Day 123 – More Government Cuts

Taken from the Guardian on Saturday 29th August.

The government is preparing to cut spending on its flagship academy programme, with schools’ sponsors told to expect a reduction in funding for each new academy school as soon as next year.

Academy leaders have been told to brace themselves for tighter spending from 2010 in the first admission that the government is preparing to reduce its spending in some areas of education.

Every day we hear more stories about future cuts in government spending on schools. It is inconceivable that Building Schools for the Future funding will be left untouched by the financial chaos the country is now in.

What is more worrying for Bedford Borough though, is that the BSF money only covers the 7 upper schools & Lincroft 11-16. The transformation of the 50 or so lower schools to primary schools are being funded out of thin air, in a feat of prestidigitation…

…or rather from the schools’ own budgets, as revealed by Cllr Headley during the summer holidays…more on this tomorrow…

Day 120 – As Time Goes By

A long time ago (in prehistoric days so our children tell us), SMS was told at school that a fair comparison involved apples on both sides of an equation, rather than apples and pears, or apples and avocados (both of which were employed by the non-consultation document).

However, there is another issue (for which I’ll struggle to find a fruity analogy sadly – any suggestions very welcome via a comment). The problem is of grade inflation over the years.

Without wishing to denigrate the efforts of all those hardworking GCSE candidates out there (especially ones sometime known by initials only and you know who you are) grades mean different things in different years.

Generally, Government pressure means that every year more candidates get higher grades than before, as was evidenced yesterday.

Add to this that the Government changes how it assesses “success” at GCSE every so often, and it becomes very difficult to decide whether the current crop of pupils have done brilliantly and better than previous generations, or whether the exams or marking schemes just got easier. And every August, journalists take one side or another – Boris Johnson wrote a very clever piece on this last Sunday.

Educational statisticians know that it is nigh on impossible to compare different cohorts of pupils – yet this is what our local bureaucrats have tried to do with their comparisons of KS1 and KS4 statistics – and make very strong conclusions that three-tier is to blame.

What nonsense. They must think the voting public is stupid. Well soon we will find out what voters really think.

Day 119 – Farewell Frank

Today is Frank Branston’s funeral and memorial service.

In the past week, this blog has been deliberately quieter than usual out of respect for Frank’s family and friends, many of whom are in opposition to SMS on the school structures issue.

Today we ask you to think of Frank and to celebrate all the good things he did for Bedford during his lifetime.

Day 116 – Underdogs

Everyone loves an underdog.

Maybe it started with the puny David lining up against the seemingly invincible Goliath? A bloodbath seemed the only logical conclusion, until David revealed his superior weaponry, but I’m sure all the cheers were for David right from the start.

It must be part of human nature, to support the plucky loser, the spirited campaign which must be doomed to failure. Except when it doesn’t fail. Like when Burnley beat Manchester United or England regain the Ashes (hurrah!).

When SMS began (over that now infamous glass or two of wine) both of us felt that we would lose but that we were going to fight anyway, backs to the walls, until the proverbial larger lady had voiced her last note. How could we compete with the might of Bedford’s bureaucracy, the political will of important local politicians, with the manipulation of public opinion that was taking place?

A lot of words have been written on this blog since then, thirty thousand hits have been recorded, with nine thousand signatures on our paper petition and 1100 on our online petition. We have been out on the streets judging public opinion, talked to parents in all parts of Bedford Borough, established communications with the media, engaged with local politicians, and fought for the right to be heard.

We have won a lot of battles; we may still lose the war. But we all still have the stomach for a fight, and that is what we shall continue to do.

Day 113 – TINA

In the days of swingeing Conservative cuts to public services after Labour had wrecked the public finances….and no, we’re talking the past not the future here…back in the 80s. You know the sort of country we lived in, with rising unemployment, the threat of terrorism, England losing at cricket…oh well, plus ca change…

In those days, there was an acronym Margaret Thatcher used with seemingly alarming regularity – TINA – There Is No Alternative (it referred to the neoliberalist economic policies of free markets, free trade and capitalist globalisation, apparently, but thank goodness this blog doesn’t have to debate neoliberalism).

SMS has heard that phrase (TINA, not neoliberalism!) behind many of the public pronouncements of the bureaucrats and manipulators who still believe in the dogma of two-tier. It is actually a shrill and desperate form of intellectual argument, indicating that these people have run out of ideas and this must be the only way forward.

Rubbish.

To persuade yourselves that you are right and the overwhelming majority of people in Bedford are wrong is a sign that power has changed you; that you have descended from the young, fresh-thinking visionary, to the world-weary cynic.

It happens to all leaders eventually of whichever political hue and is certainly true in the business world or indeed any other organisation as well. That is why power corrupts and leaders inevitably fall either on their own swords or by the hand of others.

There is an alternative in Bedford. The alternative is to enhance and develop the much-loved three-tier education system, to build new schools where they are needed and to refurbish existing schools with facilities fit for the next 50 years. This is both educationally sound and financially prudent. That is why SMS calls for:

Evolution not Revolution

Day 112 – The Future

Yesterday it was announced that Frank Branston will have a family funeral next Thursday (August 27th) followed by a memorial service at 4:30 at Bedford Corn Exchange.

SMS understands that the date for the election of a new Mayor will not be announced until after the funeral and that it is likely that this will be somewhere between mid-October and early November.

The School Organisation Review has been suspended until the new Mayor has been elected, although the bureaucrats will continue to work on the report…presumably they will be preparing two versions now…

Now is not the time to discuss the implications of all of this, so we would ask contributors not to post comments about the future election. Any such comments will be removed (and would be the first time that we have had to remove unsuitable material).

