Academy Watch

A Test

2010-09-06T20:19:08Z

This may disappear or change completely over the coming days but let me know if you like the format.
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The Things She Said on Prezi

To Be Clear

2010-09-05T20:47:47Z

Furness Academy Limited is a PRIVATE company.
It is not owned by shareholders.
It is not owned by the public.
It has no shares.
It is a company limited by guarantee which basically means it cannot make a profit.
In this strange country in which we live it is bizarrely also a registered charity. ]]>

Furness Academy Limited's Chief Executive Office is Douglas Blackledge.

Furness Academy Limited's Company secretary is Mrs Anne Patrica Attwood.

Furness Academy Limited's directors are Mr David Kelly or his successor and Mr Patrick Smith.

Furness Academy Limited operates a school called Furness Academy.

This school has three sponsors.
They are;

Furness College represented by Mrs Anne Patricia Attwood.
Barrow Sixth Form College represented by Mr David Kelly or his successor.
The University of Cumbria represented by Mr Patrick Smith.

The school's operations are overseen by a board of governors.
The chair of governors is Mr David Kelly or his successor. Director of the company and sponsor.
Other members of this board of governors are;

Mr Douglas Blackledge principal of the school and Chief Operating Officer of the company.
Mrs Anne Patricia Attwood. Company secretary and sponsor of the school.
Mr Patrick Smith. Director of the company and sponsor of the school.

In addition there are;

A 'person' appointed by the County Council
A parent representative Mr Gary James
A staff representative Mrs Code
A staff representative Mrs Sayle

There may be a couple of others as the sponsors can add whoever they like whenever they like without recourse to anyone.

The company school hierarchy is topped by Mr Douglas Blackledge as principal.
Underneath him are two vice principals Mr Wilson and Mr Gill.
Underneath Messr's Wilson and Gill is complex array of non teaching and teaching managers.
Underneath these managers there are teaching heads of subjects and heads of houses.
Underneath these people and their deputies there are teachers.
Underneath the teachers are support staff and administration staff.
There are also contractors of various forms employed by Furness Academy Limited.

The company has it's official address as West Avenue.
The principal has his office at the Thorncliffe Road site.
Mrs Anne Patricia Attwood in her capacity as sponsor has her address as Furness College.
Mrs Anne Patricia Attwood in her capacity as charity 'point of contact' has her address as Thorncliffe Road.

This is the basic structure of the Furness Academy Company and the school it operates Furness Academy.

Everyone working in the school below Mr Blackledge is an employee of Furness Academy Limited.
Mr Blackledge is an employee of the company when is acting as principal and he is an officer of the company when he is acting as CEO. He is a governor of the school when he is acting as governor or he may be acting on the governing body as a principal of the school.

It is not at all clear how he is able to make the distinction nor if he gets any remuneration for being CEO or a governor.
What is clear is he is paid more than David Cameron MP who is the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Ireland to be the principal of a school with a population of no more than 1700 pupils.

It is also unclear whether any of the sponsors representatives get any remuneration when they are acting as sponsors nor if they get any remuneration when they are acting as governors.

We do not know who the person from the County Council is nor if any of the other governors get any remuneration when acting as governors.

It is not clear who decides these things but presumably it is the Board of Furness Academy Limited which is made up of the three sponsors representatives and the principal who are all governors!

The whole point of this exercise is to try and establish what is the route to remedy for any parent of a child in this school and draw attention to intricate web which seems to make no one individual have any direct repsonsibilty for anything.

There is ZERO public accountability even though the public pay the wages of everyone employed by this Private company!!

The obvious start point is in form teacher or learning zone teacher whatever they are termed these days.
Then it appears to go to deputy head of house.
Then head of house.
Then some form of management.
Once through management structure it gets to one of the vice principals.
Then it gets to the principal Mr Douglas Blackledge.

After Mr Blackledge it should then go to the board of governors where there is an immediate conflict of interest as Mr Douglas Blackledge is a governor. Once at the governor level then the sponsors enter the fray or rather the persons representing the sponsors.

If there is no satisfaction with the governors the only recourse is to approach the sponsors of the school who are as we are well aware also the governors of this school so again more conflict of interest.

If there is no satisfaction from the sponsors the ultimate recourse is with the directors of the company which is where even more conflict of interest creeps in as not only are the sponsors representatives, school governors they are also directors of the company and even worse Mr Blackledge re-enters the arena this time wearing his CEO hat!

So all ends up this entire enterprise's success or failure relies on just four people and here they are.

Mr Douglas Blackledge
Mrs Anne Patricia Attwood
Mr David Kelly or his successor
Mr Patrick Smith

and not one of them is accountable to anyone living in Barrow. The only person who holds sway over them is Mr M Gove MP.

What has Barrow done to deserve this?

Some Real History

2010-09-04T19:35:40Z

Did this research for another blog I run in November last year. Reckon it's appropriate now to publish it here given Mr Lee's strange belief that Furness Academy has made Barrows Educational system better!

It has come to my attention that the Evening Mail newspaper looks like it is;
Sitting on comments instead of publishing them.
Sitting on letters to the editor instead of publishing them.
Allegedly letting people who are not employees of CN group see the content of these comments and letters.
Allegedly operates a 'black list' of people it prevents from ever having a letter or comment published. ]]> Naturally it's get out of jail card when challenged about these issues is 'legal implications'. It as a paper never reveals what these implications are nor does it inform the person doing the commenting or writing the letters what is wrong and offering them the chance to correct their 'errors' or at least make the content suitable to pass the Evening Mails legal censors. There is simply no way to know why your comment or letter never got published.

Altogether more serious are the allegations that people outside of the CN group are being given access to the content of these 'illegal' comments and letters. If this is really going on it leaves the Evening Mail in an odd legal position. Who would be willing to put the newspaper in such a position?

I have no answer to that question so all I can do is look at the 'top dog' who has ultimate responsibility for what does and doesn't get into the paper it's editor Mr Jonathan Lee.

Even if he is actually unaware of what may be going on within his newsroom regarding unpublished comments and letters and there is no hard evidence that he is aware, it is his overriding responsibility to become aware and IF there is anything dubious going on he is duty bound to deal with it. If he is aware and not stopping it then he is condoning it but let's not go down that road just yet. There is NO hard evidence either way just lots and lots of odd things going on that may all have a logical and reasonable explanation but it just doesn't look like they do yet!

Mr Jonathan Lee began his career on the Westmorland Gazette as a reporter based in Kendal in 1990. From there he moved on to become a features editor on the Westmorland Gazette and also assistant editor on Westmorland Illustrated.
His next career move was up to Scotland for the first time where he worked on the Aberdeen Evening Express as a feature writer in 1995 before moving inland a bit to the Edinburgh Evening News.
From their he went to Lancashire as assistant editor on the Blackpool Gazette. Leaving the Blackpool Gazette he returned north to the Aberdeen Evening Express as one of two assistant editors.
He remained at the Aberdeen Evening Express until 2006 when he became editor of the family run Shetland Times, a weekly paper in the Shetland Isles.
He lasted there until March 2008 when he took over at the Evening Mail which had just lost it's previous editor Steve Brauner to a Manchester based business paper.

So he has had a local media career spanning some 19 years and has worked his way up from reporter to editor of an evening paper.

Up until his departure from the Shetland Times in February 2008 it had been an uneventful but sound career. However the journalists at the Shetland Times and Mr Lee didn't see eye to eye and it all ended in acrimony when the journalists issued a vote of no confidence in him and he left the paper.
Naturally this event wasn't covered by the Evening Mail and why should it have been as it took place in Shetland not Barrow but it did take place and the reasons why it took place do have a relevance on what is actually going on with the Evening Mail and what is allegedly going on.

