Teacher Meetings.

There are a few concerns being expressed about teacher meetings.  As I have just come out of my governors meeting (which was very good I may add) I think I'm in a position to set peoples minds to rest.

A question was asked one of the gentlemen in our meeting about the format of the teacher meetings. 

We received an assurance that all teachers would be given the opportunity of speaking with the governors in small groups (like the opportunity afforded to parents).

We were assured that these meetings would ONLY contain GOVERNORS and would NOT include Staff governors or members of the senior leadership team.  It was stated that the only exception to this was that Mr D French had been asked to take notes for one of the meetings. There was a clear statement that the meetings would be made as comfortable for the teachers as possible so that they could speak openly and honestly.  

I felt significantly better after talking to governors personally, and genuinely listened to.  While I have many concerns and worries about the process, questions were answered openly and with a refreshing candour. 

I can well understand staff anxiety on this matter but I implore you to make your opinions known and to ask the governing body the questions you want answered.

I told the governors to take with significant weight the opinions of those who actually did the job on a day to day basis - these are the people after all who we entrust the educational outcomes of our children on a day to day basis.  I stated the opinion that when it came to educational outcomes the staff should be entrusted above even the consultants as the further you are form the realities of a job the less easy it is to judge.

If it proves that I am wrong or misinformed please let me know and I'll find out why.

Update: The new head Mr Ian Hylan is indeed penciled in against some of the governors meetings so I apologise as I obviously misunderstood.  Some staff have communicated to me that they feel uncomfortable with this arrangement and I have received an assurance that any member of staff that would prefer to be in another meeting can be moved.  This can be accomplished by contacting Mr D French.


From the governors meeting that I attended which Mr Hylan was good enough to pop into I am aware that Mr Hylan is somewhat disappointed that his attempts to engage are being met with mistrust and cynicism.  I am sympathetic to him in the task he faces but it is not one that should surprise him.  The confidence in authority generally that is felt by staff and parents is at a rather low ebb, Mr Hylan will have to accept that he has significant work to do to repair the damage that has already been done.  It is not really tenable to imagine that 1500-2000 parents and a significant percentage of the staff developed a deep mistrust in "the system" overnight without any provocation.  If the merger does not go ahead it will still take some time and skill on his part to repair the damage, if the merger proceeds I fear he will be faced with a task that maybe beyond even his talents.


I will say that My reading of the school site that Mr Hylan is currently Head Master suggests that he has a very inclusive management style and has a thriving PTA. 


http://www.coxgreen.com/index.php/governors 
(note governors meeting minutes on-line)

http://tna.europarchive.org/20060214062142/http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachers/issue35/secondary/features/Makingitwork/
And it took me a lot of effort to dig out this gem on Mr Hylan.  If we are going to work this way I look forward to his future stewardship of Tomlinscote as an "unmerged" school.

SurreyCC response form as written by CAM.

CAM has produced a response form highlighting the issues that CAM would place on the form.  Each person will want to place their own issues on their own form but this is provided should people need some guidance or some help with how to phrase things.  Ideally you would write your own document from scratch but should you wish to use this as a starting point deleting ideas that are not important to you or you disagree with and adding new items you are free to do so.

The document is in Micro$oft Word format or can be downloaded in other formats if required.

Open in Google Docs.....
Download here....
or try here Download

Before you answer the questions below CAM would ask you to consider:
How are County going to analyse your responses in relation to ticking yes, no and don’t know?
Only tick a box if you agree.
If you don’t, fill in the information box and state that you are unable to tick a box due to either incomplete data or insufficient information being available to make a considered decision.

Do not forget to return it by June 17th. If posting it needs to be posted by June 15th

SURREY HEATH, SECONDARY CONSULTATION ROOM 171 COUNTY HALL, KINGSTON-UPON-THAMES, SURREY KT12DN

or you can send it electronically to:

schoolorg@surreycc.gov.uk

DO NOT forget to put on the form at the bottom your POSTCODE. If you don’t put your postcode the form will be discounted.

HAVE YOU PUT YOUR POSTCODE ON?

Publicity leaflets

The following leaflets are available - click on the picture to view or print more.

Kings Academy - A vision for the future.