Day 111 – Nelson and the Ashes of Bedford School Sport

In England, the score 111 is called a “Nelson” (aye aye eye I think it comes from) and is regarded as unlucky for a batsman. One umpire (David Shepherd?) even used to dance a jig at square leg when a batsman or team was on that particular figure in a superstitious attempt to induce good luck. The Aussies have the same issue with 87 (13 short of a century).

All England can hope for in the next few days is that Australian batsmen get stuck on lower scores than 87 or 111…13 would do it for me…or preferably a duck…eleven of them…

Unfortunately we are likely to see the Ashes of England cricket once more returned to their current home…

Of course, should the decision be made to go two-tier, Years 5 and 6 will not experience as much sport (including cricket) within school. Primary schools have an impoverished curriculum compared to middle schools in this respect…something to do with a lack of specialist teaching and fewer male teachers perchance?

This doesn’t show up in test results because you can’t measure it easily- which also explains why parents understand what is important more than bureaucrats in air-conditioned offices reading the latest gradgrind production figures from schools.

The Ashes of Bedford School Sport ? Very possibly I’m afraid…

Day 110 – Polls and Votes

When is a vote not a vote? When you lose it, that’s when…

Martin Fletcher’s Hastingsbury poll was taken down yesterday and, whilst SMS has ridiculed this in the past for very good reasons (it allowed multiple voting from the same computer), it did show 71.1% of votes in favour of retaining three-tier education, a figure broadly in line with our experiences of campaigning on the streets of Bedford on this issue.

SMS wonders whether the public “vote” during the recent consultation process was for three-tier? It always has been in every authority that has ever conducted this type of review and was strongly in favour of retention in 2006. Considering the strength of feeling SMS has encountered, the vote would lack authenticity and not have the “ring of truth” about it should it be in favour of two-tier.

This is why, should the “vote” be in the other direction, SMS will work tirelessly to discover if there has been any unusual or misleading voting patterns in order to sway councillors’ opinions on this.

Interesting things, votes…every one counts…except when you lose…

Day 109 – The Start of the (Political) Football Season

Yesterday, Michael Gove (the Shadow Education Spokesman) had a lot of media coverage as he put forward some of the Conservative Party’s visions for education.

Many in Education must have felt their heart sink – not at the prospect of a change in Government (although for some that may be true) but at education being used as a political football yet again.

Both main parties realise that education is close to many voters’ hearts; that it is (relatively) easy to do something to for a Government, and that nobody will be able to prove whether the reforms have worked or not because (and this is crucial) the Government controls or at least influences strongly the assessment measures.

Here we go again. A new Government would mean wholesale changes in assessment, just at the time that schools are facing a massive expansion of post-16 education as this becomes compulsory and changes in post-14 education come online.

A change in assessment (by awarding different value to different GCSE or A-level subjects) would mean that Bedford would need to re-examine its results relative to the national average – and who knows what will come out of that. Importantly, schools would then need to redesign the focus of their curriculum if they wished to maximise their points scoring under the new system.

Amidst all this change in curriculum and assessment, Bedford Borough are proposing a huge chaotic switch to a different system of schooling, one that actually doesn’t fit the 14-19 curriculum very well ! It does indeed beggar belief that we will waste public resources in this way during a world recession.

Here is a link to Michael Gove’s BBC interview – SMS will leave it to their contributors today to discuss the implications of the detail.

Day 106 (ii) – Frank Branston

Frank Branston, who died today, was a man who served the people of Bedford for many years as an opinion former, journalist, local businessman and entrepreneur, and politician.

Whilst this blog did not agree with Frank’s opinions on the schools debate, and many robust conversations in print were had on this subject, this is the time to remember the positive contribution he made to Bedford.

We should also be mindful that Frank has family and friends who will grieve for him, and that they should be allowed space and time to do just that, although inevitably this will be difficult for them in the coming weeks.

So, raise a glass to celebrate the life of a man who was indeed larger than life, and remember Frank’s good points – for that is something that everyone deserves at the end of their time on this earth.

This blog will also be closed for a day or two as a mark of respect.

Day 106 – The Irony of “Luddites vs Fantasists”

One very interesting aspect of the two-tier lobby’s campaign is their enthusiasm to have SMS portrayed as opposed to change and therefore stuck in the past – Luddites who don’t want these new-fangled ideas brought in – romantics remembering falsely a golden age of education in Bedford.

Of course, intelligent readers of this blog (all of you of course !) will see that as an attempt to discredit the people not the arguments, and indeed, once debate is reduced to this level, then intellectual engagement has been lost.

The Luddites were a group of textile workers who opposed progression during the Industrial Revolution often by destroying mechanised looms. They did this because they believed their jobs and way of life would be under threat.

Schools systems are not the same as mechanisation of industrial processes. Many different systems of education exist around the world and nobody agrees on what is best.

What is generally accepted is that change within a child’s education is disruptive and that the more change and disruption there is, the more likely that child is to have an impoverished education. Stability is critical. So why create chaos for a generation of children by this change then?

Ironically, the two-change lobby believe that the current system is too disruptive, involving two changes of school not one – never mind the alternative view that two well-managed transitions can be better than one harsh move – never mind that there is no evidence that one transition is better than two in terms of narrow results – never mind that no recent upper school Ofsted reports indicate issues with transition.

So, again ironically, SMS would say that those who believe (based on no evidence whatsoever) that two-tier will produce a step-change in education in Bedford Borough, are fantasists, dreamers, believers in future perfect.

But listen to the arguments being put forward, not the positions of the people who say them (especially when they have vested interests), nor when they make personal attacks on others…(which of course just adds to the irony of today’s blog)

Educationally this is wrong; financially this is terrible; oppose the change

Day 105 – Better Late Than Never

An evening edition of the blog today…it was just too nice a day to sit around on a computer…

…and just a simple one today:

How many of those that are proposing a switch to two tier education have children who will be affected by the decision?

