Dead Men Village Launch in Stradbroke Library

Richard Pierce
Photo by kind permission of Near the Coast

Last night in the Courthouse, Stradbroke the home of Stradbroke Library local author Richard Pierce held his village book launch of his novel Dead Men.

Richard began by stressing that Stradbroke Library and many others are still not completely "saved" and talking about the importance of public libraries nationally.

Jack Stevens from the band Cathedrals and Cars performed and then Richard read an extract from his book.

The event really showed what a success the Courthouse building could be if used regularly for this kind of an event. It was just the right size and there was quite a bit of talk amongst those present about the plans for the building.

I have made a short video where you can hear one of Jack's songs and Richard reading from his book:

Dead Men is a work of fiction based on the story of the Antarctic explorer Scott. Commenting on the book the British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes said:

An expertly-told story that captures the detail and spirit of Antarctic exploration, then and now. Not only a compelling novel, but an excellent tribute to Scott and his men." 

You can see some photos that I took at the event below, there are also some more over on Near the Coast

You can buy Dead Men from all good bookstores including Diss Publishing and online from Amazon there is also a Kindle Edition.

Free School FOI Shorts: Felixstowe to have two schools again?

Over the last few years there has been a big push in Felixstowe to create a single secondary school. Currently the two previous schools Deben and Orwell have merged into Felixstowe Academy but are still operating across two sites. This will change when the building work at the old Orwell site is complete leaving the Deben site free.

Millions of pounds of public money have been plugged into this project which is designed to improve standards by consolidating resources together and the subsequent economies of scale. You can see a video below of the former Heads of Deben and Orwell - explaining the benefits of the one school:

   

Video from Felixstowe TV

So the Deben High School site will soon be vacant and you guessed it, someone wants to turn into into a Free School....this is revealed in a list of Suffolk Free Schools hidden away in an email message that was part of the FOI response:

Free schools:

Stour Valley—opened 2011, currently Y7,8 and 9 on Clare middle site Brandon—expected to open 2012, sponsored by English International Schools on Breckland Middle site
Saxmundham—expected to open 2012, sponsored by Seckford Foundation on Sax Middle site
Beccles expected to open 2012, sponsored by Seckford Foundation on Carlton Colville
primary site for 2 years them moving to Beccles middle in 2014
Stoke by Nayland—application being made for 2013, sponsored by Seckford on SbN Middle site
lxworth—application being made for either 2013 or 2014
Maharesi - application being made for a Rendlesham for 2013 Felixstowe—tentative on Deben site sometime after it is vacated

Seems crazy spending millions of pounds to create a single site school and then millions of pounds more to recreate two schools which is exactly what there was until recently. Only thing is now one of the sites at least is bound to be half empty. If it goes ahead it will be a triumph of ideology against pragmatism.

I am not certain yet who is behind this bid but I am looking into it and will blog when I know more. Meanwhile I have updated the Suffolk Free Schools Page with Felixstowe in the "rumours" category.

Free School FOI Shorts: County Council Impact Assessment for the DfE

Freedom of Information requests give an interesting insight into how local government works and what you find is by no means all bad. In fact I have been impressed by much of what I have read.

In early November 2011the DfE visited Suffolk for a meeting about free schools. This was the Agenda:

1. Free school activity in Suffolk
o 2011 open - Stour Valley • Home to school transporto 2012 round applicants: Stoke by Nayland, Diamond House School (Gemstones) - update o 2013(?) Ixworth/Stanton

2. Approved 2012 projects
o Brecklands o Beccles
• Local concerns
• Site options o Saxmundham
• Local concerns 

The County Council prepared an Impact Assessment for this meeting which is shown below:

Beccles and Saxmundham Free Schools Impact Assessment by Suffolk CC

Suffolk Free Schools: No choice without transport

In a rural area transport to school is a big issue. In many secondary schools in Suffolk most of the children arrive by bus from outlying areas. In most cases these buses are provided by the County Council free of charge.

The County Council has a well organised transport plan with the idea that schools have catchment areas essential to both organising the transport and deciding when a parent should pay for that transport rather than it being provided free of charge.

Free schools and to a lesser extent convertor academies are having quite an impact on this with Stour Valley Community School. I wrote quite an extensive blog post about this called Free School, Free Travel detailing how the County Council are continuing to pay for children to travel to the new Stour Valley Community School when they would not normally do this under the same circumstances elsewhere in the county.

In fact the County Council are worried that free schools will cause escalating home to school travel costs. Graham Newman, Education Portfolio holder states:

On transport, there is a threat that should we end up having to offer transport to the nearest school for those living over three miles, (this is a policy a number of authorities are now starting to operate, irrespective of whether it thwarts choice—it is simply a way of limiting the spiralling costs of home-to-school transport) there is a slighter greater number for whom that location is the Middle School building as opposed to SJL, reflecting the strong bias to the east of the town for the traditional catchment area (eg Worlingham) However, at the moment, SCC has been meeting costs in some areas of contention, eg around Stour Valley (Clare) vs the Haverhill academies in order to facilitate choice.

In the Thurston area there are concerns that the County Council will not pay for children from the North of the County to attend Thurston Community College (as they do now) but they will have to attend the nearer free school - or pay (if the parents can afford to) for transport.