This document gives some background on Kings possible conversion to an academy and is a first pass at  answering peoples questions.  Discussions are at an early stage and there is no certainty that Kings would become an Academy or that any particular provider would be chosen.  It is however worthwhile to point out to all interested parties that this is not idle speculation it is a very real possibility and very credible alternative.  Thanks to Barbara for putting this together.

The case for Closing Kings

This is the first of a number of documents that analyses SurreyCC proposal.  In this document we start to analyse the case Surrey makes for why Kings needs to be closed.

The document is critical of SurreyCC but it should be pointed out that these criticisms come only after having given SurreyCC repeated opportunities to justify, substantiate and explain their position.  This has not been done to our satisfaction.

Tomlinscote Ofsted - a real threat to the Merger.

Tomlinscote Schools Ofsted inspection results are out and they make impressive reading as it is a truly excellent comment on the school.  It does however have serious implications for the proposed merger as this is the benchmark that the Governing body and new Headmaster will be judged against.  The education of 1569 children is currently judged as outstanding and if the merger was to go ahead it is unlikely that with the massive upheaval that this stands any chance of being maintained.  The 1000+ families who have signed up to support CAM wish to see the current status quo maintained or improved upon.  It is unlikely that they will be sympathetic if the governing body agree (against their wishes) to a course of action that sees a decline from this benchmark.  Further pressure is placed upon the governing body since local politicians are also firmly against this merger on educational grounds.  It is also difficult to see how Michael Gove can feel this is a good idea.  The merger is a massive gamble (or experiment as PJ puts it) with no guarantee of success, one that (as SurreyCC admits) may need to be reversed in 5-6 years time.  The status quo is an outstanding school and an improving school in a successful soft federation ... any change from this stable and successful state is a big risk.

You don't need to be a genius to know what makes sense here.

One is an each way bet on the favourite, the other is a rumour from a dodgy man in a bar that the last horse in the race with no prior form (a split site school) "might" come good.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_reports/download/(id)/139034/(as)/125261_359870.pdf

SurreyCC Consultation Document (mark - Ungraded)

At university we had a lecturer who was absolutely excellent, but when you received an essay back it was with a real sense of foreboding!  He would often write more in the margin of your essay in the dreaded red pen than you had written yourself!  Only years later did I realise the effort and dedication this took, but the quality of the critical review was fantastic and really helped us to improve.
We have gone through the consultation document and annotated it with comments, it looks disturbingly similar to those "red penned" essays I used to receive!  Its a long document and not one that I can make it through in a single sitting.  However, as you read the sheer volume of mistakes that county has made the fact that the document is "not fit for purpose" becomes obvious.
It is difficult to imagine how the governors could even begin to vote on the information presented here.  Equally well it is a challenge to respond to a document that is so biased and contains little or no facts.

It is not imagined that everyone is going to go through this document with a fine tooth comb but I would be disappointed if the major decision makers (the Governors and County) don't digest it.  If nothing else, like the experience I had at university with my essays, next time there is a "consultation" to be written perhaps county can "up their game".

You can find the document here or by clicking the picture above.

Visible support

The CAM team continue to work hard to prove to the Tomlinscote Governors by various means that the SCC consultation paper proposing the expansion/merger of Tomlinscote with Kings International is flawed and will have a huge negative impact on our children’s education.

Part of the CAM mission is to show the Governor’s how overwhelming the public opinion is AGAINST this proposal and to place ‘NO MERGER’ posters in as many places as possible. The best place is in your gardens or on fences visibly showing your feelings to the Governors as this is your private property and SCC can’t demand they are removed.

CAM members will supply and fix a laminated A4 poster to your fence, tree or gate. All you have to do is email tomlinscote.kings@gmail.com and provide your name and address and the poster will appear outside your property showing support against the merger. Or we can post it through your door for you to fix.

If you have a large fence in a prominent location on the school routes or junctions where there is a lot of traffic please request A3 size.

Please act now to tomlinscote.kings@gmail.com

To download the poster click on it above or on this link.

When you click on the link you can use the

File menu on the blue line

and

select Print (PDF) to print the document.

If you want to download the file use the

Download Original option

..... happy printing!