C.A.M. advice on governor meetings

When you attend your governor meetings during the week remember that the Governors of Tomlinscote will be voting at some stage over the next month on whether to back Surrey County Council’s proposal to expand Tomlinscote creating a split site school at key stage three with years 7,8 and 9 on the current Kings site and key stage 4/5 years 10,11,12 and 13 on the current Tomlinscote site.     As parents you need to consider what effect the expansion will have educationally on your children. You may be concerned about the split site, siblings being separated, how the tutor groups will be managed throughout their schooling due to the split or the travel and traffic implications of the split. Many have raised staffing issues regarding teacher retention and recruitment to this newly expanded school. It is generally known that a majority of teachers do not see this split site scenario career enhancing. How will the teaching continuity be maintained across the split sites? Several parents have talked about the student and staff integration issues. The change of school site at the critical year 10 stage when they start their GCSEs is of major concern to many parents who fear it could impact on their educational outcomes. Kings are concerned about the potential loss of specialist outstanding SEN provision, and English as a Second Language skill. The strong pastoral care provided by Kings is likely to be lost due to the size of this new school. This is a worry for many who feel their child will just be a number in the new mega school. It could become the biggest school in Surrey and in the near future in the whole of the UK. The consultation document does not explain how they will maintain educational standards during the transformation period. The consultation paper lacks the detail required to answer the questions from an informed view point and thus is misleading.

It has been indicated by PJ Wilkinson in the recent Public meetings that this may be a temporary solution as a predicted rise in pupil numbers will mean that by 2020 the school will probably require at least 14 forms of entry a PAN of 420+ pupils and could be split again to become two schools. If this didn’t happen the expanded Tomlinscote would potentially be the largest secondary school in the UK. Why are we risking the educational outcomes of thousands of Surrey Heath children for a short term fix where the risk of failure is high and the capability of both SCC and the Governors to oversee the expansion is also an unknown factor? The overcrowded Tomlinscote campus issue must surely be queried as only in the last couple of years governors authorised the building of the new vocational centre on this site and the repositioning of the caretakers bungalow. This should not have been authorised if space was such an issue. The consultation paper provides clear possible financial incentives to go forward with this proposal but the money is not secured and tied down. It should also be remembered that if Kings was not in its current situation Tomlinscote would not be able to takeover Kings and basically asset strip it. Tomlinscote would need to manage its own budgets effectively and innovatively just like all other secondary schools. Kings do not want pity and for people to be community minded they have a school that is improving and a viable alternative in an Academy, they have parents that believe in Kings and want it to have a future.

     The National Governor’s Association Code of Conduct states that the governing body is the school’s accountable body. It is responsible for promoting high standards and to ensure that the children are attending an effective school which provides them with a good education and supports their well being. The Every Child Matters agenda means that schools are now accountable for children’s health and well- being in the community. The role of the Governors at Tomlinscote in law irrespective of being a parent, local authority, community or staff governor should be to have the welfare of Tomlinscote School as a whole as their overriding concern according to the NGA Code of Conduct. The Governors should abide by the Nolan Committee’s seven principles of public life which are selflessness, integrity, objectivity, accountability, openness, honesty and leadership.
Please think carefully about what you wish to say to the governors and use these meetings to positively influence them to say NO to this proposal as educationally it is not in our children’s best interests.