Parent
Jonathan Lee I am not!
He does all sorts of things that I would never do as I am discovering.
The goalposts moved when the Academy opened as there were believe it or not more important people than Mr Blackledge now involved in this scheme, the kids. This meant that a different line is required because no matter how bad things are with the management side of things, no matter how many staff members are pi**ed of with the way the management is working or not working, no matter how many parents suddenly get their eyes opened, where were they all in the summer, the kids in the school get preference.
Mr Blackledges private life is of no concern now. I happen to think what went on in Thorne was the wrong sort of behaviour for a vice-principal or a principal and a learning mentor to engage in but my opinion doesn't matter.
As far as the DCSF, Ed Balls, Vernon Coaker, John Hutton, The sponsors etc are concerned private lives do not impinge on public lives. If anyone has any truck with that point of view then take it up with the relevant people and best of luck.
As for the employment of Mrs Aveyard. This is surely an issue that the staff should take up with their unions. If procedures and protocols have been broken with this appointment then they have a case to go forwards with. It is up to the staff and the unions to sort it out.
As for the school not delivering on all manner of issues.
Tony Brookes kindly gave me a run down on what happened at Trinity Academy in Thorne. The Emmanuel Foundation inherited kids from across the ability spectrum when Thorne Grammar ceased to exist. It systematically removed those it deemed least likely to gain an GCSE pass by excluding them for all sorts of petty issues such as uniform infringements, the wearing of make up, the colour of hair etc. It removed them to make the early Academy school results appear to be radically better than Thorne Grammar's.
Judging by the number of kids in Academy uniform seen across town during the school day this situation is being repeated here in Barrow. The fact there is now only one Education Welfare Officer who can only be on one site at one time and the fact that the Academy Company doesn't have to inform the Local Authority about any of these excluded kids mean that it is easy for kids to 'get a day off' and wander round town.
The reality is nobody knows if this problem is any worse or any better than it was when the wanderers were all wearing different uniforms. It might actually be no different. The problem as always is the wall of silence that covers all things Academy. Had this wall been smashed to pieces once the Academy actually had kids in it's buildings then this blog would have no reason to exist.
I have listened to Mr Blackledge in person and heard him speak on the radio many times. He is not a good communicator. The same problem afflicts the sponsors just listen to Mrs Attwood talking about the John Hutton 'How To Dig a Hole With a JCB' Lesson on video on the Evening Mail's web site. Mr Kelly rarely speaks in public but there is a short video of him talking up the Sixth form on the college web site so go have a listen and you will hear what I mean.
This must be the reason why they don't talk about what is really going on in the school either that or they really do believe that they are above the rest of us.
Either way they have to start talking or everything will get out of hand. This blog is the only outlet at the moment for people who simply want to know more. The Academy web site is quite frankly an utter shambles and has been since the day it went live. The PR company that is ostensibly running it is inept at best and incompetent at worst.
It is updated once every Preston Guild and there are so many pages that have never been updated or are still blank it's ridiculous.
I still have copies of all the pages that were built and hidden from public view, unless you know where to look, and none of them have ever been made live. They were all pulled just like the open evening pics that this company couldn't make work.
This would be bad enough but on the odd occasion Douglas or Anne speak to the Evening Mail they both direct people to the web site to get up to date information!
I have asked for positive stories about what has been and is being achieved within the school and there have been none forthcoming. Not a one. The lack of good news on the Academy's web site would also suggest there really isn't much 'good news' although that might just be the MC2 'effect'.
Finally
This blog does not exist to try and run the Academy or the efforts of it's staff and pupils into the ground. It started life exposing the lies and machinations of Cumbria County Council, the DCSF, the sponsors, the educational evangelicals, the righteous who were behind the scheme, which ultimately turned out to be all about money. The DCSF basically told Moira that without Academies she wouldn't get any Building Schools for the Future cash to improve the Cumbrian school building stock. Moira and the County Council don't like 'refurbishing' or improving schools they much prefer total destruction and 'modern' new builds as they believe this is what we the plebs of Cumbria want to see happen.
The fact there is much more 'glamour' and political gain involved in opening a new build rather than a refurbishment isn't lost on the County Councillors nor their civil servants.
Irrespective of how the Academy came to be born it's here now and it isn't likely to ever return to Local authority control. No Academy has ever gone back into the mainstream system no matter how bad some of them really are. There are also some very good ones which actually deliver on the promises their sponsors gave and the children attending them get a brilliant education. Sadly as with all things in life the very good ones are few in number, thankfully so are the very bad ones. The vast majority fall into the 'same as before' category so all that has happened is the construction industry has swallowed up billions of taxpayer pounds. The same results could have been achieved by spending far less more effectively just ask any teacher. Labour minsters and civil servants fail to understand this.
