Day 31 – Honour

Sundays are a time for reflection for all of us, to see family and friends, to enjoy the sunshine. SMS today follows the theme of last Sunday in reflecting on the campaign and, in particular, honouring two individuals who might have had an influence if they were still with us.

Dave Lewis, the local Labour group leader who died in April, was by all accounts a larger than life character who might have been right behind the fight of local parents to overturn an apparently “done-deal” (it isn’t by the way – shout it loud over the rooftops – we are making headway on a number of fronts). Dave, SMS are sad you aren’t here to advise, listen and have a beer with us.

Graham Last, the Education Officer who died in late 2008, was one of the architects of the pre-bid planning for £340M of BSF funding. Whilst SMS does not agree at all with the way in which this money is going to be wasted in Bedford, we recognise the massive achievement of Graham (with Chris Hilliard and Brian Glover) of accessing the promise of this money at all, especially in the current financial climate.

SMS would like to honour Graham’s memory by working tirelessly with Chris and Brian to submit a bid for three tier BSF funding later this year. Together we can achieve great things. Collaboration is always better than conflict. What do you say Chris?

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Blog news: We are now no.1 search if you google – save middle schools – and this is remarkable if you think about it, businesses pay a lot of money for this type of thing. And we are getting 1000 hits a week.

New poll: One local politician is listening to us at least. Doug McMurdo, who is standing for Sharnbrook ward, has put a poll on his website. Why not give him some feedback?

Day 30 – The Peers School, Oxford

Peers school in Oxford is one of 638 “failing” secondaries. Last summer, only 19% of its pupils got five GCSE grades at A*-C, including English and maths, easily the lowest in Oxfordshire and well below the government’s 30% threshold for acceptability.

Peers, though, was always fighting against the odds…When Oxford’s middle-school system was abandoned in 2003, Peers faced the upheaval of reverting to an 11-18 school. It was one whammy too many.

Nearly 700 children joined the school in three days, of whom nearly a third had acute levels of need. The school’s approach in the past had been based on giving autonomy and responsibility to an older age group, and it wasn’t prepared for the challenge of dealing with less mature pupils.

Perhaps some of the politicians, local authority officers and civil servants responsible for the succession of upheavals that afflicted Peers should feel uneasy, too. (Peter Wilby writing in the The Grauniad, June 2008).

Furthermore, in 2005, 2 years after the change, only 10% of its pupils got five GCSE grades at A*-C, including English and maths !

In July 2008, The Peers School was closed and re-opened in September as The Oxford Academy (“Learning and Leading for the World of Tomorrow” – bet that was written by a bureaucrat in a comfy office well away from the real world)

If you replace the name Peers with John Bunyan or Hastingsbury, then this could happen in Bedford, where three year groups are planned to go to the new secondary schools in September 2014.

This isn’t scare mongering. It is the future of education in Bedford if we allow the unelected bureaucrats and our maverick mayor to ignore public opinion.

ACT NOW TO PREVENT CHANGE

Day 29 – Lower Schools

In 2006 during the consultation exercise, 70% of lower school Headteachers supported the retention of three tier education county wide. In 2009, the figures are as yet unknown, but it appears that many of them have changed their mind and now want to change to two tier.

So why would they do that?

Well the education bureaucrats and the mayor have been very clever about this. They have promised that (almost) every lower school will become a primary school, thereby guaranteeing the future of those schools. They have also said that loadsa money is there for new buildings, even new schools in 5-10 cases…and now I have an image of Frank Branston as Harry Enfield’s character from the 80s – I really must get more sleep you know…

So it’s a no-brainer for lower school Heads and Chairs of Governors. They want to protect their world. They think they’re doing the best for their pupils and their communities. They want to believe in brand new shiny buildings and happy, carefree children dancing joyfully in the sunshine and all getting better results instantaneously…

…except £60M isn’t going to pay for all that…even if £60M is really available for the primary sector…and even that involves a large amount of borrowing at local level…which will raise YOUR council tax…

So the more likely version of reality is that of crowded sites not designed to be primary schools, “temporary” classrooms, and lack of appropriate facilities for older children.

This is an impending disaster – please help us stop it by TAKING ACTION TODAY.

