Beccles Free School: The Carlton Colville Plan

If you have been following the Beccles Free School saga on my blog you will know that if the school does open in September it will not be based in Beccles at all but in Carlton Colville. Mark Bee, local Beccles councillor and Leader of Suffolk CC has already said:

Mr Bee added that he was surprised to see the initial bid given the go ahead and raised concerns about the plans to initially open in Carlton Colville, saying it was difficult to call it a ‘Beccles Free School’ if it is opened there.

Click on map to enlarge
See Google Map

As you can see from the map Carlton Colville certainly isn't in Beccles. It is a 7 mile (14 minute) journey. Whilst Carlton Colville is coalesced with Lowestoft it is a distinct community in its own right with a definite semi-rural feel. There has been quite a few new housing developments of late in Carlton Colville which is also the home of the East Anglia Transport Museum. Recently the parish council became a Town council in recognition of the growth of Carlton Colville as a place.

So to confirm the plans:

Beccles Middle School

• Beccles Middle School closes in July 2012
• Sir John Leman High School starts to take children in Years 7 and 8 in September 2012 initially these children will be taught on the existing Beccles Middle School site
• Beccles Free School opens in September 2012 on the former site of Carlton Colville Primary School with Years 7, 8 and 9
• In September 2014 Years 7 and 8 for Sir John Leman transfer to the main school site (as numbers reduce due to Pakefield High)
• In September 2014 Beccles Free School moves to the former Beccles Middle School site

Former Carlton Colville Primary School

Carlton Colville primary school has already moved to the former Middle School site and so the old primary school buildings are empty. If the free school was a primary school it could fairly easily move in and there would not be a huge problem but it is not. 

The free school is a secondary school and the building is going to need some significant alterations to accommodate the different needs of secondary school children - for example for science labs. This will cost probably quite a lot of money and then in two years time when the schools moves to the Middle School site these alterations will not only not be used but will have to be removed.

There is also the issue of the tiny sports field. I have a son who attends high school who is a huge sports fan and plays pretty much every sport. He would literally laugh at the size of the field. There is nothing wrong with it just that it is sized for small primary school children not high school children.

Sports Field

Local residents seem to have three main concerns. Firstly the Seckford Foundation appeared to try and appropriate the site without their knowledge or engagement with the local community, for example the Town Council. There were already moves afoot to use the site for community purposes. Secondly residents are concerned about traffic and thirdly about possible noise and disruption.

Narrow Road

These all seem perfectly legitimate concerns. When it was a primary school lots of the children would have been able to walk to school. As a High School serving Beccles (and not really Carlton Colville) almost all the children will arrive by bus or car. Much of the road infrastructure in this part of the town is still poor and was designed when Carlton was a smaller village. The road the primary school is on is particularly narrow.

I also understand some older residents were concerned that high school students might be a bit rowdy and disruptive compare to the younger primary children.

And I wonder if there will be any impact on nearby and newly built Pakefield High School to having another secondary school so close to it albeit for only tow years. 

And then there is the disruption to the education of the children when the school moves in two years time. Putting the issue of a free school completely to one side the proposals to open for two years in Carlton Colville.

So even if it is established that the Free School should be opened there are real issues over these plans. Why could the free school not just wait until 2014 to open and save the money and inconvenience? What is the big rush?

The expanded Carlton Colville does not have a great deal of community facilities and residents may feel that the former school could have a community use. And why should the local community put up with the inconvenience of the school operating when they receive no benefit from it. Seckford wouldn't even be paying to use the site.

Tomorrow the Town Council is holding a Public Meeting to consider the future of the Carlton Colville Primary School site. The Meeting will take place on Sunday 11 March 2012 at 2.00pm at Carlton Colville Community Centre, Hall Road.

Beccles Free School: Consultation Chair Rob Cawley to apply for Principal's job?

Rob Cawley

The Seckford Foundation recently advertised for a Principal and two Headteachers for its proposed new schools in Beccles and Saxmundham. Unsurprisingly the job of Principal requires:

Significant experience as a Headteacher (or possibly a Deputy Headteacher of a significant size school) with a sustained record of school improvement

However it is already too late for anyone currently employed as a Head or a Deputy to resign and start before September this year. In the application pack it says of the start date:

start date Sept 2012 or earlier for a suitable candidate who is available to support the development of the two schools. (my emphasis)

The thing is that it would be very unlikely that anyone would be available to start earlier as that would mean them not currently working as a teacher. However when questioned about this the Seckford Foundation appeared remarkably relaxed for an organisation about to open two schools with no senior staff member available to lead the process.