Mr Lee took the Shetland Times to two awards in two years namely the Highland and Islands Media Award. Sounds great but lets be clear there isn't much competition up north. It was during 2006 that it won Scottish Campaign of The Year at the Scottish Press Awards and in this award he was up against some of the big daily papers. So you can see where Mr Lee gets his love of campaigning from.
In December of 2007 staff issued the vote of no confidence in Mr Lee for various reasons including staff alleging editorial standards had declined which led to staff members joining the National Union of Journalists.
One former Shetland Times reporter Mark Latham, claimed staff felt the paper had been taken downmarket: "The main problem for me and my colleagues was the reputation of the newspaper, which has for more than 100 years has been a serious-minded paper... But now there is very little time given to investigative work."
He also said that over Lee's two years in charge there has been a gradual tabloidisation of the paper,

Mr Lee denied there was a rift and instead chose to highlight his achievements during his tenure and argued that he had always wanted to run an evening daily.
"It's an internal matter and there's nothing I am going to say on that."
"It wasn't cause and effect by any means. I have always wanted to be editor of an evening newspaper and an opportunity has arisen now and I am very much looking forward to it," he said.
"As far as I and the company are concerned, they are more than happy with the way things moved forward," Lee said.
"Obviously on every newspaper I have worked on, people will have different views - people are entitled to different views."
"It's an internal matter and there's nothing I am going to say on that. I have been at The Shetland Times for two years and the opportunity came up at the North West Evening Mail."
"It's where I'm from originally and I saw it as a good opportunity. I started as a reporter in Kendal and I still have family in the area. "It's the chance to go to an evening newspaper and that's what I am looking forward to."
"It's been a very enjoyable time and I have mixed emotions about leaving. It's been a very positive experience but it's the chance to edit an evening newspaper."

So reading about the reasons for departure from the Shetland times as ever we get two sides of the same story.

From Mr Lee's viewpoint it was just an ideal career move.
The fact that there were almost five months between the Evening Mail post being advertised and Mr Lee becoming editor would tend to suggest that when it was first advertised he didn't in fact consider going for the post. Up until December that year there had been no 'vote of no confidence' from his Shetland Times staff. This suggests Mr Lee did not consider moving until after the vote.

An opportune career move?
Decidedly, but not a considered career move until events made it worth considering.
There is no doubt from Mr Lathom and the journalists at the Shetland Times there was sufficient reason to issue a vote of no confidence in Mr Lee. Looking at Mr Lathoms reasons for the vote needing to take place we see clear parallels with what has happened and what is happening to the Evening Mail.

The Evening Mail has become ever more tabloid in it's appearance, it's layout, it's unrealistic and sensationalistic headlines, it's continuous use of the term 'exclusive', it's pages of sensationalistic national news items, chasing every possible celebrity connection to the town no matter how tenuous etc etc.
It has also campaigned on all manner of things that don't really matter in the grand scheme of things and not campaigned on things that do.

Mr Lathom also stated that investigative journalism disappeared on the Shetland Times and exactly the same thing has happened with the Evening Mail. Mr Lee is the common denominator so it follows this is likely to be his decision. Reporting by phone and Facebook have replaced investigation on the Evening Mail.
There is also the mega campaign Mr Lee instigated 'Love Barrow' whereby the paper puts the word 'Love' in front of just about every section title and assumes we will all grow to love our town, warts and all, because the Evening Mail ignores the warts and has told us that it's all rosy in the garden and massive navy blue and pink hearts appear on large buildings like official graffiti to reinforce this.

Then there is of course Mr Lee's appointment as a governor of Furness College shortly after his arrival as editor of the towns only newspaper. I honestly have no idea if he is actually capable of wearing the editors hat one minute and his governors hat the next but what I believe doesn't matter. The perception is that he and by default the newspaper he edits is biased to whatever the college, it's principal and it's governing body want to see happen in the town.
In truth the newspapers 'coverage' and I use that term in it's widest possible sense, of the Academy Company's imposition was so one sided that it appears that Mr Lee wears both hats at the same time. So exactly why did he put himself in this position in the first place?

After making it's owners money surely it is the job of a newspaper to report a balanced view on everything or at least give equal weight to both sides of an argument unless it gets the whiff of a campaign or is told otherwise by it's owners as in the Sun jumping off the Labour boat and onto the Conservatives boat because it's ancient Aussie who happens to own the paper told it to.

Thus we come back to the start of this long look at Mr Jonathan Lee and his career as we examine what is alleged to be going on at the Evening Mail regarding comments and letters. I know for a fact that some comments that were actually published online were subsequently removed for no apparent reason. I have screen captures of some of these pages.
There could be a very good reason why these comments were published and then removed but there is no reason ever given which leave the paper open to accusations of meddling. I have posted comments under a pseudonym that were simply negative and others that were simply positive in nature guess which ones didn't get published!

I also know that letters from certain people in our town no longer get published. Under Mr Brauner these same people had no problem getting things published. Under Mr Lee they are on a black list, for want of a better description. Why this is the case cannot be determined and the Evening Mail deny the existence of such a list so until an Evening Mail employee blows the whistle we can only speak as we find.

The letters section on the Evening Mail website hasn't been updated for nearly two months so I doubt it's ever going to updated.
Readers letters are no longer published in the News section of the Evening Mail web site. They used to always appear there alongside any editorials. The editorials are still there so it must have been someone's conscious decision to not print the letters. Even those letters that are printed in the Evening Mail newspaper rarely appear on the news section of the web site.

The Evening Mail doctors comments and letters that enter it's printed edition. I am aware that they have to be careful not to print anything libellous but on reading these doctored items it's obvious that it's not libel that is the problem it's how to be seen to allow criticism without actually appearing to be critical, that is the problem!

Investigative journalism has been eradicated from the pages of the printed and electronic editions of the Evening Mail. It appears to take what everybody says at face value and should anything appear to be a bit contentious the named person is replaced with 'spokesperson'.
If someone is making a statement about something that the company, council, charity, organisation they work for has done or is involved in on behalf of that organisation I would argue it is vital that the newspaper prints their name otherwise it could actually be made up by the reporter. Mr Lee thinks otherwise.

If anyone at the paper would care to comment, I will only call you a 'spokesperson' so your anonymity is assured, then please feel free. But I will leave it with this Q&A

Question
Dear Rich:
I am a contributor to Wikisource and our task is to reproduce public domain books, documents, etc. A question came up about the definition and copyright status of newspaper's "Letters to the Editor" and what are often defined as "Open Letters." I was wondering whether you are aware of any guidance or directions on such material.
Who would hold the copyright?
Is copyright ceded from the author to the newspaper publisher?

Answer
As a general rule -- boy we hate to start with that phrase -- letters are literary works and the author retains copyright. Unless
(a) published before 1923,
(b) published before 1964 but not renewed or
(c) dedicated to the public, the letters are not in the public domain.
What's unique about letters?
By their nature letters must be given to someone else -- in this case, the newspaper publisher. That doesn't automatically transfer copyright ownership; it just transfers ownership of the physical letter.
According to the Dear Rich Staff, it's possible that a publisher would acquire copyright under a written agreement or, in the case of an online publication, a click-to-agree agreement transferring rights. Check the fine print in the publication. Otherwise (and unless excused by fair use), the letter writer can prevent duplication or further publication.

Mr Lee Director of Publishing

2010-09-03T12:06:34Z

Sadly he proves he is on a totally different planet!

Jonathan Lee, Publishing Director of the North-West Evening Mail, said: "Education is the future for any area.

"We are lucky in South Cumbria to have some major progress in education, including the redevelopment of Furness College.