And don’t forget to come to the public meetings next week at:
Daubeney Middle in Kempston (6:30 on Monday 1st June)
Alban Middle in Great Barford (7:00 on Tuesday 2nd June)
Goldington Middle in Bedford (7:00 on Wednesday 3rd June)

Day 28 – 2+2=5

In the consultation document, we are told that BSF funding to the tune of over £300M will be applied for and that this will transform secondary education in Bedford Borough for about 2000 pupils per year group in five 11-19 schools, one 11-16 school, one 11-14 school and one 14-19 school. This money will allow sufficient building to allow 2 new year groups (4000 pupils across Years 7 and 8 ) to be integrated. Note that this includes the highly ambitious and controversial Biddenham campus, more of which in a later post.

In the same consultation document, we are told that the primary sector will be transformed to accommodate the same number of extra pupils (4000 across Years 5 and 6) and that this will cost £60M at most. They even suggest that up to 10 schools may be relocated or built. With £60M.

This beggars belief. We are talking here about roughly 50 lower schools being transformed to primary schools and providing the extra facilities and experiences that Years 5 and 6 need. The extra facilities and experiences that middle schools already provide. The extra facilities that the Rose Report (commissioned by the DCSF itself and published recently in April 2009) recommends strongly for future provision in Years 5 & 6.

So why the disparity in these numbers?

Because they haven’t done their sums. Because they don’t know how much it will cost. Because they are so desperate to get their hands on BSF funding that they are willing to say anything to persuade us it is the only option.

And the implication for lower school Heads is that if you support this move your school will get more money, your school will benefit, your pupils will have a better educational experience. So of course they support this. Any rational person would. But the reality is that what may well happen is a chaos of overcrowded sites, “temporary” classrooms, and disaffected pupils and staff.

You must act to stop this damaging and dangerous proposal.

Fill in the consultation document with a supporting vote for the retention of three tier.

Sign our online petition

Email the Times & Citizen

Email your MP

Email Chris Hilliard

SMS despairs at the lack of ability to do simple sums of our local civil servants. Then again, they probably went through the two tier system…

Day 27 – Politics & Bureaucrats

Yesterday Alistair Burt responded to pressure from SMS and our supporters by urgently seeking a meeting with Schools’ Minister Jim Knight over BSF funding. In his press release Alistair also added “before there is any change of such importance I would like to ensure that key questions have been raised as the debate and consultation must be fair, and not leading inevitably to the conclusion of two tier as it seems to be.”

SMS welcomes this move and urges Patrick Hall and Nadine Dorries also to retain open minds. We are united in our dismay at the one-sided way that Bedford Borough have organised this non-consultation exercise and are looking forward to sharing the public platform at the 6 official consultation evenings so that we can give our evidence concerning this complex issue. SMS will be meeting with Chris Hilliard and Brian Glover on Friday 5th June in order to finalise the arrangements for the consultation meetings and lay the ground rules for fair and open debate. We are all highly enthusiastic about this opportunity, which we are sure that Chris and Brian will offer readily.

Maybe they aren’t such bad guys after all? Maybe they do have open minds? Maybe they have an alternative vision for the future which supports the evolution of three tier education over the next 30 years rather than the revolution of a massive disruptive and underfunded change to two tier? Or maybe the price of bacon just went up?

Also a quote today from a local election candidate on the streets of Putnoe. She said…”an awful lot of people seem to be talking about education”…yes, that’s right…they are…and they’re going to vote for politicians who support their view…time to come off the fence and support our education system guys.

You can write to your local election candidates or even knock on their doors. Here are their addresses to help you.

And don’t forget to sign our online petition. We’re nearly over 500 signatures and we have many many more on our written petitions. And the fight has only really just begun…

Day 26 – “Statistical Neighbours” with Grammar Schools?

There are a lot of statistics in the school structures non-consultation document. They appear conclusive. They are not. Beware simple conclusions from complex data.

For example, at the end of Key Stage 4, when pupils sit their GCSE exams, it is asserted that Bedford is well behind both the national average and our 10 “statistical neighbours” (SNs).

The DCSF’s preferred measure now is 5 GCSEs at A*-C including both English and Maths, so for brevity, let us concentrate on this measure in this blog.

Our average is 46.7%; the national average is 47.6%; the average among our SNs is 53%.

First of all, we are pretty similar to the national average. We are not “well behind”. This is just natural variability around an average – some authorities are slightly higher and some slightly lower.