This led some to suggest that a current member of staff at Woodbridge School might be "lined up" for the job. However another possibility has emerged as there is someone currently not working as a Headteacher who might have just the experience that Seckford are looking for. 

Rob Cawley has been mentioned on this Blog before. After the Beccles Free school consultation meeting in Hungate on 27th January the EDP reported that:

"The meeting was led by independent adjudicator Rob Cawley, who was appointed by Cambridge Education, the team employed by the Department for Education to see if the bid is viable" (my emphasis)

It is clear that is is how he was introduced to the meeting from another eye witness account available on Wikisuffolk.

In fact Cambridge Education are project managers working for the Seckford Foundation but paid for by the DfE and and employed Rob Cawley, a former Suffolk headteacher who works for another consultancy Leading Schools to lead consultation meetings. Cambridge Education project managed the Norwich Free School.

Rob Cawley was until last year Executive Headteacher of both Deben and Orwell High Schools in Felixstowe. When the schools merged to form Felixstowe Academy, sponsored by AET, Cawley did not stay. The Evening Star reported that:

We would have been delighted if Mr Cawley would have accepted the post but he has chosen not to be part of the academy. This is a very private matter for Mr Cawley. It is his choice not to stay and I cannot discuss it.

It was widely understood at the time that Cawley did not want to work for an academy chain and since that time he has been working for educational consultancy Leading Schools as a Senior Associate.

Felixtowe is a town of around 30,000 is considerably larger than Beccles and what is curious is that during his time there Rob Cawley was advancing exactly the opposite policy that the Seckford Foundation are in Beccles. He was proposing that in a town three times the size that the two high schools were merged together to form "one school". 

In fact you can see two videos of Rob Cawley on Felixstowe TV talking with great passion about these plans and also re-assuring parents that the size of the proposed school was not an issue comparing it to Farlingaye High in Woodbridge and also explaining that a "school within a school" system would make it seem smaller for the children. 

Video from Felixstowe TV

Seckford have constantly stated the small size of their proposed schools as a major advantage and that the Ixworth Free School proposers have constantly complained that Thurston Community College will be "too big" despite operating almost exactly the same school within a school (House) system advanced by Cawley.

Video from Felixstowe TV

I asked Rob Cawley if he would rule out his application or comment on the contents of this post but he did not reply despite a number of requests. If Cawley does apply it will raise even further questions about the impartiality of the consultation process and I think questions will be asked about how aligned the visions of Cawley and Seckford are.

Seckford Foundation's last chance to do the right thing in Beccles

With Waveney MP Peter Aldous joining the long list of people opposing the Beccles Free School proposers the Seckford Foundation are in a dilemma. It could well be the case that the DfE have made it known that they intend to approve the bid come what may so Seckford just need to keep their heads down for a few more weeks and then see the school approved. On the other hand the DfE might decide at the last minute that this is politically too dangerous and refuse to sign the funding agreement leaving Seckford high and dry.

There is also a more local risk to Seckford in trying to press ahead. On Sunday in Carlton Colville there is a public meeting organised by the Town Council about the future of the primary school site there. It is well known that feelings in Carlton are running high about the failure of Seckford to consult them about the use of the primary school and legitimate concerns about traffic and noise from local residents. Seckford could well have a second Suffolk Town engaged in a battle with them following the meeting on Sunday.

That is not the only risk for Seckford as a judicial review into the consultation and the impact of the proposed free school on Sir John Leman and other schools now looks almost certain if the DfE approve the bid. Such a review would cause delay and given the concerns over the consultation and the likely impact at Sir John Leman there must be a strong likelihood that it might prevail. For the first time this could also see Seckford forced to use their own funds to pay legal costs.

For the Seckford Foundation time is really running out for them to be able to exit without lasting damage. If they announced their withdrawal today - citing the MPs report as the reason - then they would avoid another unnecessary conflict in Carlton Colville and look to be honouring the promise they made not to impose the school against the wishes of the Town.

If they fail to do this they run the risk of contaminating their own brand with people in Suffolk thinking twice about engagement with an organisation that does not appear to pay attention to the views of local communities outside of their Woodbridge home and makes promises it fails to keep. Seckford appear already to be falling into the trap of trying to unfairly label their opponents as "against choice and opportunity". They run the risk that even people who agree with them will be uneasy about criticism of local people from another part of the County.