"The formation of Furness Academy has also changed the educational landscape in Barrow.

"We regularly report in the Evening Mail on successes in our schools and colleges right across the region, including in Barrow, Dalton, Millom, and Ulverston and in other communities throughout Furness and South Lakeland.

"We know that the success of these schools and colleges is often down to unsung heroes.

"That is why we have decided to launch these awards."

Emphasis all mine. Link Updated sample form after the jump...

]]>

I Cannot Add Anything To This Statement

2010-09-03T10:19:40Z

Except I wish it were true!

A Message To Anne

2010-09-02T07:15:45Z

Not sure if she still reads these pages. She used to so here's hoping...
Back in February 2009 in the face of terrific local opposition, from those who could be bothered, to the forced destruction of three Barrovian secondary schools so a lady called Moira and a bunch of clueless councillors could belatedly chase Building Schools For The Future money, that the Labour government never had, you said this;

"I can honestly say that the unbelievers are going to look very silly next year as we celebrate the first birthday of one of the best academies in the country."

Well here we are a year on from the start of what you yourself termed 'one of the best academies in the country' and it is anything but.

If there were only the GCSE results available as the measure of success it would be a fail but there is an astonishing array of circumstantial and anecdotal evidence from pupils, parents, staff, other secondary schools not to mention the way the County Council distances itself at every opportunity to prove that on the balance of probability the man you allowed to become principal has failed to deliver your promise. The amount of suppressed evidence is staggering and is only trumped by the extreme methods that are employed to keep it suppressed.

That man is Douglas Blackledge principal and Chief Executive Officer of Furness Academy.

He was the 'best man for the job' back in February 2009 according to you and Mr Kelly. It is still unclear why he wasn't interested when the job remuneration was a mere £100K but what seems to have happened is that Mr McQuoid and the Emmanuel Foundation had no small part to play in Douglas Blackledge's 'interest' when the job was re-advertised at the £135K rate so maybe your hands were tied by Moira Swann, the clueless Councillors and possibly a complicit Department of Children Schools and Families along with the evangelical foundation.

However any sympathy for your position ebbed away once you and your co-sponsors gave this man 100% backing when his personal life, which led directly to his departure from Trinity Academy, was splashed across a national newspaper shortly after his appointment was announced. Even then there was a lingering hope that you and your co-sponsors had actually been duped and would have the balls to stand up for the children of Barrow.

Sadly neither you nor any of your now departed co-sponsors could do this and now it seems the only way out is to change jobs or retire!

You also said;

"I feel a tremendous amount of empathy for worried parents and their children during this uncertain time, and they have a right to question us and ensure that we are on the right track."

Parents cannot question you because you have become a hermit. You no longer speak in public about the Academy and along with your co-sponsors and indeed your chosen one, have remained aloof throughout and failed totally to engage with the interested Barrovian public, small though they are in number

You may have perfectly acceptable reasons for withdrawing into the shadows and you clearly have no need to talk in public about the private Academy company. You may even have been gagged by the PR companies you have employed but frankly these terrible results and the promises you made back in 2009 deserve a response from you not in writing through the Evening Mail but in writing to the parents of the children in the school and the parents of those who have just left.

I would be happy to publish such a letter in full on here for all to see, untouched by my purple comments, as I know this site is one where an awful lot of interested people come to for all sorts of reasons.

Whatever please explain what steps are being taken to make sure there is an effective and consistent improvement from this point on. As you are hopefully well aware kids only get one shot at secondary education and if that education is failing because...
The principal blames:

The predecessor schools,
The educational experts 'fantasy' targeting,
Having to travel between two sites
He is also running so tight a ship that teachers are frightened to fart at the wrong time in case they are reported to 'the management',
His policies are literally forcing those unlikely to achieve (at least in his estimation) out of the door with exclusions, expulsions and dominating Newbridge House and lastly totally and utterly failing to engage with the much vaunted 'local community'.

then it is incumbent upon you as the remaining named sponsor to put measures and indeed people in place who can arrest the fall as quickly as possible, stabilise the situation, as quickly as possible and really put the current school populations education at the core of everything the school does from this point on.

Regardless of Mr Blackledge's inability to spend three days at one site and two days at the other or work day about at each site or even spend one week on one site and one on the other he has an expensive vice-principal on each site along with a very expensive team of non-teaching managers and a smaller team of teaching management not to mention a large teaching and support staff so there is obviously no shortage of bodies but perhaps the shortage is one of skills, leadership or ability.
Penalising teachers for speaking their minds or disagreeing with the way things are being delivered only leads to a divided school which will never give the kids the one thing they need to achieve their personal best, stability.

Can you as the sponsor allow things to continue the way they have over this past Academic year or are the rumours true and you are about to follow David Kelly and Neil Simco and exit the local education scene?

]]>

The Webchat

2010-08-31T16:35:27Z

Just in case there are any 'revelations' I am recording the Q and A here for posterity...

The Chat

Question
Furness Academy is a specialist maths academy. As it has gained lower maths grades than the 3 previous schools whose results were described as not being good enough, are there any plans to review Furness Academies status as a 'specialist maths college'?

Answer?
Applied maths rather than pure maths is one of the academy's specialisms. It is true that we need to support all of our students to be as literate and numerate as they can possibly be. This is something that we will constantly be working at, as I'm sure will be the case in all schools, and clearly there is great need for such focus. I am disappointed that we don't appear to have reached our initial expectations for maths attainment in year one but this does not mean that we should change our specialist status. What we must do, however, is continue to strive to develop the best possible provision in all areas of our curriculum for our students.
Obviously showing that he knows there is a difference between applied and pure maths but why bother mentioning it?
Cleverly he brings in the 'other schools' to show that it's 'not just Furness Academy that is struggling with maths'.
FAILED TO ANSWER THE QUESTION IN MY HUMBLE OPINION.

Question
Mr. Blackledge, we all know that pupil absence rates have a direct impact on GCSE grades. Can you, therefore, please tell us what the authorised and un-authorised absence rate of the Year 11 cohort was and whether you think it was this attendance that had an adverse impact on your first set of results?!

Answer?
Attendance in year 11 was not all that it should have been with some students already suffering from total disengagement from their education prior to the academy opening and poor attendance certainly does impact itself on results in any school. There has been a long established pattern of placing challenging students into alternative educational provision in Barrow and we inherited a significant proportion of students in this category. Our initial assessment was that some of this provision was not what we would have wanted for our students, some of whom were taking up expensive placements but not attending. We pursued a comprehensive reintegration program with high levels of success for some but regrettably not for others. Over time we hope to ensure that our own curriculum model and support structures will provide the best learning for our students such that they remain fully engaged with us throughout their school careers and achieve their personal best.
So here we see Mr Blackledge lay a large part of the blame at the door of the predecessor schools which of course no longer exist and cannot therefore call on a 'spokesman' to counter his argument. He also lays the blame at the door of the Local Authority and the way it carried out its business, incredible.
HE DID AT LEAST TRY TO ANSWER THIS QUESTION ALTHOUGH IF YOU READ CAREFULLY YOU CAN SEE THE POOR ATTENDANCE HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THE WAY HE RUNS THE SCHOOL.

Question
In the Evening Mail you describe the target pass rate as hugely aspirant. Who set the target, were you not involved in the setting of the target and on what basis was it set?

Answer?
Targets for the first year of the academy were set and agreed by education advisor's and sponsors and were broadly based around an assumption that the students would have experienced their entire secondary provision in a school or academy that was reaching the standards of the top 25% of similar schools in the country.
Once again distancing himself from any involvement. The rest of this reply is pure bullshit. Why on earth would anyone set such a target for a brand new school where the overwhelming majority of year 11 pupils have been educated under different regimes?

