Author: simon
Melanie Swan: Schools Reforms Are “Chaotic and Confusing” (podcast)
Friday, 6th June, 2008 at 9:54 am, Isle of Wight
The concern with how schools on the Island are being reformed continues. We caught up with Cllr Melanie Swan (MS) last week at County Hall and did a quick interview.
She was still in a state of shock over the briefing that the elected members had received about the actual school closures.
The shock started when they were only given two days notice of the meeting, and given this, many of the elected members were unable to attend.
MS felt that this and the way members are being given the information makes it “difficult for the elected members to know what is going on,” not helped by the situation that “the whole education debate has been shrouded in confusion, secrecy and constant changes.”
In Melanie’s view, the “elected members — who are supposed to represent the people living in their wards — are being ruled out of discussion which they ought to be included in, for the benefit of their communities.”
Where’s the school sale money going?
You will remember that when concerns were raised by many people about what the money raised from the sale of the proposed closed schools would be used for, the official line from the IW Council was that it would only be spent on Children’s services.
MS has been looking into this and asking specific questions to Steve Beynon, coming to the conclusion that “legally, I can’t see any way in which this can be accomplished.”
After much pressing, Steve Beynon, Director of Children’s Services, revealed that what the money would be used for was up to the next administration, not the current one, as they may only be in power for another year.
Opinion
It would be a pretty shocking double cross if the council are not able to guarantee that monies from the possible sale of schools were not be used for what the council assured us all it would be used for.
Have a listen …
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June 6th, 2008 at 11:34 am
This was always going to happen. They could never guarantee anything. Good grief, they can’t even keep their own promises!
June 6th, 2008 at 10:22 pm
Sad but true. Melanie was one of the few councillors who could see through all the smoke and mirrors, but it’s very difficult to persuade people when they are constantly being told that black is white. I have an email from Roger Mazillius (then chairman) stating that: “school site money has to be returned to education” and I’ve no doubt that he believed it, because Beynon and Co had told him so. Like the inflated spare places and the bogus GCSE stats used to push these mad reforms through, this is just another Big Fat Lie.
(This is my opinion, not necessarily VB’s, although I’m quite happy to defend it in court - I’ve got three lawyers in the family and it’s not libel if it’s true!)
June 7th, 2008 at 12:47 am
Well I can bet that our Council Leader and his Crew will not be jumping up and down at this fantastic news!
I’ve just had a letter and Ofsted Inspection report brought home today telling me that
Bishop Lovett Church of England Controlled Middle School, Ryde.
Has just received an Outstanding Ofsted!
So outstanding that in just the first paragraph headed “Overall effectiveness of the school”, it says outstanding, outstanding, outstanding, outstanding! Yes four times, it really does!
I feel so sorry for the school and its “Outstanding leadership” (yes it says that as well) teachers and “highly effective learning support assistants” along with its “outstanding care”, “outstanding education”, “outstanding progress”, “outstanding development”, “excellent attendance”, and “excellent guidance”, that all the staff cannot celebrate this in the way in which they should be able to. Especially given the comment that “the headteacher has forged a strong team that has excellent capacity for continuous improvement”. What chance! How sad and frustrated they must feel knowing that even if they choose to stay as this team that they have no possibility of keeping this up beyond 2010. This just goes to prove that this council has no idea of where the real talent lies when it comes to improving standards. In the real world this school would turned into an incredible High School ‘lock stock and barrel’. It has the space to extend, beautiful environment and, as stated an “excellent capacity for continuous improvement”.
But no we are in the political world and so they are shutting it down. Yea right! Just where does this council’s allegiance lie? It appears from this, that it is certainly not with regard to the future of the education of the children within it’s community, given that they are replacing the Outstanding Bishop Lovett with a Satisfactory Oakfield!
You would laugh if you weren’t crying. Children come to the Outstanding Bishop Lovett from a Satisfactory Oakfield and then move FROM the Outstanding Bishop Lovett to a Satisfactory Ryde High. So which school does this council choose to close? MADNESS……… Just what qualifications do the Councillors making these decisions at the Council have? Save Our Schools, with achievements like this, it now confirms we should be demanding they Save Our System.
June 11th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
They are qualified by the result of elections based upon statements made. There should be a legal recourse when it turns out that election claims are not fulfilled or stuck too
June 18th, 2008 at 9:10 am
s is so wrong
Since many of the primary schools have now been saved from closure, parents seem oblivious to the realities of changing from a three-tier system to a 2-tier system. Having looked at the Ofsted reports for all the Islands Middle and High schools, I am amazed that 60% of the High schools, that’s 3 out of the 5 state run High schools, are deemed by Ofsted to be satisfactory at best and the other 40%, that’s Sandown High school and Carisbrooke High school, only being described as good, (where Carisbrooke High just about scrapped a good). I am at a loss to understand how making these satisfactory High schools bigger will improve standards in education. On the other hand, many of the Middle schools have been deemed good with many outstanding features, such as Ventnor Middle who recently had their Ofsted inspection, Mayfield Middle school, Nodehill Middle, Lake Middle, Solent and then you have both Trinity Middle and Bishop Lovett Middle deemed as outstanding. As was highlighted on a post on the Ventnor Blog website earlier, children in the Ryde area “move from a satisfactory primary school, Oakfield, to an outstanding Middle school, Bishop Lovett and then on to a satisfactory High school, Ryde High.
As far as I can gather from the Ofsted reports, the main area for concern in the Islands education system is clearly the High schools. So what do those clever people at the council do, they firstly try to close many of our primary schools and when they heard the outcry, they then decide to close the Middle schools, instead of tackling the real problem, just to gain money from central government. This will leave many talented Head teachers and Deputy Head teachers in the land of limbo, and talented teachers unsure where their future lies.