The Beccles Free School Battle

Jeremy Rowe,
Head of Sir John Leman High Beccles

This blog has already reported the situation in Beccles, Suffolk a small market town of 9000 with a successful secondary school Sir John Leman High School. The Seckford Foundation that run the independent Woodbridge School are proposing to open a free school in the town somewhat unsurprisingly on the site of the Middle School that is due to close.

Now this is precisely the kind of thing that Gove is trying to encourage. Independent schools coming in to run either free schools or academies. The DfE seemed so keen to approve the school that made a massive logistical error. Sir John Leman had already been promised the Beccles Middle Site to house the expanded numbers it will have from September when it begins to take Year 7 and 8 children for the first time. Then the DfE promised the same building to the Free School.

This prompted Sir John Leman's Head Jeremy Rowe to say:

"So where do I put my new intake of students? I have nowhere to put them without that building, which was promised to me two years ago. I may as well drop them off at the Department for Education and let them deal with it."

Jeremy Rowe however did not give up. He began to fight the proposal on all fronts. Talking to the media, arguing with Gove's "special advisor" Sam Freedman on Twitter basically doing everything he could to highlight the ridiculous situation.

This week he achieved a victory of sorts. The Seckford Foundation announced that the Free School would open at first at the site of Carlton Colville Primary School (which is also closing as part of the school reorganisation). It would also be half the original planned size. In 2014 it would then move to the Middle School site.

But Jeremy Rowe is fighting on. Determined to see the free school off altogether. He has announced on his twitter feed:

And this Tuesday looks to be the next stage of the battle with an open public consultation meeting at 7pm in Hungate Church Hall, Beccles. The consultation document from the Seckford foundation is available on their website.

The document makes interesting reading not least in the way it completely understates the impact of the free school on Sir John Leman High School. In fact it only mentions Sir John Leman in the consultation document once and that is only mentioning it vacating the Middle School site. Under impact on other schools the document says:

Impact on Existing Secondary Schools

The proposed School is likely to result in fewer students for existing secondary schools in Suffolk, with consequential funding implications

Both the proposed School and other secondary schools will have the potential to mutually benefit from sharing resources.

In reality there are real concerns about the sustainability of two secondary schools in Beccles. It may be that the impact is that Sir John Leman becomes unviable in the longer term. Or that the Free School does. The real question is can the town support two secondary schools? This is not even mentioned in the consultation.

The consultation document then goes on to make two interesting claims:

In the ways described in this document, the School will provide a first class education for eleven to sixteen year olds whose parents want the choice of a school with a more traditional curriculum and higher GCSE outcomes than offered by current providers. 

Consistent dissatisfaction with existing provision, and a strong demand for choice of schooling emerged from the Trust’s engagement with parents. (my emphasis)

So the Seckford Foundation are claiming a school that isn't even open yet will have higher GCSE outcomes. Of course if this happens it might just be a reflection of its admissions. It also claims "consistent dissatisfaction with existing provision" although it produces no evidence whatsoever for this statement other than anecdotal.

In fact the available evidence presents a different picture. The latest Ofsted inspection in October 2011 grades the school as Good and says:

Views of parents and carers

The large majority of the parents who responded are highly supportive of the school and what it offers. A typical comment was, 

‘All credit to Sir John Leman High School. We as parents are thoroughly delighted with our daughter’s education and pastoral care.’ 

A small minority of parents raised concerns regarding a range of issues including the extent to which the school values their suggestions and concerns, the school’s dealing with behaviour, the preparation of students for future life, the development of healthy lifestyles, helping parents and carers to support their child’s learning. Inspectors explored each of these issues, but agreed with the large majority of parents who completed the questionnaires and who were highly supportive of the school.

I think it is a shame that the Seckford Foundation are making these kind of dubious and unsubstantiated claims about a school they do not even name. Jeremy Rowe is right to fight this. Having placed tanks on their lawn the Seckford Foundation cannot expect the school to stand back. This is a fight that Seckford started and it is a shame they see the way for their new school to succeed is to attack Sir John Leman.