Question
Why have you dropped ICT as a GCSE? Employers do not even look at the OCR nationals as GCSE equivalents.

Answer?
We have made a great commitment to the development of ICT capability for our students. We have two hours provision per week in Key Stage 3 and compulsory ICT for all students in Key Stage 4. Course choice and qualifications are always kept under review and opinion nationally varies greatly regarding the most suitable accreditation in ICT. We too will evaluate course and qualification choice in all subjects but it is important to bear in mind that our year 11 results are actually based on the curriculum and qualification choices of our predecessor schools.
TOTALLY FAILING TO ANSWER WHAT IS A VERY SIMPLE QUESTION.

Question
I am interested in music and wondered what the music provision is like at the academy

Answer?
I too am very interested in music and will be doing everything I can to support the music team in developing successful and varied experiences that our students will enjoy. All arts provision has been well supported in our first year and will continue to be so.
CONSIDERING MR BLACKLEDGE PLAYED IN AND CONDUCTED AN AWARD WINNING BRASS BAND YOU WOULD THINK HE WOULD AT LEAST HAVE ANSWERED THIS QUESTION MORE FULLY.

Question
Mr Blackledge, is the rumour true you are working from home two days a week?
How beneficial is this to the success of the Academy and how can you defend a lack of presence around both sites and a three day working week when it must have been obvious to you the Academy has struggled over the past year?
The results of which are lower than expected exam results for the past Year 11 students. One argument I strongly put forward when campaigning against the rushed opening of the new school and one I was told time and time again would not happen with the extra funding available to support Year 11 to invest in new books and on exam modulators being invited into the Academy and talking to the students on exam techniques etc. I remember you telling me the Academy had a lot to live up to and sadly it hasn't been able to match the high standards of Parkview School. Whatever measures you take now will not change this years poor results. What a detriment to those students' further education plans and their future success. This year's results were expected to be the highest ever achieved from the past Parkview students. What a high price to pay. I am upset and very disappointed.

Answer?
Thankyou for giving me the opportunity to attempt to quash this particular rumour. I don't think anybody who's worked with me, past or present, would question how hard I work or the hours I put in. The academy does have a lot to live up to and the targets set for us and by us help to ensure that we constantly strive to achieve the best standards for our students. I must emphasise that we believe ourselves to have a significant number of appeals pending in English in particular and so I would wish to reserve final judgement on this particular element of the academy's performance in year one until the final data is validated.
Didn't actually say he didn't work from home for two days a week did he?
So is he really saying that if every pending appeal is successful the results will jump up a few percentage points?
NOT BIG ON ANSWERING DIRECT QUESTIONS IS HE?

Question
Could Mr. Blackledge tell us what plans he has to raise standards further this new academic year, sionce standards are actually lower now than when the 3 predecessor schools were in place. What is he going to do differently?

Answer?
Whilst it is true that our unvalidated data for year one is lower than the merged data of the last year of the predecessor schools we are hopeful, as stated in the answer to a previous question, that this will not be the final position. Regardless, we are striving for excellence in all that we do and 'Personal Best' attainment for students at all levels. In pursuit of this aim we have already taken a number of measures to improve our provision now and over time including some internal structual changes, some curriculum developments and of course the securing of a significant backing from stakeholders to move to a single site in 2012.
Hopeful! Hopeful! after all the promises that spewed forth from his and his sponsors mouths!
By 'stakeholders' does he mean the taxpayer or the DCSF and how will a single site in 2012, which hasn't even got past the planning stage yet, make things better for those currently in the school?
STILL NOT ANSWERING THE QUESTION. IT REALLY IS LIKE LISTENING TO JOHN WOODCOCK!

Question
In terms of attainment, can you please give us the Contextual Value Added for these 2010 GCSE results and can you confirm that the CVA is, infact, lower than the 3 predecessor schools?

Answer?
The CVA for the academy will not be known until November. This is a highly complex data set worked out as a measure of student progress, in all subjects, by the Department for Education and published through a mechanism called RAISE Online. There was no RAISE Online data produced or published regarding the final year of the predecessor schools. I am not in a position at this stage to either confirm or deny comparative comments about CVA. What matters most , however, is that Furness Academy's CVA for it's students now and in the future is the best that it can be.
The Department for Education does not exist. ~~It's called the DCSF or Department for Education Schools and Families~~. Pedantic maybe but...

Updated 7-30 pm, with apologies to all. I only ever look at the DCSF, sorry DofE web pages and they are still branded DCSF!
BUT AT LEAST HE ANSWERS A QUESTION, HURRAH!

Question
How long do you think it will take to achieve the 46% target?

Answer?
Our target for next year is even higher at 52% and again this represents a highly aspirational benchmark. Year two sees students taking the whole or their Key Stage 4 courses in the academy and this will provide a more stable platform from which they can progress. The first set of modular results in maths were very promising and we must build on this throughout year 11. We are confident that for a broad set of reasons the year two results will represent a significant improvement on those of year one. School improvement is not only about that though, it is about trends over time and we must ensure that the fortunes and attainment levels of Furness Academy students continually improve.
Yet again he blames the predecessor schools for his schools failings "Year two sees students taking the whole or their Key Stage 4 courses in the academy and this will provide a more stable platform from which they can progress."
Where is the sense in raising the bar when the school cannot even reach this years bar?
Clearly he has no idea when the 46% target will be reached. Not that I think he should have. He doesn't have a crystal ball.

Question
I am surprised that you made the comment in the mail 'target pass rate as hugely aspirant' when this target was achieved and surpassed by Parkview School last year, surely the Academy was claiming to raise standards not to be detrimental to our children's success at GCSE!

Answer?
The results of any single predecessor school simply can not be meaningfully compared to the results of the academy as one would not be comparing like with like. We would like to believe, however, that we will soon have academy data representing students from across the three previous school catchments which will be at a higher level than any of the three single predecessor establishments.
I was wrong. He obviously does have a crystal ball or he is simply making stuff up.

Question
We have a query about 3 exam results and have been told to ask next term. Is there a time limit on queries and if so when is this date

Answer?
it is not too late for any enquiries about results but I would urge anyone wishing to pursue this to do so within the next few days by contacting the data manager for teh academy on South site by telephoning (01229) 825163 and asking to speak to Mrs Pearcey.
Another question answered even if his reply contradicts what the parent had already been told, presumably by the data manager or someone else in Furness Academy.

So waffle it was then.
Next week we will see a webchat with which secondary head Mr Lee?

Updated 01-09-2010

From a certain well known blonde lady...

"I can honestly say that the unbelievers are going to look very silly next year as we celebrate the first birthday of one of the best academies in the country."

"I feel a tremendous amount of empathy for worried parents and their children during this uncertain time, and they have a right to question us and ensure that we are on the right track."

]]>

Un-Fr*****g-Believable!

2010-08-31T08:51:11Z

He is holding yet another brain numbing webchat with his favourite mouthpiece.
Where are all the state secondary heads webchats?

Submit a question using this form... and then run a book on the chances of it being answered by the now bronzed Academy Principal! (spotted in Tesco recently, with his good lady sporting deep brown tans. The mail will have to get some new pictures done.)

Onward & Upward?

2010-08-29T20:02:19Z

As you may have now gathered I have decided to keep this blog going for another 12 months.

I have to say I was wavering until the Academy inexplicably failed to release its GCSE results into the public domain.

I cannot to understand why the schools principal has taken this decision.

I cannot understand why the schools sponsors have allowed him to take this decision.

I cannot understand why the schools governors have allowed him to take this decision.

I cannot understand how the DCSF are not forcing this school to release its figures.