So despite all the rhetoric about choice some parents are not likely to get any choice at all and might be forced to send their children to an unsuitable school they do not want. Simon White, Education Director says:

I also have some concerns that the Seckford schools are overtly saying they will only have an "academic" curriculum with a comprehensive intake. Could it possibly be lawful to say that if a school has a restricted curriculum offer they will be treated like a faith school? If so, are there criteria we could use?

Obviously school transport is more generous for poorer families but also more important in the choices they make. Without stereotyping it is possible that there will be occasions where the parent may feel a Seckford Free School will not meet their child's needs, but cannot afford to make that choice. Any clever thoughts?

I am worried that we are taking the saving up at the same time - I think Graham could spend the transport budget several times over if we let him.

So the political desire to facilitate choice (well if you chose a free school at any rate) is pitched against cold hard economic reality. Who is going to pay for the choice? As Simon White says like any politician Graham Newman could probably spend the budget many times over offering choice to all.

I think if I were a parent say in Stanton and was looking forward to sending my child to the outstanding Thurston Community College and was told I now had to pay (assuming the County even provide a bus at all) or that I had to send my children to an unproven free school with a narrow curriculum I would not be happy.

The Free school group want Suffolk to provide free travel for all and pay for parents to go to either Ixworth or Thurston. But can the County afford this and if it can is it fair? Nobody pays for my choice to send my child to a school out of catchment. If the whole County moves to a "nearest school" policy to save money then in areas (like where I am) where the catchment policy is working fine people could lose out.

There is a real concern to me that in a mad rush for an ideological and seemingly "cheap" (because the buildings are "free") free schools that  really important practical issues are overlooked or swept under the carpet. The cheerleaders of "choice" could well be defeated not by ideology but by something as boring - but important - as transport.

This is the final part of the series revelations from the Freedom of Information request on free schools - there will be a few more "free school FOI shorts" and over the weekend a few comment pieces on what the FOI shows. The full FOI will also be published on the Wikisuffolk site.

Free School FOI Shorts: Cllr Spicer's promise of locality funds to Ixworth questioned

Back in November I blogged about Cllr Spicer offering what appeared to be £1000 of her County Council locality funds to the Ixworth Free School proposers. She later confirmed to me that it was locality money she was promising.

I did not think this was really a proper use of locality funding and it appears that Jane Storey who is the Portfolio Holder for finance agrees with me as this email shows:

From: Jane Storey
Sent: 31 October 2011 10:45
To: Graham Newman
Subject: A M Proposed Free School in the lxworth and Stantion area Attachments 

Graham 

I don't have a major problem with Joanna supporting the Free School - but I note from the attached letter that she has pledged £1000 in support. I assume that this is from her locality budget and not personally. I am not sure that this is in the spirit of Locality Funding and I find it rather a strange use of funds. 

Jane Storey
Councillor for Thedwastre North

What was also interesting is that Spicer forwarded my request for a comment to Free School spokesperson Stephen Larder who replied back to her:

From: Stephen Larder
To: Joanna Spicer; Graham Newman
Subject: RE: lxworth Free School

Joanna

Whatever you say he will turn into a blog. Lot's of free school progress which I suspect is why they are busy trying to spoil.

Will call you and give you a proper update. Stephen

From: Joanna.Spicer
To: stephenlarder; Graham.Newrnan
Date: Sun, 20 Nov 2011 19:04:13 +0000
Subject: FW: Ixworth Free School 

need to answer this in next few days; I am minded to just reply a short note to the effect that I have not received a formal application and therefore no locality budget grant has been paid.

From: James Hargrave
To: Joanna Spicer
...
You will note the letter claims you have pledged £1000 towards the start up costs for this project and I wanted to ask you if this money is from your own resources or sourced from public funds (such as locality budgets).
Best wishes

James Hargrave
http://blog.hargrave.org.uk

Not sure why me turning the fact the Joanna Spicer has promised £1000 of her locality money to the Ixworth Free School project into a blog is likely to "spoil" the free school project. If that is the case perhaps she should not have made this promise. I am a blogger so turning things into blogs is what I do!

In any event she doesn't seem to have actually asked the County Council to pay the money as her locality budgets statement makes clear:

Click to enlarge, Source Suffolk County Council

Maybe with Seckford on board they don't need the money now or perhaps she thought better of it. Hopefully the attempts to obtain funds for the free school project from parish councils will also have stopped.

It's worth remembering Rachel Gooch's tweet about how far £1000 could of for one of the primary schools in her division. I note Spicer has only actually given £175 to education.

My response to Graham Watson's Letter: Our Children, Our Choice

Graham Watson, Director of the Seckford Foundation wrote a letter to me yesterday (that you can see under my reply below).  This is my reply:

Dear Mr Watson 

As you are "monitoring my blog" and "do not intend to engage in further correspondence" I have decided to reply to your email on my Blog so I can be sure that you can see it. 

Many thanks for your reply to my recent email about Margaret Read. I am somewhat surprised that you are not more concerned that someone you do not know is emailing local schools and the County Council and circulating information about events that you are organising. This is at least giving the impression of a connection to The Seckford Foundation. 

