Teachers and head teachers especially are suffering dreadfully under the constant turmoil that Eduardo leaves in his wake as he ploughs on trying to get his favoured post of Chancellor before the next election.
Even today we have the craziest ships captain actually telling head teachers to make sure lights are turned off when there is nobody in the room. Link
However any hopes that the blue ships captain would be any better have been sorely misplaced. 'Cop a load of this', to quote a phrase. This is a Mr Gibb doing the promoting but Mr Gove is the man who would implement it!
Link
The Conservatives would change the law to allow teachers to hand out no-notice detentions to be served the same day, as part of a crackdown on behaviour, the shadow schools minister, Nick Gibb, revealed today.
The same-day detentions would take place even if they disrupted the plans of students and parents. Removing the legal obligation to give pupils and parents 24 hours' notice of an after-school detention would mean schools could make the punishment worse by inconveniencing students, Gibb told delegates at the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust's annual conference in Birmingham.
Schools would not have to adopt the policy but would be encouraged to do so under a Tory government. "The punishment needs to happen there and then so there's an immediacy to it," Gibb said. "If it does inconvenience the child, then that adds to the punishment. Improving behaviour in schools has to be a major priority for any government."
The policy forms another strand of the Tories' developing plans for a return to old-fashioned discipline. A Conservative government would champion school uniforms, including blazers and ties, setting by ability and traditional subject-based classes. The Tories say they would also retrain former soldiers as teachers.
Gibb suggested some schools might include an acceptance that children could be held in school for detention as a part of the home-school behaviour contracts the Tories would make parents sign.
A certain head teacher, not that he does teach, won't be deserting his profession. He is sat in the dining car on the gravy train and wont get off until he is satiated.
Very quiet in here these last two days. Have all fa staff gone into hiding following dougs warning? It seems so!
I seriously doubt that all of the people commenting on the Ofsted article with it's comments now turned off were real FA staff members. Few topics on here attract a lot of comments most attract none so it was a surprise to suddenly see lots of people commenting on something totally unrelated to the blog article. I smell a rat.
If Mr Blackledge has taken the decision to warn people off commenting on this site then what is he trying to hide?
I too would love to see some positive stories and articles appearing on here as it is far more uptodate than the 'official' site. Perhaps the Blackledge ban will actually have the unintended consequence of keeping the good news in the same place as the bad news.
I know exactly who two of my other colleagues are who have made recent comments. There is a rumour that the site is being monitored and this has had an impact. Other colleagues are so bogged down with constant inspections that they are just about holding their heads above water. Sad but true.
Shall i tell you the only positive thing I have heard mole? 5 out of the 9 academy science teachers are in the process of applying for a single job at dowdales so they can try and get out of this tragic mess.
Staff resilience in the face of adversity is positive. Students sticking together and working hard is positive. We are still in the lovely building we love. Apart from that poor leadership and constant scrutiny is pulling us to bits. Its a mess in anyone books.
Hi all
I have no doubt that this site is 'being monitored'. It has been for a very long time and I have had a first hand account of how Moira was spitting feathers on more than one occasion because she would have 'preferred it' if some things were kept 'quiet' and they weren't. Silence is the cause of many frustrations and until the 'top people' start talking candidly then the frustrations will continue.
I can also tell you two of the sponsors are regular readers and for some reason it has quite a following in Doncaster. There has been a troll active on the site and my knowledgeable friend can now monitor the situation so comments are now running normally.
As for those who fear being 'exposed' by what they say lets remember we are not yet living in a police state. This means that outside of your hours of employ by the government you are free to say whatever you want to whoever you want. That is called freedom of speech. Nowhere does it say that that 'speech' is limited to talking.
If you worry that what you say might 'reveal' who you are just send me a comment in an e-mail to blog@furnessacademy.com and I will rewrite it to make sure that it is totally anonymous.
As I said earlier this week as this blogs author I have no desire to see the Academy school fail in it's obligations and give the children in it's care the best education possible. All I want to do is hold the people behind it to account as it is they who have told the 'vociferous minority' that they will deliver a world class 21st Century education. There are clearly some problems at managerial level and these cannot be kept in house or swept under the carpet. It would be failing the children if they were.
If it were still a state school with a full board of governors these problems would be in the public domain and so they should be as the public are trusting the school with their children's education. The parents, pupils and staff are the only stakeholders who matter in my book. As it is the school is nearly 3 months old and it has NO governors of any description just a 'temporary body'.
Frankly it's testament to the fortitude to the entire staff of Furness Academy Limited that they can continue to put the kids first even though the management is struggling in some quarters and some of them are seeking an alternative employment.
I end by once again asking Mr Blackledge, Mr Kelly and Mrs Attwood to start talking either to the parents direct via a public meeting or to the readers of this blog through submitting an article or two.
The longer the silence continues the more fantastical the rumours will get which in turn will cause more lasting damage to the whole Academy project but worst of all the chances of the kids getting a good education. Is that failure a price worth paying for your continuing silence?
Derek
Strange sort of positive that Debbie. But if that genuinely is all that's positive then there are a lot of kids in trouble
Im sorry,but this is genuinely the case. Attendance is very poor which could put us in a category. Behaviour of a minority is a big concern, leadership weak and morale low. Doug will blame poor results next summer on the old schools.
Gove should read more Jonathan Swift...
http://tinyurl.com/34k4cr2