But now is the last chance Seckford have to make the decision for themselves. Do they really want to bet the farm on the uncertainties of the DfE, local public opinion in Waveney and the Courts?

Waveney MP Peter Aldous Joins Opponents of the Beccles Free School

Peter Aldous, Waveney MP

I reported when Peter Aldous received the petition against the Beccles Free School that he intended to write to Lord Hill the Education Minister with his opinion on the school. I was present for a meeting he held with Sir Leman Head Jeremy Rowe and the local press and at the time Aldous had not decided what position to take. That evening Peter Aldous was present for Any Questions? and saw first hand the views of his constituents.

Aldous has decided to oppose the free school. I am impressed with the letter that Aldous has sent (see below) He has clearly listened and understands the situation well and with a good level of detail. It argues the case that the school should not be approved well. He concludes:

Having considered all relevant factors, whilst supportive of the principle of free schools it is my conclusion that the Department for Education should not enter a funding agreement with the Seckford Foundation. 

 This was my initial view back in October and it has been reinforced by subsequent events and the representations that have been made to me. 

In my opinion, taking into account the provisions of Section 9 of the Academies Act 2010 the Free School would have a significant negative impact on the existing educational institutions in the Waveney area, in particular the Sir John Leman High School. In addition based on the feedback that I have received, there is limited public demand for the Free School and after a period of significant change in the organisation of schools in the Waveney area I believe that there should now be period of consolidation to ensure that the changes that have been made can be embedded and have every opportunity of achieving their objectives. 

Peter Aldous goes on to call for a quick decision:

I do believe that a decision should be made promptly, as the continued uncertainty as to the nature of the high school education that will be available in Beccles from this autumn is unsettling and unhelpful. 

With both the local MP and Mark Bee, local councillor and Suffolk County Council Leader now unequivocally opposed to the free school the Seckford Foundation really ought to do the decent thing and announce their withdrawal of the bid. This would provide that certainty now and perhaps go some way to win back the people of Waveney.

The full text of the letter is available below, you can see the letter and appendices on Wikisuffolk
Beccles Free School - Jonathan Hill

Aldeburgh Library Manager quits due to disagreements with Clive Fox, Suffolk Libraries IPS Chair

Aldeburgh Library

As reported on Wordblog the Aldeburgh Library Manager has resigned due to disagreements with the strategy of Suffolk County Council and the local library steering group. The Aldeburgh steering group is chaired by Clive Fox who was recently appointed the first Chairman of Suffolk's Libraries IPS.

In a notice left in the library Iain Rousham says "I deplore the way in which SCC has divested itself of drect responsibility for the running of the libraries:"

The letter gives a rare glimpse of the personal damage caused during the library restructuring and the loss of valuable and respected staff.

Rousham's comments to Wordblog that:

"Judy Terry, like a drowning woman, clutched at Clive Fox as a man who could deliver her plan"

This is embarrassing to both Suffolk County Council and the IPS and it appears Fox attempted to present Rousham's departure as a "retirement" when it clearly was not.

Clive Fox

When Clive Fox was appointed Chair of the IPS the choice raised eyebrows across the County. I wrote that I thought:

Clive Fox will have an uphill struggle to get credibility amongst local library groups. When Suffolk County Council's scrutiny committee met I personally heard him describe library campaigners as "rent a mob". It looks likely that he will now be sat next to at least some of these people in Board Meetings....

Wordblog published a post entitled "The Strange choice of Chairman for Suffolk Libraries co-operative"

I am a little surprised that he appears to have failed to get that credibility even in his home town and with his own Library Manager. The IPS faces an uphill struggle to convince weary staff that it will act in their interests. The fact that the Chairman has not been able to do this in his home town is a cause for concern.

So far the IPS has failed to put sufficient distance between itself and the County Council. Only in the last few weeks the IPS Chair's submission to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee inquiry on libraries is very much in the image of Suffolk County Council's view.

I understand that the County Council are having difficulties getting anyone to agree to work at Aldeburgh and as Wordblog reported neither Fox nor anyone from Aldeburgh was present at a meeting of pilot libraries in Bury St Edmunds earlier this week.

To my mind the appointment of Fox as Chairman is looking more and more like a mistake and it will be interesting to see if he survives this early embarrassing incident.