How many of those with school aged children (younger than Year 9 now) have them educated privately or in neighbouring counties?

It’s very easy to make decisions that affect other people’s children negatively and your own careers or positions positively…

Day 104 – Teacher Training & Recruitment

This blog has pondered on teacher training and recruitment before and wonders how much weight our councillors will put on this entirely spurious argument.

To clarify and reiterate, a good middle school is a vibrant melting pot of ideas from primary and secondary practice which allows those practitioners to learn from each other and apply the best of both worlds.

Teacher training is often disjointed, with secondary courses concentrating on KS3 and KS4 without much consideration of what goes before (or after in some cases). Primary courses, on the other hand have many skills and competencies to teach and, whilst specialisms exist, they are very much a minority component.

When primary-trained and secondary-trained teachers come together there is a dynamic and creative mix with an age-range of pupils that is ready to learn without a great deal of the emotional baggage that comes later in their school careers.

That is precisely why independent prep schools all over the country are so popular, and why middle years education exists in so many countries in the world, albeit in so many varied forms.

There is also the myth that teachers are more difficult to recruit in Bedford that other places owing to our “antiquated” school system. Well, apart from there being no evidence for this apart from the assertions of the same old tiny band of vocal and influential two-tier supporters, teachers rarely move huge distances geographically unless promotions are in the offing.

Most teachers teach in areas in which they were brought up, or were trained, or where their partners jobs took them. Once they live in an area, they look for an appropriate job. In Bedfordshire, primary specialists therefore make a decision whether to teach early years in a small lower school or try something different at a larger middle school. Secondary specialists essentially choose between educating children or training adolescents for the outside world.

Leadership opportunites abound in middle schools and are suitable for a wider range of candidates than lower or upper schools. Prep school headmasters for instance are often taken from the ranks of “housemasters” from senior independent schools. Middle school heads could quite easily have been heads of KS3 at large secondary schools.

These issues are red herrings which councillors should be aware of before they vote on this issue. The educational arguments just do not add up. Rather like the finances in fact.

Day 103 – Government & Schools

Whilst we are changing school system, and filling our teachers, managers and bureaucrats’ time with all the major planning and execution necessary…do you think tthat central government will stop issuing education edicts, alterations to the curriculum, circulars, guidance notes…?

Of course they won’t…

They might even ditch the whole National Curriculum…who knows?

And while our teachers are struggling to cope with the demands of change management, what will happen to their focus on the examination groups in Years 10-13? Do you think they might be distracted from their main role?

Yes, so do we. And maybe that is one of the reasons why results have plummeted in Northampton after the change in 2005.

One of the most sensible comments of the whole campaign from a retired governor who said “One of the things that teachers and pupils need is a period of stability”. Then they will have the time to make things work.

Indeed – change can be good – but not when it is this ill-thought through both educationally and financially.

The more we look into this, the more the whole thing is a complete nonsense.

Day 102 – The State of the Nation

Opening up the Sunday newspaper yesterday revealed a tale of doom and gloom.

The Conservatives, should they gain power next May or June) are considering raising VAT to 20% because they can’t identify sufficient cuts in spending to even attempt to balance the country’s books.

The Conservatives. Raising taxes. As an election promise.

Blimey. It is bad isn’t it. The country is in such a woeful financial state, that the unthinkable is happening.

Unfortunately, that is precisely what may happen in the immediate aftermath of a mid-2010 election – the unthinkable. Public spending will be uder immense pressure and already-promised funds will be being cut. Remember, BSF is not guaranteed, but “allocated” from future Government spending plans, should funds be available.

It doesn’t matter what PfS say; it doesn’t matter what the DCSF say. What really matters is if their political bosses decide to make swingeing cuts.

If SMS were gamblers, we’d put money on just that – cuts, cuts, cuts. And then, our school system change will start to look distinctly dodgy; yesterday’s plan; going off; a bit whiffy.

This is an impending disaster that we only hope that councillors can foresee – otherwise they will be responsible for financial chaos in Bedford Borough after their first major decision as a Unitary Authority.</em

Day 101 – Wasting Public Money

A sunny day in Bedford yesterday as SMS collected more signatures in the sun. There were many others out there too – including the Borough’s official Bedford Bypass petition, which some of us signed.

The Borough had obviously spent a lot of money on their stand and associated literature and were paying the staff manning it overtime. A bit like SMS then…lol.

It was interesting that there were quite a few opponents to the Borough’s bypass who were quite vocal about issue such as environmentalism, building roads through green fields, discouraging car use etc.

However, the Borough still uses public money to fund a petition…

Not sure we agree with public money being used in this way, although personally we might agree with the cause and be prepared to sign…

Sounds a bit like spending £60K plus officials’ time (which is very expensive and likely to be at least as much again) on the flawed non-consultation exercise…which may end up with the imposition of a system change that the majority certainly doesn’t want.

What a waste of public money

Day 100: Finance: A Summary

Today, for reference, SMS links to the main Financial arguments we have used so far, in reverse order…starting from the most recent…

The State of the Nation

The Reply from PfS

A Financial Scandal Unfolding

A Financial Conundrum

BSF & PfS

Councillors’ Financial Responsibilities

Council Tax Set To Soar

Wasting Public Money

The Money Game

The Pot of Gold

The Real Cost of BSF

Readiness to Deliver

You Have Won the Lottery

2+2=5

BSF Funding – Is it a Fantasy?

Money, Money, Money

Day 99 – The Reply from PfS

Day 89 of this blog detailed a letter sent by SMS to Partnership for Schools (PfS) – the quango that doles out the ever-diminishing Pot of Gold that is BSF money. The full reply is given below but is summarised here:

As of today, Bedford Borough, according to PfS, has funding which is simply “earmarked”.