As for not "engaging in further correspondence" you have ignored almost all the correspondence I have sent - with the exception of the request for a comment on the story I published about Beccles Free School Proposer Tony Callaghan - where you moved very swiftly to distance yourself from Mr Callaghan. So the Seckford Foundation can and do respond to correspondence where your own interests are clearly under threat. 

Which brings us to the nub of the matter. Thankfully I studied Latin at school so understood your suggestion that I have no locus standi in this issue. As you know locus standi is a legal term meaning "standing". 

Standing or locus standi from the Wikipedia Article 

I can only imagine that who might have legal standing is an issue on the mind of the Foundation at the moment. In any case I think you are probably mistaken as the threat to the North Suffolk Skills Centre could directly impact my own children and our local schools in Stradbroke.

Such a suggestion I think shows where the Seckford Foundation completely mis-understand their involvement in state education. The thing is that everyone has standing when it comes to state education. Parents, children, members of the community - everybody. We all pay for it and the socialisation of children is a societal activity that we all have a clear interest in - it takes a a village to raise a child. 

If you do become involved in state education I think you will find an incredible number of people will expect you to be accountable to them. I doubt they will appreciate being told that they don't fit a legal definition for having an interest so you do not intend to correspond with them! 

I think the Seckford Foundation would command more respect if it was prepared to stand up and be counted. Rather than hiding behind personal assistants and ignoring emails you could choose to engage with people and answer their questions. They might not agree with you but they would certainly have more respect for you if you did. 

Independent schools have a great deal of experience of marketing and public relations but this approach is unlikely to be as successful in the state sector. People opposing what you are doing is part of the cut and thrust of public life. It is a reminder that we live in a democracy where the will of the people is what counts ultimately - our children, our choice.

Yours sincerely 

James Hargrave
Blogger, taxpayer, parent, school governor, parish councillor, Suffolk resident, journalist

Links related to this article:

My original article about Stoke by Nayland Free School
Report by Wordblog of the "monitoring" by Seckford
Blog post "Seckford Foundation if you can't win the argument intimidate your opponents"
Ipswich Spy "Threatening Bloggers is never a good idea"

This letter is in response to:

Dear Mr Hargrave 

We do not know Margaret Read or what, if any, interest group she represents. She may be, like you, someone who has no locus standi beyond having an interest in the subject of free schools. Please note that we do not intend to engage in any further correspondence with you but will continue to monitor your blog in case you publish any defamatory comments in the future. 

Should we be approved to pre opening stage you will have an opportunity to raise any points you wish as part of any public consultation process. 

Yours sincerely 

Graham Watson

Stoke by Nayland Free School: 'kick up the backside' for coasting neighbouring schools with inexcusable poor performance.

As you may have read on this Blog free school proposers have been insistent that existing schools should distribute their promotional material. As you may recall the Thurston pyramid schools refused to do this but some kind of an agreement was brokered by the County Council in the Stoke by Nayland area that has meant that schools there have agreed to do this.

A person called Margaret Read recently emailed a selection of local schools with an invitation for parents to attend an event organised by the Seckford Foundation at Stoke by Nayland Gold Club. There was a flyer attached with the Seckford Logo and their catch phrase Your child, your choice.

These emails were sent from a personal Yahoo mail account and copied to Porfolio Holder for Education Graham Newman, apparently in an attempt to make sure the schools did as they were told. Read even asks the schools to confirm they have sent the messages out.

Margaret Read then goes on to email Graham Newman. She says:

We are fully aware of this tiny group called COMPASS and the political characters involved in its creation and running. Overall, COMPASS' influence has been pathetic and its not worth giving it any credibility. We are fully aware that you are doing an excellent but extremely difficult job in these testing times. Quintessentially, your heart is in the right place when it comes to the education of the children of Suffolk and without any doubt, we fully appreciate all the help that you have provided to facilitate the possibility of a choice of local rural high school at SbN for generations to come. As you know, Suffolk secondary school performance overall is poor, but I am confident that your very brave changes will have a huge positive impact in the next few years.

The demand for SbN High is truly there although there may have been issues in which parents may have not been fully aware due to alleged certain awkward circumstances with existing schools. But please continue to provide all necessary assistance to the Seckford Foundation in order that this application is made to the DfE. I am sure SbN Free School will be one of highest performing schools in Suffolk and the gem of the Seckford Foundation Freeschools. SbN Freeschool will also help to 'kick up the backside' coasting neighbouring schools with inexcusable poor performance.

I'm sorry to copy you into these emails but its hoped that by doing so will persuade these Gt Cornard pyramid headteachers to send out the information via parentmail so that parents can make an informed decision rather than being kept in the dark.
Take care, keep up the good work & thank you so much

The COMPASS group she refers so disparagingly to are another parent group but they oppose the free school. They recently produced an excellent response to the DfE on the free school proposal and helped in the campaign that saw the original free school bid from Stoke by Nayland rejected.

Ms Read doesn't mince her words about local secondary schools suggesting the free school will "help to 'kick up the backside' coasting neighbouring schools with inexcusable poor performance". Strangely this was not mentioned in her email to local schools asking them to distribute the letter.