Suffolk Council Tax set to rise to pay for Police

Suffolk Police Authority
Chair Cllr Joanna Spicer

This year the Government have effectively forced Council Tax to be frozen for a second year by offering a "one off payment" to local authorities who freeze their Council Tax of 2.5%. So clearly it would make no sense whatsoever to put up Council Tax unless it was to be a somewhat higher rise. Almost every Council in the country - including Suffolk County Council - has taken this money. The notable exception to date is the Green run Brighton and Hove Council who have proposed a 3.5% increase in Council Tax and will forgo the 2.5% "one off payment". As a consequence they have been attacked especially by Conservatives and the press. In addition 7 labour and 3 Tory Councils have proposed various rises.

Today Eric Pickes, Conservative Communities Secretary showed just how unimpressed he was by this saying:

Communities Secretary
Eric Pickles MP

"A vote against the council tax freeze is a vote for punishing tax rises. It's essential in February and March, as town hall budgets are set, that councils sign up to the council tax freeze. Local taxpayers will remember that decision next time they cast their vote at the ballot box. Councillors have a moral duty to sign up to keep down the cost of living."

Here in Suffolk the Police Authority who set a chunk of the Council Tax we pay are going even further than Brighton and Hove Greens and proposing a 3.75% rise in Council Tax. This would mean that this year's £160.74 precept for a band D household would increase by £6.03.

The proposed rise to Council Tax will raise £1.55m but the Government grant the Authority would get if it did not increase the Council Tax is £1.25m so the extra is actually only some £300 000.

But Chief Constable Simon Ash defended the plan:

Simon Ash, Suffolk Chief
Constable

It's essentially a choice between a short-term option [freezing council tax] that stores up some problems, which means more cuts the following year, and an option [increasing council tax] which makes the long-term prospects easier to handle. 

The police authority commissioned a survey that showed that 73% of people were prepared to pay a 3% increase in their council tax. 

At the moment we've got 1,200 officers in the force and I think dropping much below that starts to become more difficult to police the county.

All this leaves Tory County Councillor and Police Authority Chair Joanna Spicer in a messy position. She is quoted today as saying:

Our role as an authority is to secure an efficient and effective policing service for Suffolk, which already has one of the lowest cost forces in the country 

We have agreed a preference to increase the council tax, but we do want to hear people's views on that over the next two or three weeks.

David Cameron described the plans by Brighton and Hove Council as "a huge mistake" and Joanna Spicer is clearly somewhat out on a limb within the Tory party on this issue.

But she may be right as I think that Chief Constable Ash has a point that accepting the one off payment is storing up problems for the future. Either way the Government are certainly putting their own local councillors in a very awkward position. Despite this rise it looks likely that 100 of the 1200 police officer posts in the County will be cut as well as 200 civilian posts out of 1000. And this is a County as Spicer rightly points out that already has one of the lowest cost police forces in the country.

Alison Wheeler appointed General Manager of Suffolk Libraries IPS

Alison Wheeler
General Manager, Suffolk Libraries IPS

Yesterday the founding members of the Interim Board of Suffolk Libraries IPS appointed Alison Wheeler as their new General Manager following a selection process restricted to current Suffolk Libraries staff.

Alison is currently Head of Service Development for information, advice and library services in the Adult and Community Services directorate at Suffolk County Council.

A Chartered Librarian, she previously worked for Suffolk libraries for over 28 years in a variety of different roles. Alison ran the East Midlands Library System from 1997 to 2001, and also set up a regional agency for libraries in the East of England. 

The press release says of her that:

She has been a principal architect of this new approach to delivering public library services, working with politicians and professional colleagues over the past year to design the model for the future.

Chairman of the Suffolk Libraries IPS Clive Fox said:

"The founder members are delighted to welcome Alison to this new and challenging role. She will be able to start working with the Board on detailed start-up plans very soon, and her knowledge and skills are needed for the many key tasks we have to tackle. Those include establishing the future professional team, building the partnerships with local communities, and ensuring that libraries continue to provide their current first class service to the public."