Also, and very worryingly for everyone who is relying on the BSF funding for secondary schools…as PfS say…

“It remains possible, however, for Government to change policy at any point. In other words, no absolute assurance can ever be given on whether a programme will commence to its ultimate end.”

Quite.

And who believes this money will be available in full after the next election?

————————————————————————-

Sent: Wednesday, July 29, 2009 4:16 PM
Subject: Re: BSF bid for Bedford Borough

Thank you for your email. We will respond to your two questions separately:

1. Would you kindly advise me how this unequivical commitment will actually express itself – e.g. a simple letter from PfS restating this or perhaps a legally binding contract that ensures the funds will not disappear after the expected change of Government next May/June or something else.

Partnerships for Schools operates a detailed process for evaluating and approving (once all criteria have been met) each local authority’s (LA) BSF proposals. The first formal stage, following entry to the programme, is to produce a Strategy for Change that sets out the LA’s education vision and estates strategy for all the secondary schools in its area.

An Outline Business Case (OBC) is subsequently produced, reviewed and approved once all issues have been met. At this point an approval letter is issued to the LA, which sets out a commitment in principle to fund the project, subject to submission of a Final Business Case (FBC) at the conclusion of the procurement process to find the delivery partner (the Local Education Partnership) that will deliver the original BSF vision and strategy.

Approval of the FBC, and the subsequent issue of a Promissory Note, is the final step in releasing funding to the LA for its BSF programme, but the approval of an OBC is representative of an approval to go out to procure and is taken as the formal approval for the LA’s proposals, subject to confirmation in the FBC that nothing material has changed, and if it has that there is sufficient justification for this.

Funding is, however, committed in principle for the group of schools specified as having entered the BSF programme after a Remit meeting (this is the stage Bedford Borough is currently at), but not finally confirmed until the steps outlined above have been achieved. This describes the process as it exists at present, and there is no indication that it will change before or after a general election, but obviously Partnerships for Schools, as a delivery agency, does not have any remit over policy decision, current or future.

2. I understand you operate a 6 stage process with each LEA – pre-engagement, strategy for change,outline business case, procurement, financial close,operational lep. Would Bedford Borough need to be past a certain stage in this process to ensure that funds were not cut part way through the building programme?

As set out above, this is usually assumed to be at OBC (the end of the ‘preparatory work’ the Mayor referred to above). It remains possible, however, for Government to change policy at any point. In other words, no absolute assurance can ever be given on whether a programme will commence to its ultimate end, but that is irrespective of the current political context and timetable for future elections.

I hope this information helps.

It certainly does, it certainly does…

Day 98 – A Financial Scandal Unfolding

SMS has always recognised that the proposed lower-primary change is woefully underfunded. Our position has always been that this has not been properly costed, that estimates by others with knowledge of educational buildings projects are getting on for double the highest estimate from the Borough, and that council taxes will have to rise or services will be cut.

Today in the Times & Citizen, Michael Headley reveals that the source of any borrowing to fund the lower-primary change will not be the overall council budget.

Phew. That’s alright then. No rise in council tax and no services cut.

Ah…not quite. The money has to come from somewhere. And that somewhere is the Dedicated Schools Grant, which is the money allocated to pay for everything that schools provide – teachers, support staff, resources – you know, the things that make a school run properly.

Anyway, this brilliant plan means that if the Borough’s estimate of £30M borrowing is correct, then this equates to a 2% cut in funding for the overall budget. Potentially for 25 years. If they’ve got their sums right.

And if they haven’t got their sums right, then schools will lose even more money potentially…because the financial principle has now been established.

Every lower school should look at this and decide how they are going to save this money, because if they can’t, then why are any of them supporting this damaging proposal?

Day 97 – Standards

Yesterday the educational news story of the day was a drop in standards at KS2. Apparently, the results dropped by about 1% since last year.

Let’s all panic then. The teachers have got worse at teaching. The pupils are less clever than last year. The sun is going to fall out of the sky.

Or maybe the tests were just different. The marking more rigorous, or just standardised differently.

The analysis of educational results is not simple and there isn’t a consensus amongst educational statisticians, apart from that it keeps them in careers.

So when the consultation document produced a page of statistics purporting to show it was ‘obvious’ that standards were worse than other ‘comparable’ areas, we should all be deeply sceptical.

And when the consultation document indicates that it is obvious that our schools structure is responsible for this, be highly suspicious.

Beware simple solutions to complex problems.

The reality is that all schools have unique problems which can be tackled mainly by the provision of resources and leadership. Creative solutions exist for nearly all educational problems but this requires transformational leadership and resources targeted at real need. Our educational bureaucrats obviously do not possess this.

Day 96 – Educational Underspend in Bedford

In Bedfordshire during 2008-9 we spent £3,961 per pupil on education; the national average is £187 (sorry £197) per pupil higher and we are £79 per pupil behind our statistical neighbours.

It is self-evident that the more money is available per pupil, then the higher the quality of educational provision is possible, as long as of course this money was given direct to schools rather than spent on bureaucracy.

To put this in context, in a school of 400 pupils (a nice human-sized middle school for example), this would provide about £80K extra. This might be 2 teachers’ worth. Meaning that other teachers could be freed to concentrate on liaison with lower and upper schools – that troublesome transition that Ofsted hasn’t seemed to have identified in any reports…or it could provide extra Learning Support Assistants, or help provide extra subject specialists, or funding for visits, or books, or computers, or…

Oh well, perhaps the nanny-state knows best after all. Maybe schools don’t need that money. Maybe it would be wasted on schools.

Maybe we need to ask local government why we are underspending on our children?