As the Seckford Foundation are the proposers of the Stoke by Nayland School I asked them for a comment about Ms Read's opinions as stated in the letter. Graham Watson, Director of the Seckford Foundation send this curious response:

Graham Watson

Dear Mr Hargrave 

We do not know Margaret Read or what, if any, interest group she represents. She may be, like you, someone who has no locus standi beyond having an interest in the subject of free schools. Please note that we do not intend to engage in any further correspondence with you but will continue to monitor your blog in case you publish any defamatory comments in the future.

Should we be approved to pre opening stage you will have an opportunity to raise any points you wish as part of any public consultation process.

Yours sincerely

Graham Watson

So according to Graham Watson the Seckford Foundation know nothing of Ms Read. They appear strangely unconcerned that she has been corresponding with the Heads of local schools promoting an event they organised and sending a flyer with their logo and contact details on.

Cllr Graham Newman however clearly does know who she is and replies:

Thanks for your continued support—better coming from me than you.

And also please disregard the comment made by a COMPASS member at the Stoke by Nayland Golf Club meeting regarding my view of the proposal. It is not true, and I've told her that face to face. They will refer you to a SCC letter of August 2010 in which the "sufficiency" statement was made, although of course "sufficiency" can stifle, and does not necessarily facilitate "choice"!

Kind regards

Graham N

I did email Margaret Read at the weekend asking for a comment on her email message but when I tried to email her again today the email address appeared to have been deleted....

This is all very strange. But in any case I can now welcome the Seckford Foundation who are now "monitoring" my Blog! Seckford are very welcome to join in the discussion by using the "comments" feature below if they would like to.

I have now published a response to Graham Watson's letter "our children, our choice"

Tomorrow I look at the thorny issue of school transport, the real enabler of  choice in rural areas - look out for "free school shorts" on my Blog

Shona Bendix takes over as Chair of Suffolk Libraries IPS

Shona Bendix, Chair of Suffolk Libraries IPS

Shona Bendix has taken over as Chairman of Suffolk Libraries IPS today as Clive Fox the inaugural Chairman stood down.

Shona is the Chief Executive of SALC (Suffolk Association of Local Councils) and was on of the three initial board members.

The Ipswich Star quote her as saying:

The people I’m working with in the Industrial and Providence Society (IPS) and library service share a very strong and very clear aim – to do what’s best for the future of the service.
This fundamental principle is what’s driving all of us to do what we can to make sure our much-loved libraries are able to flourish and continue to be well-used for decades to come. I’m very much looking forward to working in partnership with the board, library groups and the public to turn those ambitions into reality.

I met Shona when she and other Board members visited Stradbroke library recently and I think that she will make a good Chair of the IPS and I look forward to working with her as part of the Stradbroke Group.

Free School FOI Shorts: Parents "whooped" into support for Free School by MP on back of anger at middle schools closing

It has been clear throughout the story of free schools in Suffolk that the proposals to set up completely new 11-16 free schools have been positioned to parents as "saving middle schools". This is because there is much support for saving the middle schools but not that much for new secondary schools.

The email below was sent by Suffolk County Council Assistant Director Sally Rundell reporting on the consultation meeting at Ixworth Middle School. She reports of the free school proposal presented by Matthew Hancock MP that "parents were whooped into this on the back of their anger re the middle school closing not sure they actually realised that this was still going to be the move to the two tier":

From: Sally Rundell
Sent: 14 November 2011 10:40   

To: Simon White; Phil Whiffing 

Subject: Bury/Ixworth meeting

I think safe to say- Challenging!

Inevitably it was the middle school meetings that were going to be tough- Both staff and parent meeting highly charged About 200 parents 

Matthew Hancock positioned his Free School Proposal on the back of the consultation meeting- to which Phil and I were asked to stay on

My view is that parents were whooped into this on the back of their anger re the middle school closing not sure they actually realised that this was still going to be the move to the two tier.

Give you an update on the phone later today

Sally Rundell Assistant Director Learning and Improvement

Suffolk Free Schools: County Council changed response to DfE for "political" reasons

Suffolk County Council were asked by the DfE to give their views of the proposed Suffolk Free Schools. A thorough response was drafted by County Council officers based on factual information. You can see a copy of this below:

Draft Submission by Suffolk CC to DfE re Free Schools

However this letter was never sent. The reason for this is, according to County Council Officer Simon White that "Graham [Newman] has had a few "difficult" political discussions about Beccles, and wants us to recast the letter in more neutral terms" so the letter was, presumably redrafted and sent but I do not have a copy as I think it missed the "deadline" for my FOI. You can see Simon White's email in full:

From: Simon White
Sent: 21 February 2012 09:29
To: Philip Houghton
Cc: Phil Whiffing
Subject: Letter to DfE re Free Schools

Just talked to Graham about the draft. I had redone it to make our views clearer (I thought). However Graham has had a few "difficult" political discussions about Beccles, and wants us to recast the letter in more neutral terms - just providing information about the pupil numbers, the likely range of impact on neighbouring schools, and the current performance of those schools. This makes for a shorter letter and with the same info and length on each proposal. This is essentially "answering" the DfEs narrow question, not saying we support or oppose, and leaving them to make the inferences. Could you have a go at drafting this today? Thanks. My now obsolete additions attached.

