There has been much written about Douglas Blackledge. For a man who has
only been in town since the end of February he is certainly racking up 'column inches'.
I have received all manner of information about this man by ear and by eye. Some of it is just spoiling, some of it is sensationalism and some of it is from dubious sources.
I like everyone else have my own opinions about him and what he can do for my sons education so here they are.
I have received all manner of information about this man by ear and by eye. Some of it is just spoiling, some of it is sensationalism and some of it is from dubious sources.
I like everyone else have my own opinions about him and what he can do for my sons education so here they are.
Bold corrections from Mr Tony Brookes who employed Doug back in 2002.
His professional career does not possess anything like the experience required to try and give Anne Attwwood and Dave Kelly their vision of a Furness Academy. He has been a acting head of a Grammar school in Doncaster for just 12 months working alongside the principal of the Academy that was going to replace it.
Thorne Grammar was actually an 11-18 LEA comprehensive ( stuck with the name because of a land donation in 1930) serving a deprived, former mining community.
He was one of three vice principals in that Academy for just over three years. He is therefore a very inexperienced manager and has no experience of actually being totally responsible for leading a school full of teenagers.
Doug was one of 3 vice-principals at Trinity Academy from opening in Sept. 2005 until about this time last year (June/July 2008)when the affair became known. His status from then is unclear. Another teacher took over the Pastoral role from him.
He has had no previous experience prior to his appointment at Thorne Grammar as deputy head a post he held for 12 months prior to becoming acting head.
Doug was deputy head Sept. 2002 - August 2004 and acting head from Sept. 2004 until closure in August 2005.
Contrast this with the wealth of leadership experience that Enid Fraser had at Parkview, over 9 years as head and you can instantly see this mans professional shortcomings.
I do understand that you only gain experience over time but if Mr Blackledge is good enough for Furness Academy why didn't he get the principals job at Trinity and why didn't he leave Trinity any time over the three years as vice Principal to gain the post of principal at any other Academy?
He simply doesn't have the experience.
So we can say Doug has had 5 years deputy head/vice principal experience and one year as acting head.
He has only been in Barrow for four months but has spoken at many meetings and in numerous videos so it has been possible to gain a measure of him as professional person and as a personal person.
He clearly believes that he is the right man for the job.
He clearly believes that he can talk the talk.
He clearly believes that he has backing of the majority of the parents at these three schools and he believes totally that he can deliver Anne & Daves vision for them.
He sidesteps awkward questions with aplomb which shows he is a politician by nature.
He believes that he knows what's best for Barrovians and their children.
He isn't the best public speaker.
He doesn't display good management skills.
He is comfortable being in the limelight when he is one of a group. A lot less so when he is on his own.
Speaking with children he listens without hearing.
Despite what a lot of people argue I believe that a school head, principal or whatever title they go by has a moral obligation to conduct their lives in such a fashion to show that they are worthy of other peoples respect but crucially pupils respect.
Nobody is perfect and without demeaning a street cleaner in any way if he was a street cleaner and he slept with another street cleaners wife yes there would be two broken families but it wouldn't impact on his standing in the community.
As it is Mr Blackledge is a principal designate so sleeping with another teachers wife does have an impact on his position as a leader. At Trinity once his affair was discovered he wasn't placed on 'gardening leave' as some have said but he was removed from 'front line' duties whilst the school and it's sponsors looked for a way of dealing with him.
They couldn't sack him because today's employment laws make it almost impossible to sack people for adultery.
They couldn't leave him in his front line post because he had lost the respect of the pupils and parents and as the school was a Christian school to leave him in post would look like the Christians condoned his actions.
Fact is that the school took action which proves to me that his personal life does have an impact on his professional life.
He didn't do the decent thing and 'retire' so obviously there most have been something else in play. It may have been his wage and financial commitments as these are keeping many Barrovian teachers silent but it could have been some other reason. Whatever he didn't leave the school of his own volition.
He has little respect in the three Barrovian schools.
I was amazed by the level of anti-Doug feeling in Barrow last Friday. His credibility seems rock bottom and must threaten the stability of Furness Academy (should it open).
There are all manner of names being bandied around by the children and the staff.
He has no respect amongst the parents I know who are against the Academy which is as you might expect but having talked to parents who just see it as a 'done dea'l and wish it was all over there is a feeling that it would be much better if Mr Blackledge wasn't there.