Secondly, our 10 “statistical neighbours” include 5 authorities (Kent, Bromley, Trafford, Sutton and Warwickshire) with selective education systems (grammar schools). Therefore they include many children who would be privately educated if they lived in Bedford where the Harpur Trust schools and Rushmoor / St.Andrews schools. They are not comparable systems at all.

The 6th SN (Herts) has apparently comprehensive schools such as Watford Boys’ and Girls’ Grammar who take 25% of their pupils through a competitive entrance exam and another 10% through music scholarships. Comprehensive, eh? Maybe not.

That leaves 4 more realistic SNs. Milton Keynes (43.0%), Swindon (42%), Northamptonshire (46%), and Stockport (53%). Not very different from Bedford (47%) in fact, although MK and Swindon are well below our results.

The schools structures non-consultation document misrepresents the GCSE statistics. In a future blog, we shall show how the KS1 results are misleading too.

We agree that Bedford needs to improve its results, just like most other authorities in England. This is unlikely to happen by creating organisational chaos and more likely by targeting resources, time and effort on the real problems in schools with underprivileged intakes.

We are now asking everybody to email their MP to demand that SMS are invited to give their side of the story at the 6 public consultation meetings. It is about time that they intervened to help stop this nonsensical waste of public funds.

Email Patrick Hall, Alistair Burt, or Nadine Dorries and demand that this non-consultation process is changed immediately.

Day 25 – Personal Experiences of Middle Schools

When the subject of education arises, everyone has an opinion, because everyone has first-hand experience of it. That is why teaching is one of the hardest jobs in the world – and all of us in SMS passionately support classroom teachers everywhere – some of us are or were teachers. We think teachers in all Bedford schools are doing a fantastic job under the most incredible pressure and uncertainty. Your managers, on the other hand…

Yesterday, SMS started to collect stories of those who have real comparisons of three and two tier to tell…here are three of those…please feel free to add more as comments to Day 25…

The first anecdote is from P, who grew up on the edge of Norfolk and Suffolk. She went to a village primary in two tier Norfolk then on to a much bigger secondary. At age 13-14, pupils joined her secondary from a three tier Suffolk middle school under one of those funny cross-border arrangements that sometimes occur – we have one with Gamlingay Middle School which is Cambridgeshire actually.

P said: “the kids from the middle were so much more mature than us, it took us until GCSEs to catch up with them. The only kids who were considered for Oxbridge entrance from our school had gone to middle school.”

The second anecdote is from R who went to school herself in a three tier authority and now has a daughter in a two tier system. R said her daughter grew up far too quickly at age 11 when she transferred to secondary and did not have time to mature amongst her peer group without pressures and more young adult behaviour from some of the older pupils (hope that was OK James – not all young adults are corruptive influences of course).

For example, her daughter was “skirt rolling” at 12 rather than 14…whatever that is…! R grew up in three tier and said she felt she was better prepared by the system to cope with and resist older behaviour – she still enjoyed the “skirt rolling” but it was only 1 roll not 2 – lol.

The third anecdote came from Somerset and teachers in the system who commented on the blogs in the last couple of days. First of all, thanks guys, your support is so much appreciated. SMS will go on tour to buy a round of apple juice some time. Somerset County Council have been very wise here and allowed individual pyramids of schools in their mainly rural areas to decide what sort of school system fits their needs.

J – a middle school teacher said – “it’s no big shock that in my middle school we always thrash teams in upper KS2 (primary) and Yr 7 (secondary) generally because they haven’t had the specialised coaching and equipment etc that our children have had from Yr 5”. Of course, independent prep schools (age 8-13) have known this for years…

SMS thinks these are powerful anecdotes of why middle school education is so well-regarded by children and parents alike.

If you agree, please support our campaign by signing the petition, writing to the Times and Citizen, and asking your election candidates what they plan to do if elected about this educational scandal.

Day 24 – A Day to Reflect

So a lot has happened during the past month. We formed a campaign group which is composed of an incredibly diverse set of individuals with a formidable array of skills, set up this blog (thanks big guy, you know we never do naming here, but I’ve rewarded you in another way…), ensured we have an identity (great logo, again you know who you are and you probably think you haven’t done much so far, but this has made a huge impact), made strategic alliances with other more experienced groups around the world, compiled an incredible body of research and, most importantly, kept the momentum going.

Anybody who has ever done anything like this will understand how difficult that last one is. It takes a lot of energy. It takes a lot of belief. And it takes us away from our families and friends. But in the process we have all made some good friends, through a strong commitment to a common cause.