POSTSCRIPT: In 2009-10 in Bedford Borough, the underspend was £220 per pupil – even greater – and that is another £8K for that average middle school. Astonishing.

Day 95 – A Financial Conundrum

First of all, everyone associated with this campaign wishes Frank Branston a speedy recovery from his two operations after an aortic aneurysm.

We met on Wednesday afternoon in his office to “clear the air” and he appeared in good form. Nobody knows when ill-health will strike and perhaps we should all be thankful for this above all else.

Today’s blog is extracted from Frank’s blog of July 12th when the decision-making process was discussed. One of his respondents (“A Governor”, who does post here occasionally as well in a balanced way) discussed in some detail the difference between the upper-secondary funding plan versus the lower-primary funding, from their experience of a schools building project.

The estimate of the lower-primary switch that “A Governor” comes up with is nearly double the highest figure the education officials have come up with…

To put this in context, Frank had mentioned that the BSF money had already been allocated.

From “A Governor”
We could debate the positive feeling the word “allocated” creates, but whether one’s preference is for significant change or incremental change, it is actually the funding of the move from lower to primary that is the biggest financial concern with the proposal.

As you say, £340m spread between 8 secondary schools is a well funded programme. However, the other piece of this jigsaw is the maybe £45m that needs to fund turning 50-odd lower schools into primaries.

I will reiterate that, because of its huge significance – £340m spread across 8 secondary schools and £45m spread across 50 primary schools.

By definition, move two year groups from middle schools to uppers (secondaries) and retaining two year groups from middles to lowers (primaries) means that broadly the same number of additional children will need to be accommodated at both ends of this transition. Most people would accept that secondaries are more expensive because of their requirement for specialist facilities and so would expect a larger proportion of funding to go to secondaries – but, hey, come on there is a massive disparity in the Borough’s assumptions. I will say again, £340m between 8 schools and just £45m between 50 schools – the numbers are just not comparable.

Looking at this objectively we have figures produced for the new Biddenham loop schools where Mike Berrill has needed to propose two solutions; 3-tier and 2-tier and the difference between a 3-tier lower and a 2-tier primary is £2.7m. This £2.7m difference between lower and primary is for 2-form entry.

My school is in the slightly unusual position that we have architectural drawings for how we would accommodate a change to 2-tier primary. We have 1/2-form entry and the build cost of the change is around 800k.

Comparing Mike Berrill’s figure with our figure demonstrates quite a good correlation between the costs of moving from 3-tier lower to 2-tier primary at around £1.4m per 1-form entry.

In the consultation document we end up with (roughly) 75-form entry across the Borough or around £100-110m to transform all lowers to primaries.

All of the above assumes full permanent accommodation for children as I understand is the plan. The above also doesn’t take into account any overhead incurred by working through a LEP (the NAO’s view seems to be that there is overhead, rather than savings in the experience todate).

As I stated at the beginning, we could debate a preference for incremental rather than massive change but the numbers are deeply worrying whatever your view.

Day 94 – A Day Off

Everyone deserves a day off, and so does your blog writer – so SMS have blogged off for the day. Back tomorrow…

Day 93 – Education: A Summary

Today, for reference, SMS links to the main Educational arguments we have used so far, in reverse order…starting from the most recent…

Suffolk Halts Change to Two-Tier

Teacher Training and Recruitment

Educational Underspend in Bedford

Standards

GCSE Choices

The KS1 Myth

The Transition Myth

The End of the National Curriculum

Sharnbrook & Suffolk

A Sporting Chance

Thinking Independently

The Peers School Oxford

Statistical Neighbours with Grammar Schools

Personal Experiences of Middle Schools

Middle School Teachers

2,3 or 4-Tier?

Education in Northamptonshire

Day 92 – Change We Don’t Need

Last week, the Times & Citizen published a 300 word piece from SMS summarising our position. It is reprinted here.

Educationally, the arguments used for change are weak or non-existent. Crucially there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that a move to two-tier will mean an improvement in our children’s education. In fact, authorities that have made this switch have seen massive disruption to a generation of children, schools and communities, and a sharp drop in GCSE results which persists for many years.

Financially, there is no business case, no detailed plan, just an assumption that this hugely complex change can be funded. The lower to primary change in particular is woefully under resourced. This is a critical flaw and will result in either Council Tax rising and remaining high for many years or savage cuts in other vital council services.

The Government has recently confirmed that BSF funding (only available for secondary schools) is not dependent on change to our school system and that it is an entirely local decision. The private sector has long recognised the value of middle years (or “prep” school) education. As the Rose Report (April 2009) has recommended more specialist teaching in Years 5&6, we could be said to be ahead of the game – pioneers of an education system for the 21st century.

The consultation process has been very one-sided. We are being asked to trust officials who produced a consultation document littered with errors, and containing many assertions but very little evidence. The analysis of results is deeply flawed and uses statistics selectively, comparing apples with pears at several points.

There are no compelling reasons to change our current system of lower, middle and upper schools. So let us work together to gain BSF funding and produce a transformation of education that will result in a model three-tier schools system for the next 50 years.

If you agree with us, you should TAKE ACTION NOW

Day 91 – Authenticity

Time to take stock after only 13 weeks of this organisation existing!

SMS isn’t two blokes and a dog called Scruffy. Neither is it a large highly-organised lobbying association. It is a loose collection of parents, teachers, governors, grandparents and other senior citizens from across Bedford Borough. We have no funding. No bureaucratic machinery. No voice – apart from this blog of course.

It started over a glass of wine between two very concerned parents who had protested in 2006 at the potential change but hadn’t really thought we’d win then either. We decided that we’d fight this because we believed in the arguments, to provide an opposition and to represent the people who we knew were on our side but didn’t want to get involved.