This is a shame as the letter (and especially the tables at the end) are very clear abut the impact of the free schools on other Suffolk schools. Here is the Beccles Scenario:

Scenario  2014-15 Sir John Leman	Y7	Y8	Y9	Y10	Y11	Total
No Free School	212	250	244	226	251	1183
Free School Full (108 in year)	104	143	118	136	143	644
Free School 50% Full (54 in year)	158	196	190	172	197	913

These figures clearly show the proposed free school would have a significant and possibly devastating effect on Sir John Leman High School. It's a shame that the County Council did not see fit to point this out clearly to the DfE preferring them to "make inferences". I don't think they are likely to.

Tomorrow the free school proposers who think their opponents are "pathetic" and should be ignored and want to "kick the backside" of local schools - and watch out for free school FOI shorts before then!

Free School FOI Shorts: Suffolk CC "we should stick to the DfE and Seckford foundation line"

Simon White
Director of Childrens and
Young peoples services

In Mid December Education Portfolio Holder Cllr Graham Newman received what he described as "the first supportive letter I have received in favour of [Beccles] Free School, versus many letters of complaint" and seemed a bit non-plussed at how to deal with it.

He drafted an email in response which he sent to Simon White the Children and Young People's Services Director for comment. The draft looked like this:

This is the first supportive letter I have received in favour of this Free School, versus many letters of complaint and condemnation, many not rooted in anything the Head Teacher of Sir John Leman has said.

Suffolk County Council has a clear policy about free schools, which is generally supportive and facilitative where they can offer choice and improvement. I f entry at Year 7 & 8 to Sir John Leman Academy is thwarted by the use of the Middle School for Free School purposes, that will not introduce competition; it will simply kill off Sir John Leman. That is very clearly not the democratic wish of local people,as expressed in terms of those expressing interest in the project (measured in tens) and those formally expressing a preference for (ie applying for a place at) Sir John Leman, which is measured in hundreds.

I also understand that the assumption that Beccles Middle School building is a pre-requisite to fulfil the objective of a Free School to reality in 2012 is not claimed by the education sponsor, the Seckford Foundation.

I would further add that at no time has the Free School worked with the County Council on the admissions process either at Beccles or Saxmundham, which has been a feature of all other current Free School proposals.

I would like to respond on behalf of SCC along these lines and would welcome your view before I do so.  

Simon White is not keen on this response, thinking it too strong and urges Cllr Newman to "stick to the DfE and Seckford Foundation line". He re-drafts the letter on that basis and it turns into a letter supporting the free school:

Hi Graham

I wouldn't be so strong if I were you.

I think we should stick to the DfE and Seckford foundation line, and then make the points about the site. And I agree that we should make all communications on the basis that we would send the same letter to all parties.

Something like Thank you for your letter.

I hope that your fears about the future of the Free School are misplaced.

SCC is in favour of the introduction of Free Schools where they will increase parental choice and bring new investment in education in to the county, although we are also bound to take into account their impact on other schools.

In this case the short term use of the existing middle school site has dominated the discussion, but this is really relatively unimportant compared to creation of a new school which could offer something new and exciting to parents in this part of Suffolk. Everyone agrees that the FS can use the site from 2014, but until that date, SJL require additional capacity partly because they have taken extra pupils to accommodate the delay in opening the new Pakefield High school. The Local Authority has implemented its SOR programme on the basis that SJL would use the Middle School site until that date.

The DfE are evaluating 4 options the Free School using the Middle school site from 2012, with alternative provision being made for SJL's pupils; SJL and the FS sharing the site, the FS using another site until 2014, or delaying the opening of the FS until 2014. I know they are very determined that a solution is found that will enable the Free School to open as planned, and this will create opportunities for young people in Suffolk for many years to come - it is not primarily about continuing to use a set of particular buildings, or the education of the young people currently in the Middle School (although obviously this is very important to the parents of those children). I know you will understand when I say that we care about the education of all the children who will be affected by these proposals - including those who will be attending SJL and need classrooms and facilities.

I think that the Free School will be successful, although it may take some years to build up to its full capacity. However, even as it does so, other good local schools will continue to prosper, and may well also be full. The Government's policy is to encourage competition and facilitate choice, and parents will have a range of very good schools to choose from in this area.

I am sure that the DfE will come up with a solution that will work, and the Council has offered every help that they may need to make this happen.

The re-write appears to be in order to support Suffolk County Council's pro-free school policy. What is odd is that it is the Council Officer re-writing the Conservative politicians email to fit with party policy!

Links - Suffolk County Council Free Schools and Academies Page - Full Free Schools and Academies Policy

Very Norfolk "bomb scare" closes Diss Town Centre

As a blogger I can spend quite a bit of time investigating some stories. Wading through hundreds of pages of information, emailing, phoning and driving to meetings. Today however I walked out of a building in Diss straight into a news story!

