Lobby the Governors

Update: please see list of Tomlinscote Governors




I received the following mail that was very well researched:-

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Could I suggest that the majority of efforts are aimed at lobbying and persuading the governors of Tomlinscote school, since the ultimate decision whether to go ahead with the SCC proposal rests with them – it cannot go ahead without the approval of the Tomlinscote governing body; this has been confirmed by Peter-John Wilkinson (see attached). Presumably, the majority of Parent & Teacher governors would be against the proposal already, so may be best to concentrate on Col. Steel and the Community governors. Unfortunately, the Tomlinscote website doesn’t seem to list the governors individually, but the school office should be able to supply a list of who’s who.

To this point, I would think that the most compelling argument would possibly be the inherent problems with effectively running an educational establishment across two non-adjacent sites; a quick google brings up a number of references in various Ofsted reports to support this, including:

· “The school's split sites are not the easiest of learning environments”

· “… constraints on the timetable due to the split site mean that continuity between staff who teach specific groups can be problematic.”

· “it has suffered a great deal from problems caused by split-site working … governors, headteacher and key staff have struggled hard to pull things together, but until recently the school has often been diverted from the main task of raising standards”

· “the severe financial constraints posed by running two widely spaced sites”

The issue has even been raised in Parliament:

· “Has the Secretary of State had a look at the letter from the headmaster of Tibshelf school explaining the difficulties of having to deal with the split school site in Bolsover and North East Derbyshire?”

I would also like to press for a meeting to be held between Tomlinscote governing body and Tomlinscote parents, other than the one planned by SCC, as we would then at least be able to gauge the feeling of the body as a whole and possibly see which governors are for or against the proposal. I have emailed Mrs Johnson-Walker and Col. Steel to request this; may be worth asking others to do so, too?

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From: Peter-John Wilkinson <peterjohn.wilkinson@surreycc.gov.uk>
To: REMOVED
Date: Fri, 18 Mar 2011 12:49:44 +0000
Subject: RE: one more question!


REMOVED -

Yes, just so.

Peter-John

Peter-John Wilkinson
Acting Head of Schools & Learning

Tel no 020 8541 9907

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Peter-John,

Thanks for your prompt response, but just to clarify, when you write ‘rests equally’ with the council & the governing body, does that mean the decision would need agreement of both bodies to go ahead?

Thanks,

REMOVED

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From: Peter-John Wilkinson [mailto:peterjohn.wilkinson@surreycc.gov.uk]

Sent: 18 March 2011 11:47
To: REMOVED
Subject: Re: one more question!

Dear REMOVED,

The decision on the closure of Kings rests with Surrey County Council. The decision on the expansion of Tomlinscote rests equally with the County Council and with the Governing Body of Tomlinscote.

12 pupils started at Kings International last September.

I hope this is the information you need.

Best wishes

Peter-John

Peter-John Wilkinson
Acting Head of Schools & Learning

Tel no 020 8541 9907

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Dear Mr Wilkinson,

Thank you for your time on the phone yesterday evening, it was much appreciated.

One quick question that I’m hoping you can give me an authoritative answer to: at the end of the consultation process etc, whose final decision would it be as to whether the merger of the schools actually goes ahead?

Also (ok, make it two questions), your letter mentions the number of first-preferences that were submitted for Kings for the last academic year: please could you tell me the number of actual admissions, ie including those who didn’t list it as their first preference?

Many thanks,
REMOVED

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From: REMOVED
Sent: 15 March 2011 18:03
To: 'peterjohn.wilkinson@surreycc.gov.uk'
Subject: query
Importance: High

Dear Mr Wilkinson,

I have been advised to contact you to obtain some accurate information concerning a rumoured proposal for the merging or similar of Tomlinscote & Kings schools in Camberley.

I would appreciate it if you could urgently either email me further information, or contact me on REMOVED as it seems most worrying that as a parent of children that would be directly affected by such a proposal, the only information that seems available are rumours and speculation voiced by school children.

Thanks & regards,
REMOVED