I cannot understand why no staff member has spoke out about this abject failure.

]]>

I have heard numbers ranging from 33% pass rate up to 39% pass rate but frankly they are just guesses. They may be informed gusses or wild guesses and they may be somewhere near or way off but the fact remains they are still just guesses.

Of course there is the possibility that the principal is simply following orders. He does seem to be here to carry out something specific which obviously isn't turning the school into a world class institution. People who are willing to force through unpleasant decisions can command a premium as their usefulness doesn't last long once their modus operandi becomes widely known.

The DCSF are either complicit in this failure or they are orchestrating it all or they are just as incompetent under Gove's leadership as they were under Balls. As I see it only the DCSF or more specifically the Schools Minister Mr Ian Wright is the person who has the clout to force the Academy company's hand. Mr Wright may well be 'on holiday' and as such is 'incommunicado' until Parliaments return.

As to the blog.

It will continue for at least another 12 months because although my son is no longer part of the state school system as I said in an earlier post not everyone can take their children outside of the state system. Actually that isn't true everyone can but a lot of peoples home/work situations mean they cannot.

But that is not a topic for this blog which is now totally focussed on trying to make sense of the pitiful amount of information that makes it outside of each building, the pitiful amount of information that breaks out of Cumbria County Council, the even more pitiful amount of information that on occasion breaks free from the DCSF control and the local luminaries who believed or still do believe that this school is genuinely serving its pupils better than it's three predecesors did.

Richard Rose Morton and Richard Rose Central have said nothing either on the other hand at West Lakes they are shouting from the rooftops!

West Lakes Academy

In Egremont, Vanessa Ray, principal of West Lakes Academy, said: "Our GCSE results are a significant improvement on the previous year's with the five A*-Cs now at 46 per cent, up 19 per cent on last year.

The Things They Said

2010-08-17T16:59:51Z

This article was brought to my attention recently by an 'interested party' and it contains some interesting comments.

I know hindsight is a wonderful thing but plenty of people could SEE what was going to happen back in February of 2009.
]]> Article

The nuggets.

Dave Kelly, principal of Barrow Sixth Form College and a spokesman for the sponsors, said:

Very clear lessons have been learned from Carlisle, including student integration and staffing structures.
We have also been following national best practice for academies, as well as looking at the successes at West Lakes and Morton.

When recruiting the principal for Barrow, we have been looking at candidates with excellent education experience and credentials.
I can confirm that we have now appointed a principal and we are delighted with the appointment.
Although we are in planning and development stages now, we have been laying the foundations for the academy for the past three years.

Of course Mr David Kelly has now vanished into the sunset with one of these in his hands so is well out of it.

However the one remaining member of the founder sponsors is still around although she is strangely silent. Back in the day however...

Anne Attwood, another spokesperson for the sponsors, says;

The university's role is using its expertise as the county's largest learning provider to benefit young people and ensure they have the best education opportunities.

This is the University that is now in a financial black hole and has closed parts of its empire and is mothballing other parts whilst scrapping expensive new buildings in an effort to stay afloat.
It's the bankrupt University that the third sponsor who was never a spokesperson, Dr Simco fled late 2009!

What has Barrow done to deserve this level of incompetence and why do Barrovians as a breed take no flaming notice.

A fubar experiment in social engineering, a school fit for the 21st Century or is it actually somewhere in betwixt?

Cumbrian School Exclusion Rates Drop Across The Board

2010-08-07T16:28:06Z

Make of this news bulletin what you will.
Rather convenient that all four private Cumbrian Academies don't have their figures publicised the same way, don't you think?
]]> 29/7/2010 - Cumbrian school exclusion rates drop across the board

The number of exclusions from Cumbria's local authority maintained schools have dropped for another successive year.

All exclusions, both permanent and fixed term, in local authority maintained primary and secondary schools in Cumbria dropped significantly in 2008/09.

Figures released by the Department for Education today (July 29th) saw 18 permanent exclusions in Cumbria's maintained secondary schools compared with 34 in 2007/08; a drop of 53%. There were only two permanent exclusions in the county's primary schools in the 2008/09 academic year. That represents 0.005% of the Cumbria primary school population and a drop of 50% from 2007/08.

The number of fixed term, or temporary, secondary school exclusions was 2,598 - down from 3,050 in 2007/08.

There were 202 fixed term exclusions in primary schools in 2008/09 compared with 250 the previous year.

There were no exclusions, either permanent or fixed term, in special schools in the county in 2008/09 compared with 10 fixed term the year before.

The new figures continue Cumbria's substantial year-on-year reductions in the number of exclusions in its schools and mean the county continues to be significantly below the national average on both fixed term and permanent exclusions.

Cllr Duncan Fairbairn, Cumbria County Council's Cabinet member responsible for schools and learning, said:

"Cumbria is continuing to perform well in this area. The impressive results are thanks to an innovative and effective approach involving good working arrangements between schools and the work of our reintegration officers and others. Our schools work together in their 'behaviour partnership' consortia to address the issue and take a proactive approach to behavioural problems before they get out of hand. An ounce of prevention is often worth a pound of cure, and that's often the case in behavioural management."

The Reality Dawns

Also Eddie Martin bleating about the fact that there isn't any money left after the Labour run administration spent it all and then some.

Rt Hon Michael Gove MP
Secretary of State for Education
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
Westminster
London
SW1P 3BT

Dear Secretary of State

I do fully understand and, indeed, support the government's plans and responsibilities to reduce the burden of public debt and I appreciate that most sectors of public expenditure will be required to share that responsibility and the consequences. Nonetheless, following your announcement to parliament on 5 July that the Building Schools for the Future programme is to end, I must impress on you how important it is that school capital funding continues to be available to transform Cumbria's schools.

The effect of your announcement is that £61.5m of capital expenditure to benefit schools in West Cumbria will not now be available. This is, of course, a major disappointment not just for teachers and pupils in the schools directly affected but also for their local communities.

You will be aware that communities in West Cumbria particularly suffered terribly in the floods of last November. Towns and villages across the area are only now recovering and a number of businesses have still not been able to resume trading. Many people have still not been able to return to their own homes. We saw BSF investment as contributing in a significant and material way to the regeneration of these communities, some of which demonstrate the unfortunate characteristics of deprived areas in that they are economically disadvantaged, suffer high levels of unemployment, low skilled employment, high dependency on welfare benefits, and below-average incomes.

BSF funding would enable a major investment in the transformation of teaching and learning, and new and refurbished school buildings would have provided a much greater opportunity than currently for these to provide services within and beyond the school day and that were accessible to young people, their families and the whole community through our extended schools' programmes.

In recent weeks West Cumbria has been further traumatised twice in quick succession. Firstly by the Keswick school bus disaster in which two young people lost their lives and many were deeply scarred. Secondly, by the shootings in Whitehaven and its vicinity when thirteen people were killed. You will appreciate that the West Cumbrian communities have suffered a great deal recently. The withdrawal of BSF funding is yet another grievous blow which simply adds more pain to communities desperately trying to recover.

May I urge you to ensure that the findings of the Capital Review Group that you have established are translated quickly into a school capital investment programme to replace BSF. Our schools cannot deliver a modern curriculum that engages all pupils, including those disaffected by school, from run down buildings where little more than patch and mend funding has been available over many years.

My council places not only the reduction of financial poverty at the core of its activities but also the poverty of ambition and the poverty of opportunity. Modern, fit-for-purpose schools will help considerably in raising young people's aspirations. I believe it is imperative for communities throughout Cumbria, but most immediately for West Cumbria, that the disappointment of not getting BSF investment is quickly replaced by the hope that investment in schools and communities will still be available but in a different form.