The chances of him doing the decent thing are not good as he believes that he has the full backing of his employers and that for him is enough to see him it through to the bitter end. There is every possibility that the bitter end may be much closer than he thinks it is as Mrs Attwood and Mr Kelly will be the ones who decide when Mr Blackledges end comes.
Once he has got their dream into reality he could become surplus to requirements quite soon and they could buy up the remainder of his contract to get him out.
This happens in a number of Academies.
So despite what I think I am but one parent who has no faith in the principal designate. I do have faith in my sons schools current acting head Mr Swales and had faith in his predecessor Mrs Fraser. As a head teacher she knew all of her charges by name and recognised them in the corridor. I was unaware at the time that she was actually planning the destruction of her school but as a head teacher she was very good.
I may of course be way off beam and Anne Attwood is right. Doug may be keeping his light under a bushel but even if he is why is he keeping it under a bushel?
What do YOU think?
A salary of £135,000 should attract applicants with at least five years successful headship experience. You would expect someone special for that money who had already turned a failing school around or opened a new school/academy. The money did not attract good applicants because they could see the plans were flawed and difficult to implement.
Did Doug apply when the salary was £100,000?
His professional career does not possess anything like the experience required to try and give Anne Attwwood and Dave Kelly their vision of a Furness Academy. He has been a acting head of a Grammar school in Doncaster for just 12 months working alongside the principal of the Academy that was going to replace it.
Thorne Grammar was actually an 11-18 LEA comprehensive ( stuck with the name because of a land donation in 1930) serving a deprived, former mining community.
He was one of three vice principals in that Academy for just over three years. He is therefore a very inexperienced manager and has no experience of actually being totally responsible for leading a school full of teenagers.
Doug was one of 3 vice-principals at Trinity Academy from opening in Sept. 2005 until about this time last year (June/July 2008)when the affair became known. His status from then is unclear. Another teacher took over the Pastoral role from him.
He has had no previous experience prior to his appointment at Thorne Grammar as deputy head a post he held for 12 months prior to becoming acting head.
Doug was deputy head Sept. 2002 - August 2004 and acting head from Sept. 2004 until closure in August 2005.
Contrast this with the wealth of leadership experience that Enid Fraser had at Parkview, over 9 years as head and you can instantly see this mans professional shortcomings.
I do understand that you only gain experience over time but if Mr Blackledge is good enough for Furness Academy why didn't he get the principals job at Trinity and why didn't he leave Trinity any time over the three years as vice Principal to gain the post of principal at any other Academy?
He simply doesn't have the experience.
So we can say Doug has had 5 years deputy head/vice principal experience and one year as acting head.
He has only been in Barrow for four months but has spoken at many meetings and in numerous videos so it has been possible to gain a measure of him as professional person and as a personal person.
He clearly believes that he is the right man for the job.
He clearly believes that he can talk the talk.
He clearly believes that he has backing of the majority of the parents at these three schools and he believes totally that he can deliver Anne & Daves vision for them.
He sidesteps awkward questions with aplomb which shows he is a politician by nature.
He believes that he knows what's best for Barrovians and their children.
He isn't the best public speaker.
He doesn't display good management skills.
He is comfortable being in the limelight when he is one of a group. A lot less so when he is on his own.
Speaking with children he listens without hearing.
Despite what a lot of people argue I believe that a school head, principal or whatever title they go by has a moral obligation to conduct their lives in such a fashion to show that they are worthy of other peoples respect but crucially pupils respect.
Nobody is perfect and without demeaning a street cleaner in any way if he was a street cleaner and he slept with another street cleaners wife yes there would be two broken families but it wouldn't impact on his standing in the community.
As it is Mr Blackledge is a principal designate so sleeping with another teachers wife does have an impact on his position as a leader. At Trinity once his affair was discovered he wasn't placed on 'gardening leave' as some have said but he was removed from 'front line' duties whilst the school and it's sponsors looked for a way of dealing with him.
They couldn't sack him because today's employment laws make it almost impossible to sack people for adultery.
They couldn't leave him in his front line post because he had lost the respect of the pupils and parents and as the school was a Christian school to leave him in post would look like the Christians condoned his actions.
Fact is that the school took action which proves to me that his personal life does have an impact on his professional life.