At around 11am today the Town Centre was evacuated due to a suspicious package at the Post Office. Turned out it was a false alarm but I managed to do some live tweet reporting and take some photos that you can see below:

It turned out that the "suspect package" was in fact a paintball gun as the Diss Express report. I took a short video at the time of the "ambling" evacuation. As you can see at some point the cordon came down and a member of the public put it back up! For a time I felt like I was manning the cordon myself as the police officer had gone off to evacuate nearby shops! It was a very Norfolk bomb scare!

Free School FOI Shorts: National Politics puts Cllr Newman in "a difficult position"

JeremyRowe,
Head of Sir John Leman

Once the DfE gave initial approval for Beccles Free School in Mid October 2011 there was an exchange of emails between Jeremy Rowe, Head of Sir John Leman High and Cllr Newman, Portfolio Holder for Education - particularly about the proposed use by the Free School of the Beccles Middle School Site.

Dear Mr Rowe 

I completely comprehend your plea for help, and I know that Sally Rundell and Phil Whiffing were pressing the DfE at the end of last week to meet to discuss this issue in more detail. But there again, SCC has consistently said the Middle School building is not available for the foreseeable future - in every round of comment we've been invited to make on the Free School proposal. It appears this has just been ignored. 

Also I believe Ian Brown has agreed with you a supplementary letter to the admissions procedure to go out to parents in an attempt to establish exactly how many pupils are preferring SJL over any other option. 

,Personally I am mystifi ed as to why there is so little about the Free School group on 'the internet... just compare with Clare, Breckland (Brandon) and Stoke by Nayland - at
least the world knows they are there. 

I know Cllr Mark Bee and Peter Aldous MP are as concerned as I am and we will all do our best on the political front. 

Yours sincerely
Graham L Newman (Cllr)

Jeremey Rowe replied to this:

Thanks for getting in touch, Graham - as I said in the BBC Look East studio last Tuesday, I am not against Free Schools per se. The issue for us is that half of our building - promised to us through SOR - is now potentially to be handed over to a Free School! Parents are choosing SJLHS based on this promise. We literally will not have the space for our new year 7 & 8 students in September 2012 if this gets final approval - where will our students go?

I can only assume there has been a ghastly error at the DfE, but how do I ensure its put right?

We are desperate for someone to help with this.

Jeremy Rowe Headteacher
Sir John Leman High School

Cllr Newman replies explaining that he "is in a difficult position politically" 

Dear Mr Rowe

Thank you for the telephone call on Friday to my home number - I did pick up your message OK.

I have visited SJL, albeit a little while ago now, and we also met at one of the Milsom's Restaurant gatherings in Kesgrave nearly two years ago now.

Unfortunately I will be at a conference in London all day Monday and will already be on the train before school starts.

It is just possible I will get a chance to phone you later in the day if you are prepared to share your mobile or direct line numbers with me.

Alternatively, I will try and make contact on Tuesday on SJL's switchboard number.

I do appreciate last week's announcement is very difficult for all of us - in local politics, LEA and certainly at SJL. For obvious reasons, it's probably best I don't document these in an e-mail, but hopefully we can talk it over. I am in a peculiarly difficult position politically when you look at an exchange in the House of Commons ,last week - see the following link to Hansard...

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201011/cmhansrd/cm111010/debtext/111010-0002.htm and scroll down to "Column 76" (Matthew Hancock's question)... -

Kind regards,

Graham L Newman (Cllr)
Member for Felixstowe Coastal Division
Portfolio Holder, Children Schools & Young People's Services Suffolk County Council

The exchange in the Commons Newman refers to specifically mentioned him (as lead member of education) and his support for free schools:

Matthew Hancock (West Suffolk) (Con): The Secretary of State will know that in West Suffolk we have two proposed free schools at different stages of development to replace closing middle schools. Will he join me in urging parents not only in Brandon, at the Breckland middle school, but in Ixworth and in Stanton to put forward expressions of interest in joining the free schools—whether or not they come through, and I hope that they do—in order to ensure that the project gets off the ground?

Michael Gove: Absolutely. One of the great things about Suffolk as a local authority is that its leader and its lead member for education recognise that, at a time of change, embracing academies and free schools can complement the already great state schools for which they are responsible. As for visionary leadership in local government, you have to go a long way to beat Suffolk.

Hancock made a point of emailing this to Newmann and I had thought previously that this was just gloating but it appears also to have the effect of painting Newman into a political corner. Maybe that was the intention?

Suffolk Free Schools: Does Cllr Spicer think the Thurston Partnership is "sinister"?

Cllr Joanna Spicer

Once the Ixworth Free School group had finally abandoned their attempts to open in 2013 they decided to join with the Seckford Foundation who plan a chain of free schools across Suffolk. A plan was hatched by Hancock, Spicer and the rest of the group to write to parents first and then issue a press release. The idea was parents wouldn't read about it in the newspapers.

Somewhat predictably all did not go according to plan. Firstly within an hour of the document being release it was published on the Internet (on this blog and its Wikisuffolk sister site amongst other places). Secondly the primary school head teachers in Thurston refused to send the letter out.

Cllr Joanna Spicer was not amused, firing off an angry email to County Council officials (all of the emails referred to are available in full below):

Below is an e mail sent by the FS team at Ixworth to Head Teachers in the Thurston Pyramid. Attached to it is a letter to parents that they requested be sent out.

