed it, but there is a climate of fear around the school. We were not the only parents who wanted to speak out at the time, but were afraid to do so because we had children in the school. You may believe this is totally unfounded, sadly I don’t think so. I wonder if that is why Mrs Cleugh was so quick to draw your attention to the fact that I was present at the meeting, no longer being a parent put me in a position where I would be able to speak out freely.
As it wasn’t possible for me to air my views at the meeting, when can I discuss my concerns with you and the other Governors? Perhaps you could convene a meeting of ex staff and those parents who have withdrawn their children from the school, with all of the Governors and the invited guest from last Thursday also present, to hear the other side of the story. The concerns of these people have been ignored for over a year. Personally I wouldn’t mind the meeting being open to all. It is about time that the truth came out, if it doesn’t now, it almost certainly will in the future. Only when it does can the school move forward and regain its pride and integrity.
I am copying this letter to the excellent blog that has been established to debate the future of St Vincent’s. If you are not aware of it, it can be found at: www.st-vincents.blogspot.com
I look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely
Anthony Loftus
Governors - this could be a very good way forward. Several of you have expressed your disquiet with this blog, but clearly there are people out there who feel they have been treated inappropriately. It seems that this is not all going to go away so please lets deal with it. We all want to move forwards, but often that means dealing with the past first. Please can you give this serious consideration.
Thank you.
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