Not everything has gone completely right. It never does. And we have all made mistakes. And for mine, I’m always sorry.

But why we’re doing this is that we feel Bedford Borough Unitary Authority is going to make the biggest mistake of its very short life if it goes against the wishes of taxpayers and voters.

So let’s keep spreading the word – handing out those leaflets, creating a buzz outside school gates, at village fetes, on the side of pitches watching our children play school sport (that will be going under two tier…) – anywhere, anytime, anyplace.

The council and lower/upper schools (vested interests remember) are using taxpayers’ money to distribute what we believe to be propoganda.

We are the little guys, the ones fighting the bureaucratic machine, the ones with no money (although donations are starting to trickle in now), the ones who need every little bit of help we can get.

Day 23 – Vested Interests

Two days ago (Thursday 21 May 2009), a Middle School Head contacted the Heads of 5 feeder Lower Schools and asked for the Lower Schools to distribute a letter to parents through pupils’ bookbags advertising an open information meeting at the Middle School about the two-tier / three-tier debate. The letter was not controversial or biased; everyone was welcome from both sides of the debate.

The 5 Lower School Heads refused.

Yesterday (Friday 22 May 2009) a group of concerned parents from that Middle School and from SMS stood outside the school gates of all 5 Lower Schools and handed out those letters on behalf of the Middle School. The Middle School Head had rung the Lower School Heads 30 minutes previously as a courtesy call.

Parents were overwhelmingly happy to receive the information. Why shouldn’t they be? It was only an offer to debate the issues!

All of those Lower Schools sent a representative, often the Head, but also parent/governors, to assert that permission was necessary from the Lower School to stand in a public place to hand out information, and to insist that we move on.

Those Lower School Heads should be ashamed of themselves.

Everyone should ask themselves – why did these Lower School Heads refuse to pass on information about open meetings? Even if they fervently believe that a change to two tier is desirable and they support the change entirely, it is one of the things underpinning a democratic society that everyone has a right to free speech and that censorship is bad.

Perhaps it is because the salaries of Headteachers are linked to the size of their schools, and all Lower School Heads are due to gain two extra year groups after the change, an increase of nearly 30% in their school roll?

See our links page above for information and ways to help fight this unnecessary, wasteful and educationally unsound change.

Day 22 – Massive Disruptive Change

One of the most common things SMS hears is “I grew up in a two tier system and it was fine”, so what are you all worried about.

It took a 10 year-old pupil (you know who you are and I’m very proud of you) to come up with the succinct and precise argument against this. He said “They grew up in a two tier system that had been stable for 20 years”.

That’s it, isn’t it. It might be alright in 20 years’ time. It won’t be for the poor children who go through this chaotic and undrefunded change. There will be disruption on a huge scale and a generation of children will be affected.

Remember, every Education Authority that has changed from three tier to two tier has suffered a drop in educational standards. Northamptonshire went two tier about 5 years’ ago; it is the worst performing Education Authority in the country right now.

Every Child Matters is the mantra in Education now. Quite right. Every Child Matters – including those IN the system that changes.

This is not a done deal – that is a complete and utter myth. We can change this by voicing our concerns loudly.

Click below to:

FILL IN THE ONLINE CONSULTATION

SIGN THE PETITION NOW

WRITE TO THE TIMES AND CITIZEN editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk

Day 21 – Freedom of Speech

Yesterday afternoon, the public consultation document for the change to two-tier education was released in the public domain. Click here to read.

The consultation provides for 6 public meetings where Chris Hilliard, Brian Glover and John Goldsmith will present the case for changing to two tier.

Save Middle Schools demands the right to share the platform at these consultation meetings and to present the alternative view to ensure that this is a fair and even-handed debate.

Furthermore we call for the final decision to be made by local referendum before the end of July as then the mayor and his unelected officers will discover what the taxpayers and voters of Bedford Borough really think of this issue.

Two of the basic tenets of democracy are Freedom of Speech and the Right to be Heard.

Support us by attending these meetings, writing letters to editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk, and signing our online petition.

