Archive for the ‘Education’ Category
On the Decision to Move to Two Tier
Posted by Richard | Filed under Education
So the Mayor, Executive and now the Council have made the decision to move, now, to a two-tier education system. We will embark on an expensive overhaul of our soon to be “Upper” schools and an expansion of the size of our Primary schools.
Putting on one-side the educational merits of two-tier vs three-tier – and on balance, I believe the arguments were in favour of two tier – the decision for a change is a very risky one at this time. The current government has so severely undermined the economy that there is very little faith that it has the money needed to meet its public funding promises. When the current period of artificial stimulus is over, and whichever party is in government, there will be a strain on the public finances more severe than any in living memory. Yet, despite this backdrop, the Mayor has led the decision to ask the Government for more money and foolishly taken them at their word that they have the wherewithal to pay. I have my doubts.
Applause! Applause! for Westfield Middle School
Posted by Richard | Filed under Education
With Karen Jackson, Head Westfield Middle School Reviewing the Ofsted Report
I visited Westfield Middle School last week and Head, Karen Jackson kindly gave me a tour and discussed plans for the future of the school. Like many head teachers, Karen has a passion for the education of children and a firm belief that no child should be abandoned or written off.
I really enjoyed the visit and a highlight was an early look at the Ofsted Inspection report that was completed in June and published last week. Westfield was rated Good – up one grade from its last report. That’s great news. One comment that particularly caught my eye “Pupils mirror the particularly enthusiastic and characterful teaching….” – my observation too!
Labour’s cash runs out for Schools in Bedford & Kempston
Posted by Richard | Filed under Education
The real impact of the Government’s overblown borrowing hit schools in Bedford and Kempston last week.
Speaking in the House of Commons, local Conservative MPs Alistair Burt and Nadine Dorries continually challenged the Minister to guarantee the promised funding for Bedford Borough Upper Schools.
This is critical as any change from three to two tier will require major construction; expenditures that our local council cannot afford. The Minister failed to provide the guarantee – undermining comments from local Labour MP that “The Government has committed to BSF capital investment…”
So where does this leave us?
First of all, Alistair and Nadine have done a huge service for local parents by putting the Minister on the spot and clarifying what many of us suspected all along; that the state of the country’s finances made any guarantees of funding dubious at best.
Second of all, a mighty hole has been blown in the Borough Council’s strategy for school reorganization. They led from the front with the carrot of oodles of cash from the Government, despite the efforts of many head teachers at the public meetings, rightly in my opinion, to focus on competing visions of how our children would be educated in the two systems and the plusses and minuses of each.
This strategy has now failed and the Council needs urgently to reassess where we go from here.
I think the Council can now only take a vote in principle for a move to two tier. It would be unwise to embark on reconstruction without the funding in place. We don’t want a generation of kids educated in portakabins on construction sites, but we should set a direction for the future.
Bedford is already an evolving landscape of educational choices with educational trusts focused around upper schools at Wootton, Sharnbrook, Hastingsbury and Mark Rutherford and also with the new Academy at John Bunyan. The excellent performance of Goldington Middle School has been too much overlooked in the “tiers” debate. All these schools should be free to prosper, whatever the decision over tiers.
The next Conservative government will greatly expand choice in education – allowing greater freedom for local parents, charities and others to set up schools and play a much more direct role in how their children are educated. Real Parent Power – Real Choice – Excellent Teachers. In these, rather than false cash hopes for fancy buildings – there is real hope for the future of education in Bedford and Kempston.