He didn't do the decent thing and 'retire' so obviously there most have been something else in play. It may have been his wage and financial commitments as these are keeping many Barrovian teachers silent but it could have been some other reason. Whatever he didn't leave the school of his own volition.
He has little respect in the three Barrovian schools.
I was amazed by the level of anti-Doug feeling in Barrow last Friday. His credibility seems rock bottom and must threaten the stability of Furness Academy (should it open).
There are all manner of names being bandied around by the children and the staff.
He has no respect amongst the parents I know who are against the Academy which is as you might expect but having talked to parents who just see it as a 'done dea'l and wish it was all over there is a feeling that it would be much better if Mr Blackledge wasn't there.
The chances of him doing the decent thing are not good as he believes that he has the full backing of his employers and that for him is enough to see him it through to the bitter end. There is every possibility that the bitter end may be much closer than he thinks it is as Mrs Attwood and Mr Kelly will be the ones who decide when Mr Blackledges end comes.
Once he has got their dream into reality he could become surplus to requirements quite soon and they could buy up the remainder of his contract to get him out.
This happens in a number of Academies.
So despite what I think I am but one parent who has no faith in the principal designate. I do have faith in my sons schools current acting head Mr Swales and had faith in his predecessor Mrs Fraser. As a head teacher she knew all of her charges by name and recognised them in the corridor. I was unaware at the time that she was actually planning the destruction of her school but as a head teacher she was very good.
I may of course be way off beam and Anne Attwood is right. Doug may be keeping his light under a bushel but even if he is why is he keeping it under a bushel?
What do YOU think?
A salary of £135,000 should attract applicants with at least five years successful headship experience. You would expect someone special for that money who had already turned a failing school around or opened a new school/academy. The money did not attract good applicants because they could see the plans were flawed and difficult to implement.
Did Doug apply when the salary was £100,000?
Some corrections/additions:
Thorne Grammar was actually an 11-18 LEA comprehensive ( stuck with the name because of a land donation in 1930) serving a deprived, former mining community.
Doug was deputy head Sept. 2002 - August 2004 and acting head from Sept. 2004 until closure in August 2005.
Doug was one of 3 vice-principals at Trinity Academy from opening in Sept. 2005 until about this time last year (June/July 2008)when the affair became known. His status from then is unclear. Another teacher took over the Pastoral role from him. Was he no longer a vice-principal ? Can anyone from Trinity tell us ?
Doug was not experienced enough when the Trinity Principal's job came up and it was always known they would want someone of their own religious persuasion.
So we can say Doug has had 5 years deputy head/vice principal experience and one year as acting head. Most of Trinity's decisions were taken by the sponsors with a 'supremo' who oversaw the work of the principals of the sponsor's three schools(Emmanuel(Gateshead) , Kings (Middlesbrough) and Trinity).So not much room for creative thinking by the vice-principals. It has been said that the 'supremo' may now be trying to save the disastrous Carlisle academy, (followed by Barrow ???).
I was amazed by the level of anti-Doug feeling in Barrow last Friday. His credibility seems rock bottom and must threaten the stability of Furness Academy (should it open). The sponsors had their chance to ditch him when OSANFS told them of allegations from Doncaster and missed their second chance when the Daily Mail published its article. Their problem was that to ditch him would undermine their credibility and scare Ed Balls off from signing the funding agreement.
A salary of £135,000 should attract applicants with at least five years successful headship experience. You would expect someone special for that money who had already turned a failing school around or opened a new school/academy. The money did not attract good applicants because they could see the plans were flawed and difficult to implement.
Who wants three schools into one on two unfit sites with no buildings for three years ? Answer: someone who has been told to get another job AND/OR has been told to go to Barrow by Dept. of Children, Schools and Families because it will solve Trinity's problem and Barrow's lack of applicants. Remember DCSF quickly stated the reference was o.k. after the Daily Mail story broke - don't be surprised if they masterminded it. Did Doug apply when the salary was £100,000 ?
It's not too late for the sponsors to pull the plug !
Doug Blackledge was put under a great deal of pressure to leave Trinity Academy. He was stripped of all duties and was told by Mr Vardy himself that he needed to find a job fast. The Sponsors told him he was disgrace after tracking his email account and they did want him to take gardening leave. Doug refused as he was concerned how this would look when he was applying for jobs. He would have taken any job but he needed a good salary as he was homeless and his new partner has five kids.