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Monday 8 June 2009
Biddenham Upper School and Community College

Tuesday 9 June 2009
Harrowden Middle School

Wednesday 10 June 2009
Wootton Upper School

Thursday 11 June 2009
Sharnbrook Upper School

Monday 15 June 2009
Mark Rutherford Upper School

Monday 22 June 2009
Hastingsbury Business and Enterprise College

Day 20 – On the Buses

SMS was out on the campaign trail yesterday, leafletting in Queens Park and talking to voters and taxpayers, some of whom are parents. It was interesting, informative, and maybe good practice for things to come. Of course, not everybody agreed with SMS, but honestly, SMS would say the majority were in favour of the retention of three tier. It was around 2:1 in favour of retention during the official public consultation in 2006 as SMS recalls.

One voter used to be a bus driver and said that he thought it was crazy that the little-uns would be put with the big-uns on the same bus at 11. He said the older kids smoked when they were obviously not supposed to (and not just tobacco either) and that he, on his own with 60 or so youths, was pretty much powerless to do anything to stop them.

Do you want your sons and daughters on school buses at age 11 with 15-17 year-old youths?

Or will we employ inspectors to stop the corrupting influence of older children?

A rather entertaining image of our elected Mayor as Blakey from On the Buses just came to mind there…must be the lack of sleep…

Act Now to help stop this appallingly thought out and damaging change to our education system.

Click here to sign our petition

Write to editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk

Use your vote wisely on June 4th

Day 19 – BSF Funding – Is it a Fantasy?

This blog certainly congratulates Chris Hilliard and the late Graham Last for obtaining “assurances” from the DCSF that Wave 6 BSF funding will be available for Bedford Borough to the tune of £340M. This was a fantastic achievement on their part.

However, as the Mayor stated at last Wednesday’s Public Scrutiny meeting, BSF funding is not contingent on changing to 2-tier (please see comments below from Frank Branston though). Incidentally, this meeting was very well attended by members of the public – election candidates beware, this election is most certainly about education.

But will this funding exist after the next general election, which is set for next May at the latest?

Well, considering the country is bankrupt, and David Cameron has said he plans to “replace Labour’s spendaholic government with a new government of thrift”, maybe not.

Furthermore, Bedford College has just had last week £80M of funding withdrawn from the Learning & Skills Council for its redevlopment plans. Click here for a link to Ben Raza’s story about this in the Times and Citizen.

Under the pressures of a major recession, with public finances in crisis, and common sense out of the window until after the next election for political reasons, surely we should be planning an alternative which does not rely on Government funding.

Otherwise, we will enter into a fantasy land of mythical funding and produce a large deficit for which the taxpayers of Bedford will be paying for a generation.

We all must act now – write to editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk (the Beds on Sunday is apparently not printing letters from us – I wonder why?) – ask local election candidates the difficult question about finance – and support our campaign by signing the petition.

Act now to help Save Middle Schools!

Day 18 – Suffolk – the Parents’ Revolt continues…

A NEWS FLASH FROM SUFFOLK

What are you doing on June 4th?

We have the chance to save our Middle Schools by voting out the existing Conservative administration which have continued to embark upon the ill thought out changes to schooling in Suffolk despite this appearing to be madness to the person in the street.

However in the forthcoming elections, we all have a chance to do something about this – but only if we get out to the ballot box, and this time the Councillors won’t be able to ignore us! The main opposition parties are commited to calling a halt to the process on the grounds that we can’t afford it and giving the people of Suffolk a real chance for their views to be heard.

The PAC website has been relaunched and will continue to be revamped over the next few weeks leading up to the election.

Take a look at the website and pass this message onto your friends – we can save Suffolk’s Middle Schools.

More details to follow soon… in the meantime, spread the word.

Steve Cowper
on behalf of Parents Against Change

www.parentsagainstchange.org

Suffolk parents have not given up – neither will we – candidates in the local elections should beware !

Day 17 – Is this a real consultation?

This week the consultation document will be published. It will provide for a very limited consulation period of about 9 weeks and will propose that we move to a 2-tier system of education in Bedford Borough. It will say that the council education officials and Mayor support this change but they will listen to the views of the local taxpayers and electorate.

Make no mistake – you will need to shout very loudly if these people are going to listen.

There is also a difference between hearing views and listening to them.

Consultation should be an unbiased period of reflection where both sides of the argument are heard and critically questioned.

SMS calls for our voice to be heard and listened to by the electorate and for there then to be a local referendum to decide this issue.

Make sure you use your vote wisely in the forthcoming local elections – vote for a candidate who will support open debate and not a spurious consultation.

Help us to achieve our aims by writing letters of support to the Times and Citizen (editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk), signing our petition, and spreading the word about our campaign.

