KINGS - Surrey County Council and the "Academy" option.

     Doing the BBC interview the other day caused me to reflect on where we were and why. The primary issue drawing the BBC to the story was the fairly unique situation of parents from two different schools working toward a common goal. It set me thinking “why such cooperation?” I was then transported back to the first information meetings at Kings. As a Tomlinscote parent I had gone along to gather information for later meetings and to understand the feeling in the Kings camp. I was unprepared for what I witnessed.

     PJ Wilkinson the Acting Head of Schools and Learning for Surrey County Council set the scene with callous disregard for the audience by describing Kings as “failing”, not once but with a deliberate reinforcing monotony. The audience of parents who supported the school, and staff who had worked so very hard on improvements, watched in disbelief as he bludgeoned their school to death.  It was not unlike watching a defenseless person already knocked unconscious continue to receive a savage beating. Apparently not enough, PJ continued with the news that Kings would be closed and outlined a series of doomsday scenarios if his preferred option of a split site mega school was not realized. Further quotes left nobody in any doubt as to what was happening

“this is NOT a merger of equals - Kings will be closed, staff will be made redundant and the best staff will be hired into the new structure”.

     The subsequent performance at Tomlinscote was no better, where with Kings staff and parents in attendance he stated,

“no sensible parent would choose a school with inferior academic achievement”.

     The passion of the Kings staff and parents for their school set against a backdrop of the “grim reaper” from Surrey County Council hell bent on ensuring the seemingly pre-determined outcome bonded the Kings and Tomlinscote parents to “Work Together to Remain Separate”.

     The prosecution of the campaign by Surrey County Council was such that it left everyone thinking that this was pre-arranged “a done deal”. The Tomlinscote governors have said that Surrey County Council asked them to “vote it through” without a consultation.  PJ Wilkinsons behavior has been so arrogant and high handed that there was no real attempt to even make it look like people were being consulted or listened to. Information withheld, questions brushed off, promises broken, a pattern of apparently deliberate obstruction. A consultation so poorly performed that if it is not actually illegal, it has so many counts of questionable legality and examples of irrationality as to be a soft target for a judicial review, an opinion ratified by CAMs educational lawyer. The process has been so deeply depressing as to leave thousands of Surrey Heath Residents with such a deep mistrust in Surrey County Council that, if it is even possible, it will take years for the scars to heal. Given the lack of planning and care put into the consultation process, Surrey County Councils education department would certainly be incapable of managing the change required for a split site mega school. So inept has been the display I actually doubt that they should be involved in education at all.

     In a final “slash and burn” of Kings - a recent staff meeting with PJ Wilkinson seems to have informed staff (prior to the end of the consultation) that the school would be closed and they would not have jobs. Rumour has it that staff have been told they need not work their notice and they can have as much time off to look for a job as they like. A document determining admission arrangements for Kings next year appears to suggest that no attempt will be made to recruit students whatsoever.

     Kings, a school that was recently improving and is expected (despite the goings on) to come out of special measures, has been systematically, and seemingly quite cynically, taken to pieces in three months, by Surrey County Council. Tomlinscote has only fared better because it started from a position of strength.

     I see only two ways forward, either Surrey County Council makes an incredibly detailed plan as to how it will support Kings going forward or it should do the honourable thing and step away from this debacle, handing over the reins to an established Academy provider who can start to rebuild the damage.

     Whatever happens, Kings deserves to be run by someone who believes in it as a viable educational establishment. Someone who will market it and reach out to the community to build a school that inspires local pride and offers the educational choice the area craves.

     Just such an option exists, not as a loosely formed idea but as a very achievable target. A target that could see Kings in new and enthusiastic hands in 6 months time.

p.s.

This news article from 2009 is strangely similar to our experiences with Surrey County Council.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23732345-bullying-and-obsession-with-red-tape-to-blame-for-conservative-council-hell.do

"Council bosses were found to be "superior and arrogant", with relations having broken down between officials and within political groups."

"He said the council was "self-serving", with difficult issues being swept under the carpet and an "obsession" with bureaucracy."

"There was an absence of good working relations with the county's 11 district councils and its MPs, even though some such as Michael Gove, Chris Grayling and Philip Hammond could form the core of any future Conservative government."

Mr Frater said: "It has created a highly centralised model of control, and has encouraged micro-management and 'control freakery' by certain [councillors] and officers."