Revealed: Beccles Free School Consultation failed to record public views and was paid for by DfE

More information has emerged about the Beccles Free School consultation conduced by Cambridge Education. After a considerable amount of prompting Cambridge Education have admitted that they failed to make notes of verbal comments at their consultation meetings. In an email exchange sent to this Blog they state:

I can confirm that the team did not make contemporaneous notes of verbal contributions. They have provided an overall summary of the views from the drop-in events within a separate section of the report to the Secretary of State.

And in a further twist it emerged that the consultation and recruitment exercises are being paid for not by the Seckford Foundation who are proposing the schools but out of public funds provided direct by the DfE:

Cambridge Education has no business relationship with the Seckford Foundation. We are engaged by the DfE to provide additional capacity and support during the feasibility study. In this particular case that has also included supporting the administration of the Principal recruitment process.

So the consultation exercise that so many have been unhappy with failed to even note down the views of the people actually paying for it.

Cambridge Education have a clear interest in the Beccles Free School proposal going ahead as are likely to continue to get more work as project managers. They can hardly be relied upon to create an impartial "summary" of public views.

So far this does not appear to have cost the Seckford Foundation anything other than some of their time and at this stage it would not amaze me if they attempted to claim money for that from the DfE. Public money has paid for the consultation, the recruitment of a Principal and two Heads and will pay for their salaries.

But despite being funded by the public neither Seckford nor Cambridge Education have responded in any kind of an accountable way to legitimate questions and requests for information. Extracting the information above was like getting blood out of a stone and required local residents to keep going despite having their emails ignored or one line answers provided.

Once the school is setup it will have to respond to freedom of information requests like any public body but during this start up phase despite the public funding it does not.

Indeed the actual consultation report itself does not have to be made public and so far the Seckford Foundation have failed to answer emails asking if they will publish the document. This report is what the DfE will use to make the decision and unless it is made public a decision could easily be made using flawed information.

Free School Consultations. Like letting property developers carry out their own planning inquiry

Carlton Colville News and Cards, Strange choice

 for a school consultation meeting

My previous blog post detailed allegations made on Twitter about an incident at one of the Beccles Free School Consultation meetings. The suggestion was that a "member of the anti-academies alliance reduced staff working for the free school to tears".

Having been supplied with more information by the DfE and spoken to some of the people who were present I have managed to work out a bit more about what seems to have happened.

• The incident took place at the Carlton Colville consultation meeting that regular readers of my blog may remember took place, bizarrely, at a newsagents early in the morning
• The person concerned is not a member of the anti-academies alliance and in fact had never heard of the organisation. He is a member of the Lowestoft Coalition Against the Cuts, an organisation of trade unions and left wing groups opposing coalition cuts
• I have met this person myself during last year's library demonstrations and I do not think that he is intimidating
• The person concerned was outside the consultation for most of the time asking people to sign a petition which a good number of people did he went in to speak to the staff at the end of the meeting asking if they would distribute his leaflet at the next meeting. They declined and promised to get someone from the people running the consultation - Cambridge Education - to call him back. He left his name and phone number but did not receive a call
• I understand a number of Carlton Colville residents came to the consultation to object to the additional traffic the temporary location of the school would cause and some elderly residents were concerned that the secondary children might be noisy or even perhaps cause some trouble.

I get the impression that the consultation staff had already had a hard time when this had happened and indeed other people were present and objecting.

I think part of the problem here is that in previous meetings a mis-leading impression had been given to people that Cambridge Education were impartial and appointed by the Department for Education. The EDP reported at a consultation in Beccles that:

Rob Cawley

"The meeting was led by independent adjudicator Rob Cawley, who was appointed by Cambridge Education, the team employed by the Department for Education to see if the bid is viable"

In fact Cambridge Education are project managers working for the Seckford Foundation and employed Rob Cawley, a former Suffolk headteacher who works for another consultancy Leading Schools to lead consultation meetings. Cambridge Education project managed the Norwich Free School.

The Academies Act which was rushed through parliament requires proposers to consult such persons as the person thinks appropriate. There are two obvious serious problems with this approach. Firstly it does not specify who should be consulted and secondly the consultation is carried out by the proposers who have a clear vested interest in the outcome.

It is like allowing a property developer to carry out their own planning inquiry. However fair it actually is nobody will ever believe it was.

I have copies of several emails where Cambridge Education are asked and fail to provide information about the expressions of interest and consultation meetings. It is still far from clear that these meetings were adequately minuted. Verbal comments do not appear to have been recorded contemporaneously.