Day 16 – Middle School Teachers

Middle School teachers are hardworking, intelligent and caring professionals who have been undermined for years. Most of them did not train as Middle School teachers – they are Primary or Secondary trained – but realised at some point in their careers the value of teaching in Middle Schools.

So a job advert for a new post could attract a Primary specialist wishing to specialise with slightly older children or a Secondary specialist not wanting to be in an “exam factory”. The pool of potential candidates is wider than in most posts.

There is no evidence that the lack of Middle Years teacher training courses is causing a teacher recruitment crisis in Bedford Borough Middle Schools – it is much more likely that a council that has destabilised our Middle Schools by implying that they will close has been responsible for this – if this problem exists at all, as we have no evidence that teacher recruitment is any more difficult here than anywhere else !

There are something like 350 teachers employed in our Middle Schools in Bedford Borough. What will happen to them? How many will decide to leave the profession, this being the one last straw? How many will decamp to prep schools, which are still providing excellence in Middle Years education all over the UK. How many will be forced to move to a Primary or Secondary against their will, and experience turmoil in their own careers?

We need to support our Middle School teachers – help us to stop this unnecessary turmoil.

Day 15 – Stability or Chaos?

At the heart of our opposition’s argument is an incorrect and illogical idea – that our middle schools are failing and that is why we must change to 2-tier.

Failing on what basis?

On some biased statistics showing alleged lack of progress between KS1 and KS2, or on Ofsted reports that show consistently that Middle Schools provide excellence in pastoral care?

A happy and stable educational environment for children results in mature and confident adults. Surely that is much more important in life than KS2 test averages anyway, even if we did trust the figures?

There are around 30000 school-aged children currently in Bedford Borough. A generation of children will have their education disrupted by a change of school system.

If you want to prevent this massive disruption, you need to act now. Write to the Times and Citizen today, use your vote wisely in the local elections, sign the online petition.

Day 14 – Money, Money, Money

If you were bankrupt, you wouldn’t be allowed to borrow more money to tear down your 1970s 3-bed semi to replace it with a 2-bed flat on the promise of a government grant in 5 years’ time – and if you did tear your house down without the guarantee of that grant, you might end up living in a tent for years and years…

What is being suggested for Bedford education is much worse than this though…we will be borrowing money against the sale of prime real estate – the house builders and supermarkets of the country must be rubbing their hands with glee.

How many of us believe that this authority has done its sums right…or even done any sums at all? The taxpayers of Bedford might be paying for this expensive and unnecessary change for years through their council tax.

Nobody starts a massive capital project when they are bankrupt. The next government is almost certain to slash the Building Schools for the Future fund and, if we are already committed to change, then this would be disastrous for everyone, and not just children, teachers and parents.

We can change this decision – it is not a done deal – there is such a thing as democracy – write letters, talk to your local election candidates, support our campaign.

Day 13 – North Tyneside – a 3-tier BSF application

For Building Schools for the Future funding, the criteria used by the Department for Children Schools and Families in prioritising one authority versus another are:

Social and Educational need (e.g. Underperforming schools, Areas of deprivation )
Building need (suitability and/or condition)
Contribution towards local or regional regeneration
School re-organisation (where population shifts have happened for example)
Sustainable communities and new housing and population growth.

Where does it say here that BSF funding is dependent on a change to “2-tier”?

North Tyneside were mindful of all of these criteria and their balanced approach to securing BSF funds has seen the emergence of 2 school systems.

A 2-tier system operates in 5 areas and a 3-tier system (Lower, Middle, Upper) operates in 2 areas

Parents can move their children between the two systems if they so wish.

BSF funding is not dependent on any county adopting any particular school system – it is a myth

Day 12 – 2-tier is not inevitable

One of the most disheartening comments we have heard in the past two (very long) weeks is that “They’ve decided already“, “We might as well do it“, “They’ll only try again in 18 months’ time“, “Just embrace change“…well, if you don’t stand up to local bureaucrats, then this is exactly what will happen…

We are not luddites, but massive and disruptive change always needs to be justified with overwhelming evidence for that change.

There is no such overwhelming evidence. There is no good evidence. There isn’t even any poor evidence. There just isn’t any evidence whatsoever.

If you want to stop this disaster happening to our schools and communities, lobby council election candidates to make a commitment to three-tier education today.

