Mrs Anne Attwood. College Principal, Academy Sponsor, Academy Governor.

WHEN I heard that the Secretary of State had signed the Funding Agreement for Furness Academy, I was both excited and relieved. Excited that the tremendous potential of the new school serving the vast majority of Barrow's learners would finally be realised. Poor Anne can't count.
There are more pupils going to be taught outside of the new school than within once it's school roll has been reduced from it's current size of almost 1800 down to 1200.

Relieved, too, that Barrow would be taking its one chance to have a school which matched those in the rest of the country. Many of our young people did well at school but we all knew that they could do better. One chance my left foot and she knows it. Which schools are she hoping Furness Academy Limited's school will match?

The new school gives them the opportunity to have a fair start alongside other schools in other towns. Cobblers! and even if this were true why does it matter what goes on in other towns?
It's Barrovian children's education that matter to Barrovian parents.

Furness Academy now takes its place alongside the other three thousand secondary schools in the country, run by its leadership team, overseen by its governing body and answerable to the community it serves. By this she implies that there are 3000 Academies. The reality is there are under 400 Academies so Barrow is in a small club not a large one.
Come on Anne you must do better if you are to get many still sceptical parents on board. It along with all it's other sibling Academies is NOT answerable to the community. It is answerable to it's sponsor/governors as she well knows!

The journey to this new beginning has not been an easy one and I will admit that there were low points for me, especially when the attacks on the sponsors, the new principal and Cumbria County Council became increasingly personal. Boo Hoo. How easily she forgets calling some of the parents of Barrow 'insane' and how she accused them of 'brainwashing' the kids. Mud sticks Mrs Attwood.

With hindsight, perhaps that was when the tide turned - we won the real arguments. Mrs Attwood care to enlighten us as to what the real arguments were, who 'we' are and how they were won?

So, when the academy opened its doors this month, to all those students, I was looking forward to one thing and one thing only - making it the best possible school we can for them. Don't state the obvious again. You should be working to making it much better than the predecessor schools if you are any sort of competent governor/sponsor. Please work to prove the 'vociferous minority' wrong as quickly as possible.

The new principal, Douglas Blackledge, and all his new team, have been working tirelessly for months to prepare for this moment. Doug has been here a few short months and his team isn't 'all new' it's culled from the predecessor schools. Each member was still employed by the predecessor school until the end of the summer term so a few weeks is a far more accurate description of how long 'the team' have been working for Furness Academy Limited.

Most academies rise out of the ashes of one or two schools. They have dealt with bringing together three very different schools and planning for an academy on two sites. 'The Ashes' of one or two schools, what an awful turn of phrase that denigrates everyone involved in the predecessor schools. Shameful Mrs Attwood, shameful.

But let's turn away from the adults' perspective and think about what the young learners will experience in the new term this September.
They will be wearing new uniform - the outward symbol of the new school.
They will see some new faces (except for the Year Sevens, for whom everything is new in every school in the country) but mostly it will be about familiar subjects and familiar faces - with a twist. Again stating the obvious and precious little about how the Furness Academy Limited school, in the predecessor school buildings, will be a better educational experience.

That twist is what will make the difference. What will make the difference you allude to Mrs Attwood?
The drive for consistency and higher standards in one school with one set of rules is what will make the experience stand out for the learners. The new school has a lot going for it and has already come through some difficult times.

On behalf of those new students in the new school, I would like to make an appeal.
Put away the placards and join us in making it a success. This is no longer about personal point scoring, it's about our children's future - and they are the future of our town.
On behalf of myself, I do not presume to speak for other people unlike Mrs Attwood, I hope that this new private company can deliver a better education for it's press ganged school roll from the off, not in three years time when the shiny new light and airy buildings are supposed to be in existence.
Richard Rose Foundation made some enormous cock ups by complying with Moira Swann and the DCSF's fast track Academy scheme and it looks to me like those lessons have not been learned in Barrow. Doug's radio 'date' with the excellent Mike Parr showed this all too clearly, in my opinion.
I may be wrong because like every other parent I am not privy to Doug and his teams 'behind the scenes hard work' but to be honest what little that is in the public domain doesn't inspire me with confidence. I have also seen the titles on the now removed 'hidden pages' and they too do not inspire confidence, sadly. The fact they were instantly pulled once I revealed some of them on this blog speaks volumes.

As she well knows there are all manner of things yet to be revealed to parents, pupils and staff and nothing is proven as the Furness Academy Limited school is yet to open so rather than asking us to 'put away our placards' lets have some truth and honesty from the company and more importantly for the children whose education is under close scrutiny, lets see Furness Academy Limited's actions do the talking not Furness Academy Limited 'mouthpieces'.