I saw drafts of both the letter and the e mail and regard them both to have been sensitively and carefully worded and polite and intended to be helpful to parents. There is also a press release that both Matt Hancock and I have been involved with and are quoted in. It was intended that the press release go out today or tomorrow to ensure parents heard the progress report before reading it in the newspaper.

I am sure you have been made aware that every school (except 2 middle schools) have declined to send it out.

OK - so head teachers have the right to that and although the explanations given are confusing and not exactly scientifc - I do fully accept their right to do so. They are under no obligation to be helpful to anyone after all.

But was is worrying - indeed almost sinister - is that the responses to the FS team are all identical and a careless use of forwarding (cut and paste) indicates that there was somewhat of an instruction circulated to agree a common response from the "Thurston Partnership". The Head teachers concerned seem to have been unable to actually write a reply and explanation to the FS team of their own initiative but have been required to use a format approved by the Thurston Partnership.

So to me this begs an important question that I need you to answer for me clearly. What is the Thurston Partnership precisely ?

Have the County Council handed over the total leadership of the Thurston Pyramid to them (excluding middle schools ?). I have looked at their website - they have no contact details and no governance arrangements. Who is their "leader" ? Did SCC authorise them to issue instructions on this to each primary school ? What is the relationship between The TP and the LEA. I am well aware that you handed over to them the original development of 2 tier proposals last summer (and abandoned the original SOR group which included councillors and parish councils). I am also aware that they were asked to write most of the original consultation document as well. 

I asked Cllr Spicer if she was really suggesting that the Thurston Partnership - which is all of the schools in the Thurston pyramid with the exception of the three middle schools - is "sinister". She replied:

Of course I don't think the "Thurston partnership" is "sinister" - I was commenting on some wording.actions relating to e mails I had seen that I am quite sure I was not meant to see ! I am seeking further information about their governance arrangements. 

I strongly believe the LEA (SCC) should lead re-organisation and it is their legal duty which they continue to discharge. 

However, schools themselves need to lead schools - hence my support for academies and free schools. 

This view, however, differs from Government policy which sees groups of schools leading school which prompted Sally Rundell, a senior LA officer to write:

To: Simon White; Phil Whiffing  

Subject: RE: Free School at Ixworth

You don't think Joanna needs reminding re gov policy about schools themselves being the leaders of system change

Sally Rundell
Assistant Director Learning and Improvement

In the end Simon White (Director of Children and Young People's Services) writes back suggesting Spicer is "jumping to assumptions" about the motivation of the primary Headteachers pointing out that Ixwoth Middle Head Glenice Francis had made disparaging  remarks about her feeder primaries at a Cabinet meeting - remarks Cllr Spicer told me she did not agree with:

Dear Joanna 

You may have picked up already that we are trying to broker the same arrangement that we came to in Stour Valley which would allow the Free School to distribute its materials without implying any endorsement from existing schools. 

We have not yet agreed the reorganisation proposal and so at this stage there is not a site for the proposed Free School. 

I think that you are jumping to assumptions about the motivation of the Heads' in being resistant to the request. Relationships between lxworth Middle School and their Primaries became very strained because of the way the Middle School fought its corner. I think the Head would have been better advised not to make disparaging remarks about her own feeder schools in public meetings (as she did at the cabinet meeting I attended). No doubt the Middle School feel aggrieved as well for their own reasons. 

In reality the Free School proposal will in the end have very little to do with the existing Middle School, but at this stage in the process it is hard for any of the people involved to see this. 

Once we have made a decision we will work very hard to rebuild relationships. The "Thurston Partnership" was originally intended to include all the schools in the pyramid, but as you know the Middle Schools did not join. The approach to SOR had to change to reflect the new "balance of power" between the local authority and schools, and we pledged to support a school led proposal to implement SOR. 

From a strategic point of view we should be very grateful to the TP, since they were willing to endorse a solution that was practicable and affordable, yet delivered the key objectives in SOR. Personally I think the Free School will not compromise this at all, and I hope this view will come to be shared with the the whole pyramid as decisions are made by SCC and the DfE. 

We have not (and cannot) give away or delegate our responsibilities to the Thurston Partnership (and there are different responsibilities even within the group of schools depending on their status). The Cabinet will have to take full responsibility for the decisions they make, and so they will be "theirs" not the TPs. 

Simon White

Interestingly Simon White prefixed a draft of this with the words I need to be less formal with JS but it is clear Spicer is only seeing part of the story pressing to follow the Government's free school policies but wanting to retain "control" of  schools by the "LEA" itself an old-fashioned way of describing the Local Authority. In this respect Spicer is out of step with the Government's view that schools should be the "system leaders" of eduction.


Tomorrow how Suffolk County Council's formal response to the DfE was changed for political reasons. Watch out for the "Free School FOI Shorts" as well!
JoannaSpicerEmails

Free School FOI Shorts: Graham Newman needs to "be seen to be supportive"

Cllr Graham Newman

Faced with having to make some pragmatic decisions that some free school supporters have not been happy with Graham Newman, Suffolk County Council Portfolio Holder for Education makes a point of attending a public meeting about the Stoke by Nayland Free School.