Likewise some question the petition raised by Sir John Leman High school and again they are hardly impartial. Using opposing data collected by people on either side of an argument is not the best way to make decisions. Update: the petition petition organisers have asked me to point out that the petition was started by a group of local people unhappy with the consultation and not Leman School. The School did go on to promote the petition and collect signatures

In my view what should happen is that the expressions of interest and consultations for all free school applications should be carried out by a genuinely independent organisation. This would allow the DfE to see the true picture of local demand and views and allow them to make a fair and objective judgement on the proposal. The consultation meetings could then not only be conducted fairly but be seen to be fair. This is just as important.

The current process is asking for this kind of problem to happen. If the staff employed by Cambridge Education ended up feeling got at and irritated that morning in Carlton Colville it says more about the the flawed process than the behaviour of either side. I hope that rather than continuing a "he said", "she said" argument about this the DfE can seriously consider a change to the process.

Doing so would be in everyone's best interests and would ensure only the best quality applications get approved and poor quality applications rejected before they cause real problems on the ground.

Beccles, the Big Society and a Free School

See the the next blog post Free School Consultations: Like Letting Property Developers carry out their own planning inquiry

The North Suffolk market town of Beccles is not exactly where you would expect a battle with the Coalition Government's education policy to play out but that is what has happened. With some 9000 inhabitants it has a high school called "Sir John Leman High" named after a local tradesman who went on to become Lord Mayor of London some 100 miles South of Beccles.

Not exactly a politically radical part of the Country but with a strong local sense of identity that you typically find in this kind of remote rural area. People here are likely to be more loyal to town than party.

Suffolk County Council's Conservative Leader Mark Bee comes from Beccles and is proud of being once the Mayor of the Town Council here before going on to Lead first the local Waveney District and then County Council.

Beccles Lido

Back in November 2011 the people of Beccles actually won the Prime Minister's Big Society award due the community spirit and effort they had demonstrated when saving the Beccles Lido. 

David Cameron remarked:

Beccles Lido shows the great things that can happen when the power of a community is unleashed. 

Congratulations to Beccles Lido Limited and all the many volunteers and local businesses who decided to take action and play a part in the pool’s future. Through your passion, determination and great community spirit, you have shown what the Big Society is all about and created not just a wonderful new lido that the town can come together and enjoy, but a stronger community too.

That strong community spirit is evident once again in Beccles but this time the Coalition Government do not seem so impressed. The organiser of the Say No to Beccles Free School petition remarked earlier on Twitter:

This followed an at times heated exchange on Twitter earlier today between local residents and one of Gove's political advisors Sam Freedman who alleged supporters of the free school had been "intimidated": (You can see the full exchange here on the Wikisuffolk website)

When pushed on this Freedman made a specific allegation that someone from the Anti-Academies Alliance had "reduced someone from the free school to tears" at a public meeting:

Local Beccles residents and the Anti-Academies Alliance denied this had happened. Sam Freedman has been sent evidence of this alleged incident which he is sending me. To be clear I am not suggesting that Freedman has made this allegation up, it has clearly been reported to him by someone else. Update: I have now been provided with details of this incident and have looked into it and posted a new blog post with what I have found

Opposition to the free school in Beccles has been led by local parents and groups such as the Anti-Academies Alliance have not been actively involved. Indeed Sir John Leman School itself is an academy.

Freedman then went on incredibly to suggest that the clear audience reaction at the Beccles Any Questions? could not be relied on as the audience was "chosen by the Headteacher":

This seems quite bizarre. There were posters all over Beccles about Any Questions and anyone could get a ticket by contacting the school. In addition the BBC require certain numbers of tickets to be give to local political parties. The Tory MP was present. Several Tory Councillors were present. The real issue for the DfE and the Government is that they, as well as many other Tory supporters were the ones clapping the Head of Sir John Leman. Attempts to blame this on groups like the "anti-academies alliance" and suggesting intimidation and bias just will not work.

As the New Statesman points out this weekend:

The Conservatives have a fine record of portraying themselves as the party of common sense, as if they are not even involved in "politics" at all. They have also, traditionally, been skilled at defaming their rivals in order to scare floating voters. But that was when the enemies were identifiable as something, or someone, different from the middle-income conservatively minded masses. Now they are using those same labels to discredit pillars of the establishment - the very people those conservative-minded masses respect - and even the previously untouchable nurses are in the firing line

This is what the DfE and the Seckford Foundation are doing. In attacking Beccles and its residents Conservatives are basically launching an attack on themselves.

See the the next blog post Free School Consultations: Like Letting Property Developers carry out their own planning inquiry