We were shocked at how much support we immediately received

This support is authentic. It isn’t contrived. It isn’t a bunch of professional malcontents.

When we talk to groups of people, naturally 50-75% of people stop, smile and support us (why not read Sally and Sue’s comments to Day 86 about petitioning in Bedford Town Centre last Saturday). Another 10-25% of people can be won round with the arguments against change fairly easily. Everyone recognises the problems with two-tier, except a small group of influential people who are trying to push through this damaging change.

Fortunately, we now have a Full Council vote on this issue, where every councillor can make their vote count, and take the responsibility for saving Bedford’s education system from disarray. In Northampton when the vote was for change, none of the councillors there believed they were doing anything that would damage a child’s education. It just happened that way – remember, they have the most schools in special measures or on notices to improve of any authority in the country.

Our campaign to save three tier education is authentic; it is the belief of the majority of ordinary people; we ask councillors to listen to the voice that represents those people.

You can help by phoning the councillors to let them know your opinion.

Day 90 – GCSE choices

Thanks to the 7 councillors SMS met with last night for a presentation and discussion. Especially those of you who are reading this right now. We hope to present and meet with the remaining councillors during August.

One of the issues that was mentioned again last night was GCSE choices in the new larger Secondary schools.

As the children have moved up at Year 7, there is more time for teachers to get to know the children before GCSE choices have to be made midway during Year 9.

This would be true…IF teachers remained in post for an indefinite period of time.

This would be true…IF teachers taught the same pupils year after year (in a huge secondary school this is so unlikely as to be ridiculous).

This would be true…IF teachers actually knew the names of every child (possible in a human-sized school, very unlikely in a school of 2000 pupils).

The reality of GCSE choices in a massive secondary school is that they are only really thought about in Year 9 and that teachers face mostly new pupils every year, which is one of the advanced skills of teaching. This would be especially true if there is a “school-within-a-school” as proposed in the Biddenham Campus Project.

We need to be careful about creating an idealist vision of what the Brave New World of two-tier would actually look like.

We have a structure that works. It isn’t perfect, but we should target resources at the aspects that need improvement. Wholesale change is unnecessary and wasteful of public resources. Public resources that almost certainly won’t exist.

Contact the councillors to let them know what you think.

Day 89 – BSF and PfS

BSF money is administered by the PfS (Partnership for Schools) on behalf of the DCSF. Yet another layer of bureaucracy. Yet another quango. Yet another way to hide the way decisions are made behind closed doors.

————————————————————————–

To: info@partnershipsforschools.org.uk
Sent: Wednesday, July 22, 2009 5:32 PM
Subject: BSF bid for Bedford Borough

Dear Sir/Madam

Prior to gaining approval for a BSF project to proceed , Bedford Borough Council are to vote in September on whether the current 3 tier education system will survive for the future.

We detail delow a statement from our Mayor’s blog on 12th July.

“I am as cynical as anybody about government statements but last week I was present when Bedford’s plans were being reviewed by civil servants seconded to the BSF programme.

They praised the work Bedford had done in preparation for Building Schools for the Future and said unequivocally that the money was committed to Bedford once its strategy and preparatory work had been approved.

I am good at listening for weasel words and I didn’t hear; and nor did the Bedford officers who were also present. My judgement is that the civil servants meant what they said providing the preparatory work is done before a new government takes over. ”

The civil servants our Mayor refers to were from Partnerships for Schools.

Could I ask you 2 related questions.

1. Would you kindly advise me how this unequivical commitment will actually express itself – e.g. a simple letter from PfS restating this or perhaps a legally binding contract that ensures the funds will not disappear after the expected change of Government next May/June or something else.

2. I understand you operate a 6 stage process with each LEA – pre-engagement, strategy for change, outline business case, procurement, financial close, operational detail. Would Bedford Borough need to be past a certain stage in this process to ensure that funds were not cut part way through the building programme?

Please respond at your earliest convenience as this is very important to the education of children in our Borough.

Thanking you in anticipation of a prompt response,

————————————————————————————————-

No reply has yet been received to this query – perhaps you would like to let our councillors know that they could be remembered for years as the turkeys who did indeed vote for Christmas.

Financial and educational chaos in one fell swoop.

What a legacy for the Mayor and his councillors !

Day 88 – Dear Frank

Today we print an open letter to the Mayor of Bedford Borough, Frank Branston. This has been sent by email to him as well and we invite his open reply as a comment on this blog.

Dear Frank,

We are writing to you to express our concern over several matters.

Firstly, we were worried by your refusal to accept in person our 8000-strong petition last Friday. For a man who obviously believes in petitions (re: Western Bypass) to be filmed by BBC Look East running away from a crowd of smiling, happy schoolchildren bearing nothing more than a box with names and addresses on, was both comical and deeply saddening. You might be interested to learn that a further 600 signatures were obtained on Saturday in Bedford Town Centre, with the overwhelming majority of people in favour of retention. They were queueing to talk to us !

Secondly, we are confused by your interpretation of “Full Council vote” on this issue that you gave to us during public questions two weeks ago. A Full Council vote under the mayoral system means that should you choose to stick to your guns, the second time round at Full Council you only need 1/3 of councillors to agree with you. This surely isn’t democratic when you have such massive opposition amongst ordinary taxpayers and voters. We therefore urge you to make an announcement as soon as possible that, should Full Council decide by a simple majority to stay with three-tier, you and your Executive will agree to abide by this.

Thirdly, we are disturbed by your refusal to allow us to present to you in private along with councillors during the next 5 weeks, in order that you can be fully briefed about our side of the story and so that we can establish a dialogue.

Fourthly, we are extremely concerned that the “informal debate” you announced at Full Council two weeks ago will be yet another one-sided and misleading process, but this time conducted behind closed doors. Please publish your proposed format so that we can decide whether to take part.