He emails another the local county councillor just before he attends:

From: Graham Newman
Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2012 10:00 AM To: James Finch
Subject: Stoke by Nayland Free School James 

Seckford/Ronan have a meeting in SbN Golf & Country Club on Tuesday. 

Very important that I am seen to be supportive in this one, so trust you will not mind me attending in your Division, and hope that you may be able to be there too. 

Many thanks 

Graham L Newman (Cllr)

 Interestingly the local councillor replies:

From: James Finch
Sent: 19 February 2012 13:47
To: Graham Newman
Subject: Re: Stoke by Nayland Free School Graham,

I will be pleased to join you - slightly cross that Ronan et at have not let me know - there is no publicity around here.

To confirm - is it Tuesday 21st February? at what time ? Is it a public meeting ?

Yours James

James Finch
Councillor for Stour Valley Division

This week I will be publishing substantial articles every day about Suffolk Free Schools with the occasional "Free School FOI" Short like this.

Suffolk Free Schools: The failed Spicer/Hancock plan to open Ixworth Free School early

Stephen Larder, Ixworth Free School
Spokesperson

On the 24th November 2011 the Ixworth Free School group held a meeting at Barningham where they suggested that they wanted to open the free school in 2013. There was a huge problem with this suggestion. Ixworth Middle School (where they want to open the free school) does not close until 2014 and there are a huge set of dependencies - such as building spaces in primary schools to accommodate Year 5 and 6 children.

The idea didn't seem thought through. Or rather it didn't seem that the interests of the education of the children was the main purpose but rather getting enough numbers for the free school, at the time it was suggested:

It is obviously a good way of trying to ensure that parents don’t want to move their children to Thurston Community College at the end of Year 6. After all, those children will have been at the free school (with its new school uniform etc) for a year. It would be a difficult decision to move them at that point. 

Doing this ensures that the school is full in its first few years; something that the free school in Clare has struggled to achieve. But it also means that we already know the pupils that will fill it. There will be no space for children from Stanton, for example. And given the proximity element of the admissions criteria no children from further afield would get a place. 

The implication of this is that the school ceases to be about increasing choice for parents in the Thurston pyramid, but securing places for Ixworth children before they are even of secondary age.

I can now reveal that the Free School group did not even contact Suffolk County Council in advance of making this proposal. Indeed the idea appears to have come from Cllr Joanna Spicer and Matthew Hancock MP who are very clearly continuing to "pull the strings" of the Ixworth proposal. They seem desperate to get the school open as soon as possible, perhaps with an eye to the 2013 County Council elections.

Free School Spokesperson Stephen Larder wrote to Portfolio Holder Newman saying:

Graham
After discussions with Matthew Hancock & Joanna Spicer today, I would like to discuss with you how we resolve the matter of which year the free school could open.

Larder produced a "paper" outlining the proposal:

Ixworth Free School 2013 Opening Paper

Now the County Council are the only people who actually can close the Middle School. Had the free school group spoken to the County Council earlier it would have been clear it could never happen in 2013. Not because of a lack of political will but it just isn't practical.

Interestingly Stephen Larder had discussed this with Michael Gove and others as he tells Portfolio Holder Graham Newman:

Thanks for the email - I know this wouldn't be easy but it would give much greater stability to those children in the transition and give the free school a much better start. I have discussed this with Michael Gove, Matthew Hancock and the New Schools Network. There are indeed precedents for this and I would be keen to discuss with you the mechanics and implications.

Indeed Larder and the free school group met Michael Gove when he visited Suffolk on 21st October but for whatever reason the discussion never happened with the County Council until late November.

Stephen Larder would have been much better off talking to Phil Whiffing or one of the other senior County Council officers rather than Michael Gove who to be fair to him cannot be expected to understand the practical considerations involved in this case.

In the end Cllr Newman replied outlining the reasons why this was never going to happen:

Letter from Graham Newman to Stephen Larder
So this fills in a gap in our understanding of this story. Sadly the politicians involved appear to prefer to make all these decisions in private and we only get to find out about them after through freedom of information requests after the event...

Tomorrow: Just what is it that Cllr Joanna Spicer thinks is "sinister"?

Free Schools in Suffolk: a week of revelations starts Monday

I have recently received some 1400 pages of correspondence about free schools in Suffolk following a freedom of information request I served on Suffolk County Council. Much of this is fairly routine and practical but there are some interesting things buried away in the messages. I have already published an email showing how few "expressions of interest" have been made in free school places.

Starting on Monday I will publish a series of revelations about Suffolk Free Schools that try to answer why a county with nearly 11000 free secondary school places is faced with up to 7 new free schools opening. All of them in the more rural areas of the county many of which have decreasing populations.

One of the things that is clear is that part of the motivation is political. And some Conservative councillors and a certain MP do not appear to think that the County Council are being supportive enough of free school proposals:

Here Cllr Joanna Spicer the local County Councillor in Ixworth is emailing the Portfolio Holder for Education Graham Newman. Next week's revelations will show why Cllr Spicer might feel unhappy that the County Council have not done what she wanted...

Monday: How the Ixworth Free School tried to get to open in 2013


You can read all the posts in the Free Schools FOI Series