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Diana Coad supports St Bernard's |
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Written by Paul Welsh
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Tuesday, 06 April 2010 19:17 |
 Diana Coad, the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Slough in the 6 May General Election, has expressed her support for the campaign to save St Bernard's.
Diana says: "My main concern is that pupils who have passed to go to a Grammar School are going to go to what amounts to a comprehensive school i.e. an Academy, and therefore they feel that they have been let down by the Governors of the school and the Diocese taking the decision to change the status of the school. |
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Last Updated on Monday, 19 April 2010 12:41 |
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St Bernard's Governors voted 17-1 against Academy |
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Written by Paul Welsh
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Thursday, 04 March 2010 13:49 |
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Yesterday I received the usual rejection by the DCSF of my Freedom of Information request seeking more information about the formal reasons for the rejection of the EoI by the governors at St Bernard's. However, I did receive a series of very heavily redacted (blacked out) scans of email messages. I've gone through them with a fine tooth comb and, much to my surprise, new information has been disclosed which can now be placed in the public domain. You can view all of the scanned emails I received by clicking HERE and browsing through the folders. It's clear that behind the scenes, the Diocese and DCSF are beavering away on this project. Make no mistake. No news does not mean no activity! The most interesting single scan is this one from 17 December 2009. It starts with a message from someone who knows which way the governing bodies at both St Joseph's and St Bernard's voted regarding the EoI and the reasons for the St Bernard's governors rejecting it. We can therefore speculate that it could be from someone from the Diocese. The email says: The Governing Body at St Joseph's voted overwhelmingly in favour of the project - I seem to remember it was 10 (or 11?) to 1 but will confirm. The Governing Body at St Bernard's voted overwhelmingly against - 17 to 1. The reasons we were given for this vote were that St Bernard's consider BSF will solve all the problems at St Joseph's and somehow make it possible for St Joseph's to expand to any increase in the local Catholic population, and thus no Academy is necessary. They also have a problem with the proposed size of the College (too big). Both governing bodies will be writing to you giving the reasons for their decision so this can be considered with the Expression of Interest. |
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Last Updated on Friday, 05 March 2010 00:45 |
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EoI Rejected by St Bernard's Governors |
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Written by Paul Welsh
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Tuesday, 26 January 2010 13:47 |
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In the Monday Letter of 25 January 2010, John McAteer states: The only additional information we have regarding future plans for Catholic secondary education in the town is as follows: an Expression of Interest document has been presented to the Governors of both St Joseph’s and St Bernard’s. At the Governors’ meeting on 15 December 2009, the Governors of St Bernard’s voted by a very significant majority that they were ‘not content’ with the document. The Chairman of Governors is writing to the DCSF and the Diocese to expand upon the reasons for this decision. The Expression of Interest went to the DCSF in December, and remains a working document while further meetings between the DCSF representatives and the sponsors continue. Obviously this is excellent news but unfortunately the agreement of the governors of St Bernard's is not required in order for the Diocese to submit the EoI to the DCSF. Mr McAteer clearly doesn't wish to burden the parents of St Bernard's with the reasons for the rejection of the EoI at this stage. |
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St Joseph's application for funds is submitted |
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Written by Paul Welsh
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Tuesday, 16 February 2010 22:39 |
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At the end of January, Slough Council submitted its application for £80m of BSF (Building Schools for the Future) funds with St Joseph's included in Phase One of the spending plan. The application is known as a Readiness to Deliver (RtD) Submission and a redacted version is in the public domain. You can download it HERE. The RtD states on page 3 that a completely new school will be built on the St Joseph's site whether or not the amalgamation of St Bernard's and St Joseph's takes place. This differs from what was previously expected. Previously, it was anticipated that if the merger took place, St Joseph's would be replaced by another school in Phase One of the proposal. Now it transpires that the St Joseph's site will be utilised no matter what happens regarding the Academy. The RtD gives some timescales on page 16. It states that the consultation on the closure of St Bernard's and St Joseph's will begin in the summer term of 2010 and be completed before the OBC (Outline Business Case) is submitted. Page 24 says the OBC for St Joseph's will be completed by March 2011. Page 24 says that the new build St Joseph's would open in September 2014. If consultations on the closure of St Bernard's are to begin next term then presumably we should expect a decision shortly on whether the Diocese will submit the Academy EoI without the support of the St Bernard's governors. |
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Last Updated on Wednesday, 17 February 2010 00:39 |
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Governors to Respond to EoI |
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Written by Paul Welsh
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Monday, 14 December 2009 19:22 |
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Today in the St Bernard's Monday letter, John McAteer gives an update on the future of St Bernard's. He states that the Expression of Interest is being finalised by the three sponsors: the Diocese, Slough BC and St Mary's University College, London. If you haven't heard of St Mary's University College, perhaps that's because it has only been granting its own degrees since 2007. Anyhow, this is to be the Higher Education co-sponsor of the Academy it seems. This is the first official mention of it. Such is the way information is slipped out by the proponents of the academy. The letter says that the Governing Body met on 25 November "for their observations and comments" and that a second meeting was held on 2 December when "an updated version was presented". The governing body is, apparently, meeting tomorrow, Tuesday 15 December 2009, "to discuss any amendments and decide their response to the proposal". Let us hope that the governors see sense and do not endorse this act of academic vandalism. |
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Last Updated on Friday, 18 December 2009 20:19 |
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