So the purpose of this blog is to hold the DCSF, the County Council, the sponsors and the principals to account. They are the ones who have made all the promises and it is vital that they deliver on those promises. The local newspaper is as sycophantic as it's possible to be and may even have stepped over that line and be actively censoring anything to do with the Academy programme so it will never hold the Academy company and its supporters to account.
Without this blog, the people who contribute to it and of course the people who comment on the posts there would be NO public scrutiny at all as the governing body DOES NOT yet exist and even when it does there will be just one parental voice and one staff voice on the board. Both of which can be very easily drowned out by the other board members.
I am not running this blog for my own benefit. Even though I have managed to expose lie after lie that were uttered in speech or written in print since it's inception back in May 2009 no-body takes any notice and no-one has every been called to account for lying so the only message is that as far as the government, local and national, are concerned lying in public to the public is perfectly acceptable.
It is also perfectly acceptable for educational consultants, which is an incredibly broad church, to lie in public and even sign their names to their lies. No-one is ever brought to book.
I and my family took our youngest son out of the state system in August so I have no personal interest in it's success or failure. I am continuing to run this blog and devote time to research and writing up the articles because it is of benefit to others that live in my town. As long as the Academy Company persists with its 'vow of silence' and the Evening Mail persists with its 'censorship' this blog will have a reason to exist.
If it's worrying Douglas so much that he is trying to warn people off from contributing to it then there is clearly a need for its continued existence. I have to say that it's a bit rich for Douglas to try and prevent people from doing whatever they want in their private lives when he wasn't prevented by his superiors or employers from carrying on his private life as he saw fit back in Thorne but there it is. Do as I say not as I do alive and well in the 21st Century.
To get rid of this blog and extinguish all the rumour start coming clean.
It's a new school and there must be problems and issues. There are in any new venture. Nothing goes 100% smoothly no matter how well planned. And given the breakneck speed with which this one came into being and the contentious nature of it's birth there has to be many problems and issues so please Mr Blackledge trust the parents of Barrow and tell them the truth about what is going on.
Even though many will not take a blind bit of interest in what you have to say the majority will welcome the fact that you have taken the first step into engaging with them to make sure their children achieve the best education possible within the confines of what the DCSF allow you and your school to do. That is why I published the editorial written by Russ Wallace of Richard Rose. It's this sort of contact the parents I talk to want to have.
Jonathan Lee I am not!
He does all sorts of things that I would never do as I am discovering.
The goalposts moved when the Academy opened as there were believe it or not more important people than Mr Blackledge now involved in this scheme, the kids. This meant that a different line is required because no matter how bad things are with the management side of things, no matter how many staff members are pi**ed of with the way the management is working or not working, no matter how many parents suddenly get their eyes opened, where were they all in the summer, the kids in the school get preference.
Mr Blackledges private life is of no concern now. I happen to think what went on in Thorne was the wrong sort of behaviour for a vice-principal or a principal and a learning mentor to engage in but my opinion doesn't matter.
As far as the DCSF, Ed Balls, Vernon Coaker, John Hutton, The sponsors etc are concerned private lives do not impinge on public lives. If anyone has any truck with that point of view then take it up with the relevant people and best of luck.
As for the employment of Mrs Aveyard. This is surely an issue that the staff should take up with their unions. If procedures and protocols have been broken with this appointment then they have a case to go forwards with. It is up to the staff and the unions to sort it out.
As for the school not delivering on all manner of issues.
Tony Brookes kindly gave me a run down on what happened at Trinity Academy in Thorne. The Emmanuel Foundation inherited kids from across the ability spectrum when Thorne Grammar ceased to exist. It systematically removed those it deemed least likely to gain an GCSE pass by excluding them for all sorts of petty issues such as uniform infringements, the wearing of make up, the colour of hair etc. It removed them to make the early Academy school results appear to be radically better than Thorne Grammar's.
Judging by the number of kids in Academy uniform seen across town during the school day this situation is being repeated here in Barrow. The fact there is now only one Education Welfare Officer who can only be on one site at one time and the fact that the Academy Company doesn't have to inform the Local Authority about any of these excluded kids mean that it is easy for kids to 'get a day off' and wander round town.
The reality is nobody knows if this problem is any worse or any better than it was when the wanderers were all wearing different uniforms. It might actually be no different. The problem as always is the wall of silence that covers all things Academy. Had this wall been smashed to pieces once the Academy actually had kids in it's buildings then this blog would have no reason to exist.
I have listened to Mr Blackledge in person and heard him speak on the radio many times. He is not a good communicator. The same problem afflicts the sponsors just listen to Mrs Attwood talking about the John Hutton 'How To Dig a Hole With a JCB' Lesson on video on the Evening Mail's web site. Mr Kelly rarely speaks in public but there is a short video of him talking up the Sixth form on the college web site so go have a listen and you will hear what I mean.