If you wish to discuss these matters in private before making a public announcement to us then we are available to meet this week.

We do hope you give these matters your urgent attention.

Regards,

Tony Dadd
On behalf of Save Middle Schools

Don’t forget to contact your councillors to let them know your views

Day 87 – Bullies

Some of us at SMS were bullied at school…(yeah, I know, it all makes sense now)…but we got through it without too much damage…and one thing we learned to do was to face up to bullies by showing courage.

It takes many kinds of courage to be part of a campaign going against the obvious wishes of bureaucrats, politicians and most of the senior educational establishment in these parts.

The sort of people that are showing those kinds of courage were on the streets of Bedford Town Centre yesterday, talking to ordinary people, mums and dads, taxpayers and voters.

The sort of people collecting signatures were people who have never done this sort of thing before but who are committed to education – the sort of people that schools need desperately to stay engaged and be school governors, parent-teacher liaison, fundraisers.

Another 600 signatures were obtained in one day, to add to the 8000 or so that were handed in on Friday to Brian Glover in the Mayor’s absence.

We are still collecting signatures with a target of over 10000 now and if any of our new (or old) readers would like to help our cause please contact us at save.middle.schools@googlemail.com.

If even more of us show courage, then we can stand up to the bullying approach of people who say “they know best”.

Contact your local councillor to let them know how you feel today.

Day 86 – Of Mayors and Men

Yesterday was a very strange day. It was a day when SMS tried to present a petition containing nearly 8000 signatures to Phil Simpkins (Chief Exec of Bedford Borough) having given him a week’s notice that a small delegation would be coming.

We requested that either Phil, the Mayor or the highest ranking person in the Borough should be there to accept the petition.

The notice we gave was also copied openly to the local press – newspapers, radio and TV and to all 3 MPs – Nadine, Alistair and Patrick.

So, at the appointed time, SMS arrived – about 25 adults and children – good-natured, happy, concerned taxpayers and voters. The sort of people that give up their time for their communities; help raise money for local charities; sit on parent-teacher committees or who are governors.

The Mayor was inside Borough Hall; SMS was outside.

A security guard emerged to say that only 2 people would be allowed inside to present the petition as agreed (?).

SMS asked if the Mayor would like to come outside.

Apparently not.

A stand-off ensued for 5-10 minutes during which the assembled media seemed part amused, part astonished.

Eventually SMS walked inside to hand over the petition to see the Mayor scuttle away to leave “someone else” to accept it.

Scary people, these taxpayers and voters, with their “loaded” petitions.

This story could run and run (a bit like the Mayor)…but quite frankly, it’s just our senior local politician getting himself into a bit of a pickle. Remind us again why some of us voted for him?

Perhaps you would like to contact your local councillors to let them know what you think of this.

Links to Press Coverage of petition day
BBC 3CR – 1hr 55mins in…
Heart FM
BBC Look East – 6:30pm news item (second after Norwich South Bye-Election)

Day 85 – The Numbers Game

Today at 10:30am a petition containing nearly 8000 signatures will be presented to Bedford Borough’s Chief Executive Phil Simpkins by a delegation of parents and children from across Bedford Borough.

We expect by the time the decision is made to have collected in excess of 10,000 signatures.

This blog has now received 25,000 hits.

£340M of BSF funding cannot be used for the lower-primary change which means that the primary change will be underfunded, chaotic and disorganised.

3.5% or more on council tax or cuts in services to fund primary change.

20-30,000 children will be affected by any decision to change to two-tier over the next 10 years or longer.

300-500 middle school teachers have been told they will be allocated one ring-fenced job in a primary or secondary school and if they refuse will have assumed to have resigned.

Brian Glover has claimed that 100 “youngsters” per year group are being disadvantaged at GCSE by our system.

Zero evidence that two-tier education produces better results than three-tier.

Nobody knows how many children take Key Stage 1 in state lower schools and then go on to take their GCSEs in independent schools.

Bedford Borough could vote to change to two-tier with only 1/3 of Full Council supporting the decision (12 out of the 36 councillors plus the mayor need to support two-tier)…which is why SMS wants to speak to every councillor during the summer.

£20-40K to take the council to Judicial Review based on a flawed consultation process.

…and this is Democracy?

Contact your councillor today to let them know how you feel

Day 84 – Press Coverage

Today in the Times & Citizen , SMS lays out it’s case in 300 words – a blog-length in other words. You can compare this to Brian Glover’s piece in favour of the change and please let us know what you think by commenting on this here amd writing letters of support to the T&C…

SMS has received some very even-handed coverage from the press during the 12 weeks we have been in existence, so a big thank you to the T&C, BoS, Heart FM Bedford, BBC 3CR and BBC Look East. We are not professional lobbyists and it would have been easy to misrepresent our views.

We haven’t promised anyone cars or holidays for favourable coverage – not even a beer (mmm beer) – all we have done is advertise what we are doing and why we are doing it…and the stories have continued to be written…fairly and proportionately with both sides asked for their views…so the Fourth Estate has been shown to be effective in Bedford…and long may it continue…

However, some of our opponents have portrayed us as conducting an aggressively organised campaign, especially with reference to the official consultation meeting held at Sharnbrook Upper School.

Oh were that the case ! On that evening, only 2 members of SMS were present and they thought that the over-riding feel would be pro-two-tier. The audience actually surprised us with its vehement rejection of the bureaucrats’ proposals. Most of those making the loudest representations were not even known to us ! How authentic can you get ?!

Wherever SMS has been in Bedford Borough, the ordinary parent view has been overwhelmingly in our favour, even without knowing the arguments against change. When these arguments are given, around 90% of parents are on our side.