I also believe it is important that the local concerns and anxieties are allayed as quickly as possible. Our communities have already made it clear that they regard the modernisation of West Cumbrian schools as being at the top of the local agenda priorities, and it is an agenda item which my colleagues and I of the county council fully support.

May I extend an invitation to visit Cumbria at your earliest convenience.

Yours sincerely

Eddie Martin

Leader of the Council

CN Group Selective Reporting?

2010-08-07T15:59:28Z

A quick scan of the Kier Group sites via Google has revealed a little story about the Cumbrian Academy programme building schemes that never made it into the local CN group title!

No surprises there then.

It did appear in the News & Star though and I record it here as it has an impact on what might or might not be happening on Parkviews verdant fields.
]]> Link

Cumbria County Council chiefs have been getting an update on the £100 million-plus programme to build four new academy schools in the county.

The local authority has the responsibility of building the new complexes in Carlisle, Egremont and Barrow before they are handed over to the organisations which run the academies.

Council chief executive Jill Stannard led the party on a tour of the Richard Rose Central Academy at Lismore Place in Carlisle, which is nearly complete.

Thursday's visitors to the £31m academy development included Moira Swann, who paid a visit in her last week as the council's corporate director for children's services.

Part of her role over the last five years has involved spearheading changes to secondary education across Carlisle and the county, a drive that has included the controversial introduction of academies.

The new Richard Rose Central Academy building is set to open to pupils in January.

It is being created on the site of the former St Aidan's School, one of the two poorly-performing secondary schools that were closed to make way for the new academy.

Classes for 11-to-16-year-olds are currently taught in temporary accommodation at Harraby, on the former site of the other predecessor school, North Cumbria Technology College.

Sixth formers are taught in existing buildings at Lismore Place and have watched the new school building go up before their eyes.

A £750,000 contract was awarded on July 1 to facilities management firm Graham FM. The company will run non-teaching services at the new Central Academy complex and at its sister school in Morton for the next three years.

The contract, which could be extended for a further two years, will cover the day-to-day running of six key areas within the Central and Morton Academies including grounds and property maintenance, cleaning, waste management, security, porterage and mail room services.

Graham FM will also be responsible for the relocation of the Central Academy from Harraby to Lismore Place this December.

Cumbria's four academies in Carlisle, Egremont and Barrow are being constructed by Kier, in the firm's largest school-building contract to date, in a scheme also involving technical experts from Capita Symonds and local academy groups.

Work has also started on the Morton Academy in Wigton Road, Carlisle, and at the West Lakes Academy in Egremont. Kier will also work in Barrow to create a new complex for the Furness Academy.

If this last part isn't pure politicking by the CN group god alone knows what is.

Academies created under the Labour administration, including those currently open in Cumbria, aim to drive up standards by tackling years of under-achievement and low aspirations.

They are free from local authority control but are distinctly different to the new generation of academies being created by the new coalition government, which, at the moment, allow only outstanding schools to opt out of council control.

On a positive note Moira Swann has now left the building. Her work is done and she is moving on.
I wish her well in whatever endeavour she intends to undertake. Her impact on Barrow will not be forgotten, ever. What did Barrow and even Cumbria do to have to suffer this woman's arrogance and incompetence for five long years?

6/7/2010 - Swann song for Moira as Workington pupils say goodbye

Staff and students from Southfield Technology College look on as Cumbria County Council Chief Executive Jill Stannard pays tribute to Moira Swann.

Outgoing Corporate Director for Cumbria County Council's Children's Services, Moira Swann, received a leaving present of artwork from students at Southfield Technology College in Workington. The pupils provided work inspired by Cumbria, including an etching of pebbles found on Harrington beach, to remind Moira of her five years in the county.

Mothballed?

2010-08-06T14:10:56Z

Breaking news. Mr Gove has effectively mothballed 73 Academies building schemes.
He has given the go ahead to 77 that were well into the planning/awarding contracts/building process.

At this stage I am still unclear which group Furness is in. I'll keep digging but if anyone else knows the answer please comment as always.

Links
Guardian

BBC

Updated 8-45 pm 06-08-2010

I think there is some confusion here. Gove cancelled 123 schools scheduled to become Academies in 2010-2011.
The ones on this list are Academies that already exist but have no new buildings up yet.

As you can seen Furness is not on this list so what is going on?

Full list after the jump...
]]>

Barking and Dagenham

Dagenham Park, Sample - capital allocated

Sydney Russell, Sample - capital allocated

Bedford Borough

The Bedford Academy - capital allocated

Birmingham

Aston Engineering Academy - capital allocated

North Birmingham Academy - capital allocated

Harborne Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Heartlands Academy - capital allocated

Sheldon Heath Academy - capital allocated

Shenley Court Academy - capital allocated

St Alban's Academy - capital allocated

Blackpool

Highfield Humanities College, Sample - capital allocated

Mountford Centre, Sample - capital allocated

St. Mary's Catholic College, Sample - capital allocated

Bolton

Kearsley Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Bournemouth (Joint project with Poole)

The Bishop of Winchester Academy - capital allocation after spending review

The Bourne Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Bradford

Appleton Academy - capital allocated

Dixons Allerton Academy - capital allocated

Brent

The Crest Boys Academy - capital allocated

The Crest Girls Academy - capital allocated

Brighton & Hove

Portslade Community College Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Buckinghamshire

Aylesbury Vale Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Chesham Park Community College, Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Calderdale

Trinity Academy - capital allocated

Camden

UCL Academy, Sample - capital allocated

South Camden Community, Sample - capital allocated

Swiss Cottage Special School, Sample - capital allocated

Central Bedfordshire

All Saints Academy - capital allocated

Cheshire West and Chester

Cheshire 4 Woodford Lodge Academy - capital allocation after spending review

University of Chester Church of England Academy - capital allocated

Croydon

Croydon Brit School City College for Technology and Arts - capital allocated

Harris Academy Purley Academy - capital allocated

Croydon (Joint project with Kingston)

Quest Academy (Selsdon High School) - capital allocation after spending review

Derby City

Derby Moor Sample - capital allocated

Noel-Baker Sample - capital allocated

St Martins Sample - capital allocated

Derbyshire Bennerley Business and Enterprise College Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Devon

Dartmouth Community College Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Doncaster

De Warenne Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Outwood Academy, Adwick - capital allocation after spending review

Rossington All Saints Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Durham

Consett Academy (Consett & Moorside) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Stanley Academy (Stanley & Greencroft) - capital allocated

Ealing

West London Academy - capital allocated

Cardinal Wiseman Roman Catholic School , Sample - capital allocated

Dormers Wells High School, Sample - capital allocated

East Sussex

The St Leonards Academy (Filsham Valley and The Grove School) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

The Hastings Academy (Hillcrest School) Academy - capital allocated

The Eastbourne Academy (Eastbourne Technology College) - capital allocation after spending review

Enfield

Oasis Academy Hadley Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Turin Grove Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Gladys Aylward Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Essex

Greensward College Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Sir Charles Lucas Academy - capital allocation after spending review

St Peter's High School Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Gloucestershire

Gloucester Academy (Bishops College/Central Technology College sites)- capital allocation after spending review

Greenwich

University Technology College (New School) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Halton

Halton High School Academy - capital allocation after spending review

The Grange Comprehensive High School, Sample - capital allocated

Wade Deacon High School, Sample - capital allocated

Hampshire

Havant Academy - capital allocated

Hartlepool

Dyke House Sports And Technology College, Sample - capital allocated

St. Hilds CE VA School, Sample - capital allocated

Havering

Drapers Academy - capital allocated

Hertfordshire

Lonsdale School, Sample - capital allocated

Marriotts, Sample - capital allocated

The Nobel School, Sample - capital allocated

Kensington and Chelsea

North Kensington Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Kent

Isle of Sheppey Academy - capital allocated

Dover Christ Church Academy incl Aspen 2 (Special)- capital allocation after spending review