Sign the petition

Lobby your local councillor

Write to the Times & Citizen
editorial@timesandcitizen.co.uk

Day 11 – Statistics & Bureaucrats

Statistics are nearly always a starting point for intelligent thought. Always beware when bureaucrats tell you something is “obvious” and show you a simple plot. They are not necessarily lying, they may just lack the intelligence to recognise the limits of their own abilities.

Bedford Borough are telling us that our children do much better at KS1 (age 7) than our statistical neighbours (SNs) then fall behind at KS2 (age 11) and don’t recover by KS4 (age 16).

Three problems.

1. They do not follow the same children through time and compare them – and nobody knows how many clever children are lost to the state system between KS1 and KS4 because the Harpur Trust have creamed them off by offering one of their many scholarships

2. Nobody has investigated whether Lower Schools are over-inflating KS1 results to make themselves look good. Remember, these are teacher-assessed and Lower Schools have a vested interest in making their teaching look highly effective

3. Statistical neighbours is part of a complex research methodology. It is constantly being updated and more than one set of neighbours exist for Bedford. One of our neighbours now according to one model is Northamptonshire. So…maybe they should compare themselves against us…maybe the conclusion should be that they change to three-tier?

The statistics here are not lies. They are being misused to support the unsupportable.

Talk/write to your local councillor about this. They can stop this chaotic change occurring.

Day 10 – 2,3 or 4 tier?

One off the myths we are being told is that negative transition effects lead to underperformance of children in the 3-tier system…

Apart from being unsupported by evidence (see the Day 4 blog on Suffolk), most of the country does not use 2-tier…sometimes it is actually 4-tier – infant (4-7), junior (7-11), secondary (11-16), and colleges (16-19).

In North Bedfordshire, half the children will end up in a different form of 3-tier after the change. Those that attend Lincroft (11-16) would then have to go to Sharnbrook or Bedford College for 16-19 education. Now that really is crackers…

And parents and schools everywhere should beware that this marks the beginning of the end for school sixth forms (which are expensive). How long before sixth form colleges become the norm with their economies of scale

Hmm…better not move jobs and change house then either…speaking as somebody who attended 2 different infant schools, 2 different junior schools, a junior high school and a senior high school before going to University…

Day 9 – Sex, Drugs and Rock ‘n’ Roll

Do you want your children to be moved at age 11 from a possibly tiny Primary School to a massive Secondary School with much older and more street-wise children?

The Middle School system protects against this by providing a “buffer” zone between the nurturing environment of whole-class teaching and the harsher reality of preparing young adults for the world of work.

Middle Schools allow pupils to mature emotionally so that they are able to cope better with their move to a world where they will probably encounter sex and drugs for the first time.

Do you want your 11 year old to move straight into a world like this?

Act Now – Save Middle Schools

Day 8 – What Consultation?

Today the Head & Chair of Governors of every school in Bedford Unitary Authority – around 80 of them – received an email to circulate to every member of staff and every governor. So if you work in one of those schools, or are a governor, and you haven’t receive the email, ask them why? Perhaps it didn’t get through the firewall or emails aren’t being checked very regularly?

We have asked that Middle Schools in conjunction with their feeder Lower Schools organise open and well-publicised consultation debates with parents that we will be invited to so that the other side of the debate can be heard.

Consultation should mean consultation – and parents need to have information about what this change will mean for them and their children. We believe it could be chaotic – underfunded, disorganised and destructive for children, teachers and communities.

We are sleepwalking into a potential nightmare of our own making.

Ask your school when your consultation will be.

Find out what is planned for your child.

Take Action Now

Another Techie Bit
If the RSS feed doesn’t work (see Day 7) then you can go straight to an RSS reader like Google Reader (go to Google and it’s one of the web pages there) and add a subscription to www.savemiddleschools.wordpress.com/feed. Each time you go back to Google Reader, you’ll then see our updates posted there. You can do this with other web pages too…it’s a bit like a combination of the web and emails…

Or else just keep coming back to this page – it’s just as easy and we like to hear your comments.

Day 7 – Take Action Now (1-2-3)

1. Do you want to avoid your children being caught in the middle of a highly disruptive change of school system?

2. Are you prepared to hold local councillors to account over their actions?

3. Do you believe that schools need to consult parents fully with both sides of the argument presented?

If so, Take Action Now.