Alison's appointment follows earlier news of the departure from Suffolk County Council of senior staff member Guenever Pachent Service Director for Culture Information Inclusion & Learning. Following this news Alison's appointment was widely expected.

Without commenting on Alison personally it does seem that so many of the decisions surrounding the IPS will have been made before it is up and running that it is unclear what scope the regular board members will have to shape the service. The IPS has been billed as a way to allow communities to take decisions about the library service but decisions all seem to be being made by and in the image of Suffolk County Council.

The IPS is now headed by a Chairman and General Manager that both played a leading role during the very difficult library consultation period and supported the County Council's position.  The IPS I believe needs to develop some real independence from the County Council and I hope that in selecting the next interim Directors there will be more diversity of opinion and independence of action from the IPS.

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Thurston Consultation shows support for Two Tier and for Free School

The Thurston Consultation results have been published as part of the papers for the County Council's Cabinet meeting next week, you can download the full paper from the County Council website.

The consultation shows a majority in support of a move to two tier:

Yes 430= 53%
Maybe 133 = 17%
No 243= 30%

The support was most pronounced amongst primary school parents and less amongst current middle school parents which is perhaps not a surprise but it does show clear support amongst the people that will end up using the new system i.e. current primary school parents:

	Agree %	Disagree %	Not sure %
Badwell Ash CEVAP School	43%	43%	14%
Bardwell CEVCP School	57%	38%	5%
Barnham CEVCP School	47%	41%	13%
Barningham CEVCP School	50%	36%	14%
Cockfield CEVCP School	83%	6%	11%
Elmswell CP School	64%	29%	7%
Great Barton CEVCP School	60%	28%	13%
Honington CEVCP School	88%	8%	4%
Hopton CEVCP School	66%	24%	10%
Ixworth CEVCP School	46%	42%	12%
Norton CEVCP School	59%	30%	11%
Rattlesden CEVCP School	59%	32%	9%
Rougham CEVCP School	52%	36%	12%
Stanton CP School	61%	22%	17%
Thurston CEVCP School	34%	46%	19%
Walsham-le-Willows CEVCP School	94%	6%
Woolpit CP School	67%	23%	10%
Beyton Middle School	25%	67%	8%
Blackbourne CEVC Middle School	32%	49%	19%
Ixworth Middle School	24%	67%	9%
Thurston Community College	56%	32%	12%

NB. A respondent could be both a parent and a governor, or involved with more than one school. This means they could be counted more than once.

In terms of support for the Free School this worked out as 51% in favour and 49% against but support was very polarised:

Responses linked to	Yes	No
Beyton Middle Feeder Schools	41%	59%
Beyton Middle School	37%	63%
Blackbourne Middle Feeder Schools	56%	44%
Blackbourne Middle School	60%	40%
Ixworth Middle Feeder Schools	62%	38%
Ixworth Middle School	86%	14%

The strongest support was amongst current Ixworth Middle School parents, followed by their feeder primaries but notably less (but still a majority) of support at Blackbourne in Stanton.

Given the attempts of some to claim that the same issues applied at Thurston at St Louis Middle where the decision was overturned by the school's adjudicator I think that the County Council and Thurston partnership schools will take comfort from the last two questions on the consultation process:

Q5. Have the booklet, website and meetings given you enough information about these plans?

Yes 602 = 76%
No 187= 24%

Q6. Have you had enough time to let us know your views?

Yes 698 = 88% 

No 91= 12%

In addition the paper details that 1300 people attended consultation meetings which is a large number.


Suffolk County Council's cabinet will decide on 24th January if they will go ahead and publish the statutory notices to implement the Thurston plans and this now looks likely. It is possible that Blackbourne Middle (as the only voluntary school affected) could appeal the decision to the schools adjudicator but the other Middle Schools as County Schools do not have this power.

I expect the free school proposers will also be pleased with this outcome although they perhaps ought to note the less than stunning reception from the Beyton area.