Skinners Kent Academy - capital allocated

St Augustine Academy - capital allocation after spending review

The Duke of York's Royal Military School Academy - capital allocation after spending review

The John Wallis C of E Academy Ashford - capital allocation after spending review

The Knole Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Wilmington Enterprise College, Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Kingston upon Hull

Endeavour Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Kirklees

Howden Clough Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Netherhall Studio School - capital allocation after spending review

Lambeth

Lambeth 4 New School (Fenstanton Site) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Dunraven (Foundation Mixed) Secondary School, Sample - capital allocated

Lilian Bayliss, Sample - capital allocated

Norwood, Sample - capital allocated

Lincolnshire

The Priory Ruskin Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Holbeach (George Farmer Technology College including St Guthlac) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Liverpool

De La Salle Academy - Liverpool Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Enterprise South Liverpool Academy - capital allocated

Luton

Luton Studio School - capital allocation after spending review

Medway

Brompton Academy - capital allocated

Strood Academy - capital allocated

The Bishop of Rochester Academy - capital allocated

Norfolk

Ormiston Victory Academy (Costessey) - capital allocation after spending review

Kings Lynn Academy (Park High School) - capital allocation after spending review

Ormiston Venture Academy (Oriel High School) - capital allocation after spending review

Thetford Academy (Rosemary Musker High School and Charles Burrell Humanities School) - capital allocation after spending review

North East Lincolnshire

Tollbar Edge Cleethorpes Academy - capital allocation after spending review

North Somerset

Hans Price Academy (Wyvern) - capital allocation after spending review

Northamptonshire

Kettering Buccleuch Academy - capital allocated

Kettering Science Academy - capital allocated

Malcolm Arnold Academy (Northants 5) - capital allocated

Weston Favell School, Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Nottingham

Nottingham Girls Academy (currently Manning Comprehensive) - capital allocation after spending review

Oldham

Oasis Oldham Academy - capital allocated

The Waterhead Academy - capital allocated

New RC School, Sample - capital allocated

North Chadderton, Sample - capital allocated

Oldham Academy North - capital allocated

Oxfordshire

Oxfordshire 4 (Oxford School) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Peterborough

Ormiston Bushfield Academy - capital allocated

Plymouth

All Saint's Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Marine Academy (Tamarside, Plymouth 1)- capital allocation after spending review

Poole (Joint project with Bournemouth)

St Aldhelm's Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Ashdown Technology College, Sample - capital allocated

Portsmouth

Charter Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Redbridge

Isaac Newton Academy - capital allocated

Redcar and Cleveland

Freebrough Academy - capital allocation for notification after spending review

Richmond-upon-Thames

Richmond 1 (Hampton) Academy - capital allocated

Richmond 3 (Shene) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Twickenham Academy - capital allocated

Rotherham

Maltby Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Sandwell

George Salter Collegiate, Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Ormiston Sandwell Community Academy (incl. New KS3 PRU)- capital allocation after spending review

Shireland Collegiate Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Somerset

Taunton Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Chilton Trinity, Sample - capital allocated

Elmwood, Sample - capital allocated

Robert Blake, Sample - capital allocated

South Gloucestershire

The Ridings' Federation Winterbourne International Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Yate International Academy - capital allocated

Southampton

Oasis Academy Lord's Hill - capital allocated

Oasis Academy Mayfield - capital allocated

St Helens

Sutton High Academy - capital allocation after spending review

De La Salle School, Sample - capital allocated

Rainford High Technology College, Sample - capital allocated

Staffordshire

Blake Valley Technology College Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Stockton-on-Tees

North Shore Health Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Thornaby Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Suffolk

Ipswich Academy (Holywells, Suffolk 1) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Felixstowe Academy (Deben & Orwell, Suffolk 3)- capital allocation after spending review

Thurrock

Ormiston Park Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Trafford

Trafford Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Wakefield

Outwood Grange College of Technology, Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Walsall

Grace Academy, Darlaston - capital allocated

Shelfield Community Academy - capital allocated

Walsall Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Wandsworth

Burntwood, Sample - capital allocated

Southfields, Sample - capital allocated

Warwickshire

Nuneaton Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Wiltshire

Sarum Academy (Salisbury High, Wiltshire 4) Academy - capital allocation after spending review

Wirral

Birkenhead High School Academy - capital allocated

University Academy of Birkenhead - capital allocation after spending review

Worcestershire

Tudor Grange Academy,

Worcester Academy - capital allocated

Where To Go Now?

2010-07-27T15:04:00Z

This blog was started a year ago because I could not believe that there was any sense in replacing three perfectly good schools with an unproven model of a single Academy school. I could also did not believe how ill conceived and badly organised those behind the idea were.

What I hadn't known at that time was how incompetent people can occupy well paid positions of power.
True they have replaced the three schools with one but in doing so they created a dysfunctional school that fails staff, pupil, parent and what is euphemistically called the 'wider community' on every level.
Some members of staff are working to deliver some sort of education for their charges but how much longer can they go on before they put their own well being ahead of their careers?

]]> The other two founding educational sponsors have fled and there has been no word who their replacements are.

Sadly the educational chances of many children in this little old town have now been reduced by politicians and educationalists alike. Ed Balls was trying his damnedest to bolster his position in government and cared not a jot about the children of Barrow.
Enid Fraser and her cohort cared not a jot either and simply pursued her chosen political path no matter how much evidence was presented that it was the wrong path to pursue.
Moira Swann seems to have been on a political mission as well as he was only pursuing the now removed Building Schools for the Future funding for the whole of Cumbria which was dependant on her pushing through 'Academies' come what may.

The current crop of management is by some measure the most expensive in any school in the town, probably throughout Cumbria and possibly throughout the land.
Despite the fact that 'management' of any school doesn't warrant the number of managers the Academy has the sheer cost of these managers must at some point register in the brain that belongs to Mr Balls replacement, Mr Gove.
Having the principal of a state run school of 1700 kids on exactly the same money as the Prime Minister of Great Britain and Ireland should be a big clue that something is wrong but hey these are the political classes so it takes time for reality to get through the bullshit they wallow in.

Mr Gove is a big fan of Academies but what is important he is also a big fan of locally run Academies. This in itself might be enough to bring about change and stem the rot by putting people in place who can actually turn the school around but I for one won't be holding my breath as Mr Gove is as much a politician as Mr Balls.

Since this school opened in September 2009 it has maintained it's veil of silence and secrecy whilst pretending to be 'all inclusive and open'. If anything it has become ever more secretive and has failed to engage in dialogue with the other secondary schools in the area let alone parents and has populated Newbridge House with the children it has decided are malcontent's.

The sponsors of the school must be hidden away in a cave with Osama Bin Laden and Lord Lucan because they are conspicuous by their absence. They say nothing and they don't seem to do anything either so what is the point of having sponsors let alone educational?

At this time last year having educational as opposed to business sponsors was being lauded as a good thing. What a difference 12 months makes.
The hard truth is that Furness Academy Limited is a company first and a school second. All Academies are the same.
Mr Blackledge is the CEO of Furness Academy Limited as well as Principal of the school. Mrs Attwood is a director of the company and sponsor of the school.
Neither has any experience of running a company and yet Mr Balls saw fit to have them run Furness Academy Limited because Mr Balls has no business experience either.

I have no idea who the Simco and Kelly replacements are as their names have never been announced so I cannot comment on their business abilities but I figure they will be very similar to Mrs Attwood and Mr Blackledge... non existent.