This must be the reason why they don't talk about what is really going on in the school either that or they really do believe that they are above the rest of us.
Either way they have to start talking or everything will get out of hand. This blog is the only outlet at the moment for people who simply want to know more. The Academy web site is quite frankly an utter shambles and has been since the day it went live. The PR company that is ostensibly running it is inept at best and incompetent at worst.
It is updated once every Preston Guild and there are so many pages that have never been updated or are still blank it's ridiculous.
I still have copies of all the pages that were built and hidden from public view, unless you know where to look, and none of them have ever been made live. They were all pulled just like the open evening pics that this company couldn't make work.
This would be bad enough but on the odd occasion Douglas or Anne speak to the Evening Mail they both direct people to the web site to get up to date information!
I have asked for positive stories about what has been and is being achieved within the school and there have been none forthcoming. Not a one. The lack of good news on the Academy's web site would also suggest there really isn't much 'good news' although that might just be the MC2 'effect'.
Finally
This blog does not exist to try and run the Academy or the efforts of it's staff and pupils into the ground. It started life exposing the lies and machinations of Cumbria County Council, the DCSF, the sponsors, the educational evangelicals, the righteous who were behind the scheme, which ultimately turned out to be all about money. The DCSF basically told Moira that without Academies she wouldn't get any Building Schools for the Future cash to improve the Cumbrian school building stock. Moira and the County Council don't like 'refurbishing' or improving schools they much prefer total destruction and 'modern' new builds as they believe this is what we the plebs of Cumbria want to see happen.
The fact there is much more 'glamour' and political gain involved in opening a new build rather than a refurbishment isn't lost on the County Councillors nor their civil servants.
Irrespective of how the Academy came to be born it's here now and it isn't likely to ever return to Local authority control. No Academy has ever gone back into the mainstream system no matter how bad some of them really are. There are also some very good ones which actually deliver on the promises their sponsors gave and the children attending them get a brilliant education. Sadly as with all things in life the very good ones are few in number, thankfully so are the very bad ones. The vast majority fall into the 'same as before' category so all that has happened is the construction industry has swallowed up billions of taxpayer pounds. The same results could have been achieved by spending far less more effectively just ask any teacher. Labour minsters and civil servants fail to understand this.
So the purpose of this blog is to hold the DCSF, the County Council, the sponsors and the principals to account. They are the ones who have made all the promises and it is vital that they deliver on those promises. The local newspaper is as sycophantic as it's possible to be and may even have stepped over that line and be actively censoring anything to do with the Academy programme so it will never hold the Academy company and its supporters to account.
Without this blog, the people who contribute to it and of course the people who comment on the posts there would be NO public scrutiny at all as the governing body DOES NOT yet exist and even when it does there will be just one parental voice and one staff voice on the board. Both of which can be very easily drowned out by the other board members.
I am not running this blog for my own benefit. Even though I have managed to expose lie after lie that were uttered in speech or written in print since it's inception back in May 2009 no-body takes any notice and no-one has every been called to account for lying so the only message is that as far as the government, local and national, are concerned lying in public to the public is perfectly acceptable.
It is also perfectly acceptable for educational consultants, which is an incredibly broad church, to lie in public and even sign their names to their lies. No-one is ever brought to book.
I and my family took our youngest son out of the state system in August so I have no personal interest in it's success or failure. I am continuing to run this blog and devote time to research and writing up the articles because it is of benefit to others that live in my town. As long as the Academy Company persists with its 'vow of silence' and the Evening Mail persists with its 'censorship' this blog will have a reason to exist.
If it's worrying Douglas so much that he is trying to warn people off from contributing to it then there is clearly a need for its continued existence. I have to say that it's a bit rich for Douglas to try and prevent people from doing whatever they want in their private lives when he wasn't prevented by his superiors or employers from carrying on his private life as he saw fit back in Thorne but there it is. Do as I say not as I do alive and well in the 21st Century.
To get rid of this blog and extinguish all the rumour start coming clean.
It's a new school and there must be problems and issues. There are in any new venture. Nothing goes 100% smoothly no matter how well planned. And given the breakneck speed with which this one came into being and the contentious nature of it's birth there has to be many problems and issues so please Mr Blackledge trust the parents of Barrow and tell them the truth about what is going on.
Even though many will not take a blind bit of interest in what you have to say the majority will welcome the fact that you have taken the first step into engaging with them to make sure their children achieve the best education possible within the confines of what the DCSF allow you and your school to do. That is why I published the editorial written by Russ Wallace of Richard Rose. It's this sort of contact the parents I talk to want to have.