1. Write to the local papers.

2. Speak to your local councillor.

3. Ask your school when their open meeting with parents will be.

Doing Nothing Is A Vote For Change

PS – A Techie Bit
The button on the right is an RSS feed – a bit like an email update but fed a browser. Click on it and you should be able to follow this blog automatically through your browser. This definitely works with Mozilla Firefox and BTInternet (which has a little RSS symbol in the bottom right to click).

With Internet Explorer, it might not work. Tomorrow I’ll give instructions on how to work around this. Come back then !

Day 6 – Parent Power

So the PM said yesterday that parents are to have more power over school provision – parents will be able to trigger action of a local authority if they are unhappy about standards.

We can expect the introduction of a “School Well Being Card” which diminishes the emphasis on League tables. It will ask parents whether they are happy about standards at their children’s school but will not just embrace results but the welfare and behaviour of the children at the school as well.

Quite. That’s what we want now. For our elected representatives to listen to what parents want; and for our unelected education officials to advise according to evidence and not allow urban myths to become fact.

Support us by leaving messages here or emailing us at save.middle.schools@googlemail.com.

Day 5 – Everybody else is doing it…

…everyone else is 2-tier, so it must be the best thing for us…?

The first time I heard this argument from a supposedly intelligent person (who shall remain nameless of course – this blog does not believe in naming and shaming) I nearly fell over in surprise. When did “one size fits all” come into education? Where does parental choice come in? And who pays for schools anyway?

Our point here is that change of school system is massively disruptive to children, teachers and communities. It is up to the supporters for change to show there is clear and unequivocal evidence that the benefits of change outweigh the risks. They haven’t. All of their arguments are built on sand and may be exposed as myths. This blog will, day-by-day, challenge these myths and give alternative more realistic views.

(to add a comment, click on the comment link below each diary entry and follow the instructions)

Day 4 – Education in Suffolk

Today a quote to explode the myth that Suffolk is a prime example of where two-tier was shown unequivocally to be better than three-tier. Jenny Symonds, a PhD researcher at the University of Cambridge Faculty of Education, published a review of the literature in January 2007 which states:

“…the data put forward by the Suffolk Review (2006), aimed to promote the advantages of a two over three tier system, can be equally used to indicate that the three tier system may actually be outperforming the two tier system with regards to transfer.”

Please use this information to challenge the myths that are being put forward locally…and if clear myths are being repeated even after counter-evidence is produced to show them as myths, does that not come dangerously close to deliberately misleading us?

Spread the word. The fight has just begun for parents’ (tax payers’!) voices to be heard.

Day 3 – Education in Northamptonshire

So, do education standards rise when authorities change from three tier to two tier? We are being told they have done in Suffolk as if it is unchallengeable.

Beware of simplistic arguments presented from complex data – it is the last resort of those who are trying to lie with statistics. Complex data result in complex arguments and the Suffolk results after partial change to two tier can, in fact, be used to support three tier education producing better results !

And why are we not focusing on the experience of Northamptonshire, who in Aug 2007 were officially the worst performing Education Authority in the country with the highest number of schools in special measures (25/320), and where one “good” Lower School was judged to be a “failing” Primary School after the change in status.

Northampton Schools After Two-Tier Change

This doesn’t sound like “education standards rise” to me…

Day 2 – A Letter to the Editor

So, our letter to the T&C is being edited this morning, incorporating the changes you have all suggested. Our focus in week 1 is in getting our plan together and focusing on the three key myths that are being held up as “the truth” under two-tier schooling. These are:

1. Education would improve – show us the evidence !

2. Building Schools for the Future money is contingent on change – no it isn’t ! And it probably won’t be there for us anyway…

http://www.tes.co.uk/article.aspx?storycode=6012617

3. Everyone else is doing it, so it must be right – yeah, right ! And that is probably the worst argument for a massive and disruptive change I have ever heard.

Please come with ideas to our meeting. Decisions need to be made quickly.

Day 1 – Launching SMS

So here we are again…fighting to save our middle schools…just written to the Times & Citizen and hope to speak to Ben Raza later today…keep in touch everyone…public news only to go here though…messages of support very welcome, expecially as I will then know you have found this blog !

(later in the day) Spoken to Ben at T&C – he must be OK – he’s a marathon runner – and when we’d stopped talking about running, we had a chat about schools for a couple of minutes. I’ll be sending in a letter responding to the consultation exercise on Sunday so all those who have received it, please reply to my email with comments…or of course leave public messages of support here !