The new plans have not been signed off by Mr Gove. So the deal that is still on the table is for a twin site Academy. Anyone can find this out for themselves by writing to the DCSF. Assuming Mr Gove finds the cash and signs off tomorrow on the single site school there is no way on earth that a new build will be ready to open in 2012 and yet Mr Blackledge and presumably the rest of the leadership team along with the County Council, who will be building and leasing the school to the Furness Academy company, carry on with the blind belief that it will happen.

Where the school goes from this point on is in the hands of people outside of Barrow. Much like the creation of the school itself it's outsiders who will decide what is going to happen which given the apathy that infects this town is probably a good thing. God help us if 'local' means borough and county councils given the power to run things.
These two bodies need disbanding as soon as possible as they are universally bad at everything they are charged with doing.

Where this site goes from this point on is in my hands. I have to decide whether to keep it going or close it down.

For me it has served the purposes I wanted for it when I bought the domain in 2009. I have de-constructed every single argument put forward by the pro Academy group prior to Balls signing off on the creation. I have exposed their lies and deceit and recorded it all here but it has come to no avail because all politics is is lies and deceit.
Politicians may be useless in many ways but they have power on their side so they simply move the goalposts, ignore the truth if it doesn't suit their purposes or embrace it when it does. If all else fails they simply make things up and lie through their teeth.
They are doing exactly the same thing now with wind turbines which stand still when electricity demand is high and turn when demand is low so are useless for generating power but still the political class is pouring billions of taxpayer pounds into them to keep the lies about climate being affected by CO2 going.

Still I digress which I am prone to do as regular readers will be well aware.

Question that has to be answered is this;

Should this blog remain active for another 12 months or has it now served its purpose?

I am aware that it is THE only outlet for staff and parent alike to actually talk about the school without being given an 'official warning' but it still takes time to moderate out the spam 'big ass dolls' comments that have started appearing recently.

Speaking personally having educated my youngest son outside of state education for a full year I am convinced that there is an awful lot wrong with state education, especially all the garbage introduced by the Blair/Brown years. A lot of it honestly is indoctrination but that is my opinion and I am acutely aware that state education is the only education available for a lot of people. State education should therefore be the best there is if the reason for its existence was really to give every child the best possible start in life.

If the Academy didn't happen I wouldn't have figured this out so that is the silver lining that the cloud that is the Academy brought to my family's life so in a bizarre way I am grateful to Enid, Anne, Moira and Ed.

However if there is enough people who think the site is performing a useful service then I am willing to continue with it for another 12 months.
Just let me know one way or another in the comments

Thank you.

Words Fail Me! Well nearly.

2010-07-20T15:13:34Z

Doug has once more demonstrated his inate ability to spout a lot without actually saying anything in the pages of the local paper.
]]> link

Last July, Thorncliffe, Parkview and Alfred Barrow schools had broken up for the last time.

But Barrow was left waiting to know if Furness Academy would open on schedule and replace them, due to a judicial review and the awaited signing of a funding agreement by the government.

In August the then Schools Secretary Ed Balls signed the contract and the academy was established on September 1.

Principal Douglas Blackledge said: "To begin with there was just this huge sense of relief that we got the opening, and we did open with a really good start.

"Our main aim in the first half-term was to get to half-term in a measured and productive manner and that there were no great catastrophes.

"I think we have to reflect on the really good progress that has taken place over the first year.

"Getting off to a good start was really important to us and we felt we did that."

The school is currently split over two sites, North Site and South Site.

But all the students will be at South Site in 2012 when the new build is complete.

Mr Blackledge said very early successes on the sports field helped to unite the students straight away.

He said: "The coming together of students from the three predecessor schools in sports fixtures showed us that the academy had a strength and capability as a collective of three schools that was greater than the three schools as individuals."

The principal said that was helpful as an early springboard. He said: "Overall the bringing together of three school cultures has been a fantastic success. People said it would never happen, but what it has demonstrated is that our children, our students, are much more flexible than maybe some of the adults who felt that it could never be."

The principal said great unity was also shown at the prefects' Christmas dinner and the recent leavers' ball.

Mr Blackledge was pleased with the determination the staff and students showed to deal with IT and power problems at North Site in the autumn term.

He said they showed they were solution-focused, one of the traits he wants the academy community to have. Students, staff and parents are encouraged to work to a set of core values, aiming for their personal best through respect, cooperation and responsibility.

Mr Blackledge said: "We are a large organisation in which everyone must cooperate with each other, in a respectful manner and where we must all take responsibility."

Mr Blackledge says progress in improving the quality of teaching and learning is a key area. (NO sh*t Sherlock! Sorry this is just a mind numbingly stupid statement to make)

He said: "We have worked hard during the course of the year to try to ensure that the students are getting the most interesting and engaging lessons that we can possibly provide for them.

"It is an ongoing process but we are working hard with staff training and development and effective quality assurance procedures to try to make sure that we give to our students the best quality of teaching."

Leadership areas have been expanded.

Four additional heads of house will be in place in September so there are four on each site.

The senior leadership team has also been expanded.

Helen Robinson joins the school in the new role of director of student engagement and standards.

Angela York also joins the school as director of science, maths and technology.

Neil Tippins has the new role of director of community engagement and enrichment.

The principal said working over two sites has presented challenges in terms of staffing and delivering responsibilities.

Mr Blackledge said students have really enjoyed meeting each other, learning together and making new friends.

He said: "There is always an outpouring at the end of it of: 'Wouldn't it be better if we could be together all of the time?'"

He said they will strive on for the next two years with renewed energy that they will be together in 2012.

Mr Blackledge said the uniform has been received very positively in the community and has a positive impact.

He said: "We set a standard with uniform that is non-negotiable." (What is it with this man's obsession with a black suit?)

Asked about discipline in the academy, the principal said: "It is a higher standard than might have been expected before in terms of their behaviour. I have taken a zero tolerance approach to the wearing of the uniform, to swearing and to violence and aggression."

Mr Blackledge said the academy is ensuring it is a place where people feel safe and comfortable to achieve their personal best without ridicule and where they can be good citizens for the future.

Attendance for the year was 91 per cent.

Mr Blackledge said it is lower than the national average and the academy is working hard to improve it.

The academy has an internal education welfare officer and the school said it is working to reach a small number of disengaged students. (The predecessor schools had numerous welfare officers)

Furness Academy is sponsored by Barrow Sixth Form College, Furness College and the University of Cumbria. (The latter is dying on its feet!)

The organisations are represented on the governing body and sub- committees of the academy.

The sponsors also share best practice with the academy.

In September the roll is due to fall to 1,557, including 248 Year Sevens.

By 2014 the academy is due to have 1,200 pupils.

Mr Blackledge said: "In year two we want to build on the success of year one. (No sh*t Sherlock!)

"We have to make further inroads in improving the quality of teaching and learning and the output in standards for students.

"We want to continue to improve the quality of our relationship with the wider community."

He also said the school wants the achievements of its students to be more widely understood so the town can have trust and confidence in the school.

Mr Blackledge said: "I am delighted with the success of year one. I feel that the academy has established itself as an effective provision for the young people but I view this only as the start of a very long journey. Myself, the rest of the senior leadership team, and all of the staff are very committed to working to deliver for this town an academy that in the fullness of time will be judged to be outstanding."

The GCSE target this summer is for 46 per cent of students to achieve five A* to C, including English and maths.

This was set by the government and the sponsors.

Mr Blackledge said: "They were thought to be hugely aspirant but they are targets we are committed to try to meet.

"The forecast grades for the students demonstrate that this could be possible."

Mr Blackledge said the merged raw data for the three predecessor schools was 38 per cent last year.