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Written by Nick Seaton
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Tuesday, 15 December 2009 21:15 |
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Parents, governors or teachers who think that turning St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School into an academy will benefit academically bright youngsters should perhaps think again. New research, published by think-tank Civitas on 14 December, raises fundamental questions about academies. Anastasia de Waal asked 118 academy principals for details of their schools' exam results. Only 40 responded and only 43% of these were willing to disclose the GCSE subjects and qualifications their pupils had been entered for. This strongly suggests youngsters are being entered for the vocational qualifications that are worth several GCSEs to make the academies' results look better. Why are academies not compelled to release details about their exam results or their costs? Why should academies be the only taxpayer-funded schools granted exemption from Freedom of Information requirements? |
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Last Updated on Tuesday, 15 December 2009 21:52 |
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New Foundation Governors Appointed |
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Written by Paul Welsh
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Monday, 14 December 2009 20:08 |
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At the recent parent governor elections the results were as follows and the top 3 candidates were elected: Mr C Beer 279
Mr P McGill 250
Mr A O’Shea 249
Mr G Gaughan 243
Mrs A Sullivan 95
Mr P Sahota 33 The school web site was updated to list the new parent governors. Today, 14 December, the list of governors on the school web site was updated again. This time, we see that there are some new names. Of the Foundation Governors, Margaret Mangan has gone, to be replaced by two new Foundation governors, Gerard Gaughan and Angela Sullivan. To discuss this article, join our mailing list. |
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Backwards in Boston – a warning from Lincolnshire parents |
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Written by Nick Seaton
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Monday, 16 November 2009 21:24 |
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Parents of pupils at St Bernard's Catholic Grammar School who think proposals to change the status of the school will not effect them should perhaps think again.
It is now more than 2 years since Boston Grammar School for boys and Boston High School for girls 'federated' into single school with a single headteacher and a single governing body.
This was done in accordance with the wishes of Conservative-controlled Lincolnshire County Council and CfBT, the educational charity LCC pays to run the County's schools.
Nothing has improved and most things are much worse.
There is still no funding available to build a new school on a single site as promised. Meanwhile, school budgets are in chaos, mainly because the numbers of admissions for 11-year-olds have been reduced. Also, the prospect of years of disruption is encouraging families to apply for places at other, more stable, local grammar schools. So the Boston grammar schools are suffering. |
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£20m for St Joseph's still on track |
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Written by Paul Welsh
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Monday, 14 December 2009 18:23 |
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The latest Minutes of the Slough Schools Forum on 11 November 2009 mentions that the Readiness to Deliver submission, a requirement for gaining access to the £80m of funding from the Building Schools for the Future budget, is expected to be submitted at the end of February or early March 2010. The secondary headteachers "noted their enthusiasm" and said they would like to be involved in preparing the Readiness to Deliver submission. One of the attendees at this meeting was "Angela Mellish, RC Diocese". Whether this is the same Angela Mellish listed as Bursar on the St Bernard's school web site is unclear. If they are one and the same then hopefully she would have passed on the happy news to the governing body at St Bernard's. For previous articles about this subject see: St Joseph's closer to getting £20m St Joseph's in Phase 1 for £20m New Funds To discuss this article, join our mailing list. |
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St Joseph's closer to getting £20m |
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Written by Paul Welsh
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Thursday, 05 November 2009 13:15 |
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It appears as though funding for St Joseph's is on track. The latest Minutes of the Slough School's Forum on 16 September 2009 reveal that the DSG (Dedicated Schools Grant) for 2009/10 was £589,000 more than antcipated. Other income streams resulted in £723,000 being available. The Slough Schools Forum agreed that the extra funds would be used to fund three projects of which the RtD (Readiness to Deliver) stage of the BSF (Building Schools for the Future) programme was the most costly at £250,000. Even after the three projects had been funded, £385,000 was available to carry forward. This tranche of advanced BSF funding for Slough amounts to £80m and it will be split evenly between four schools of which St Joseph's is one. If the Academy goes ahead, another school will take the place of St Joseph's. See this article from January 2009 for more details. It was noted in the meeting that the £80m might be reduced because of spending cuts but clearly, Slough Borough Council still believes it is worth spending £250,000 on the RtD. So, good news for St Joseph's. As things stand, the £20m for St Joseph's looks considerably more definite than the funding for an Academy. Let's hope the funding becomes available quickly enough to sow real doubts in the minds of the Diocese and governors about the feasibility of the Academy. To discuss this article, join our mailing list. |
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Last Updated on Thursday, 05 November 2009 13:50 |
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