This is what has been so worrying about the consultation process – two sides of the story have not been heard by everyone – and the consultation document itself (which is a disgrace) is the only point of reference for most parents, apart from of course what schools have communicated.

Tomorrow, the consultation period ends. You have only 1 day left to persuade all your friends and acquaintances to fill in the consultation document…then we shall see what the people have said…

TAKE ACTION NOW

Day 83 – Authenticity

First of all, thank you to everyone who emailed, texted and phoned BBC 3CR after Monday’s breakfast show. Stephen Rhodes was inundated with support for three-tier. This shows what we can achieve just by adding something to this blog. Keep it up – we need to keep making a noise.

Some would say that this is a form of manipulation, but when many people all respond the same way from a simple request at the drop of a hat, it doesn’t take a genius to work out that we have genuine passionate support. Our views have authenticity…

…unlike the supporters of two-tier, who appear to be a handful of individuals involved in education. Unfortunately, these individuals are influential and they have the machinery of bureaucracy at their disposal. So official documents arrive in parents’ hands with recommendations to change to two-tier.

These documents have included often one-sided, sometimes misleading and occasionally inaccurate comments. Parents are busy people. They haven’t got time to research the other side of the story. They are used to accepting recommendations that at first glance appear authoritative and unchallengeable.

Many of these parents have voted for two-tier in the consultation process with no idea of the potential consequences because they were not allowed to hear both sides of the story. This, of course, would be one of our legal arguments should this ever come to Judicial Review.

The views of the two-tier lobby, when they present them in public, lack authenticity. They struggle to get popular support without controlling information flow. They have never been keen to debate in public with their opposition.

The thing about authenticity is that intelligent people in politics and the media will realise SMS are not the aggressive Luddites we have been made out to be by certain members of the educational establishment.

The truth is – we represent the majority of parents.

TAKE ACTION NOW – DO SOMETHING TO HELP US TODAY</str

Day 82 – Education in Bedford Borough

The main reason given for change is that educational standards are not sufficiently high, but that these will improve if we change to two-tier.

This is of course nonsense and an argument favoured by salesmen the world over – “Is there something wrong with your life? Buy X and all will be well again”.

Never believe anyone who presents simple solutions to complex problems, especially when there is absolutely no evidence to link educational standards to school structures.

This blog has reported on statistics many times previously – myths associated with GCSE results, KS1 SATs, transition effects, etc – you can use the search box on the right hand side of the page to refresh your memory of these or other linked blogs.

Even if you don’t believe SMS that the statistics presented in the consultation document are one-sided, misleading and inaccurate, you should still be aware that there is no evidence that switching to two-tier will make anything any better.

All the evidence points to the process of change being very painful for children, schools and communities – see Northampton for a critical example.

Councillors should be aware that the first major decision they make over Education in Bedford will mean they are remembered for chaotic and disorganised change.

SMS say that there will not be any gain from change (apart from revitalising the local building economy of course) and that the “gain” is not worth the pain.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Day 81 – Councillors’ Financial Responsibilities

The BSF money of £340M to transform secondary provision is central to the debate over whether Bedford Borough should change to two-tier.

Some councillors believe that this money is only available for a two-tier outcome. They are being told that we will lose the money if we remain three-tier. They are being told they will be responsible for turning down this huge amount of money.

SMS would like to point out that BSF money is most certainly available for three-tier solutions, as Iain Wright as confirmed in Parliament very recently under pressure from Nadine Dorries and Alistair Burt.

The money is likely to be under review after the next General Election (less than a year away) and does not cover primary years education (a big hole in our finances).

It is also subject to our “readiness to deliver”. What can be more “ready to deliver” than a system already in place? We can transform our current buildings using targeted projects to help the areas most in need. When the money dries up, we will be able to cut individual projects, not be left in the middle of educational and financial chaos.

This proposed change is already underfunded, especially for the primary years switch – council tax will need to rise or services cut.

For what? A pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that cannot even promise improved results…

Financially, remaining three-tier is the most prudent and sensible way for councillors to show their leadership here – otherwise they will remembered as the councillors that destroyed Bedford’s education system and caused a major local financial crisis.

This is why we want to talk and present to all our councillors – to ensure that they have heard both sides of the debate.

TAKE ACTION NOW with a new addition – contact BBC 3CR to express your support for us – email neil.barbour@bbc.co.uk, text 07760 173737, or call 08459 455555

Day 80 – Rest

Sunday is a Day of Rest – especially during holiday times, so SMS wishes all its supporters (and its opponents) a restful day and a peaceful holiday.

Of course, resting isn’t what SMS will do for most of this summer, as it lobbies tirelessly for the right to be heard, for our councillors to listen to the silent majority not the powerful minority, and for everyone not to be seduced by pots of gold but by financial realities.

Listen out on BBC 3CR at 8:05am tomorrow (Monday 20th July) for SMS being interviewed by Stephen Rhodes in the run-up to the end of the consultation process.

You only have 5 days to persuade everyone you know to respond to the consultation process.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Day 79 – Meeting Councillors

Frank Branston confirmed yesterday that his informal debate between the proponents of two tier and those from the three tier side is likely to take place on Thursday September 3rd.

He wants to have 2 or 3 people from each side “on the panel”. However, no format for this debate has been given, nor how much time each side will be given to present, indeed if we are allowed to present formally at all.

The issues in this debate are complex and SMS wishes all councillors to be able to hear our side of the story in full. All we are asking is that the councillors listen to both sides of the story before they are given a chance to vote.

SMS therefore yesterday emailed all 31 councillors who have working email addresses (we’ll write to the other 5) to request a meeting with them in the period Monday July 27th to Friday August 14th – 3 weeks.

We have suggested that we meet with them in groups and in the evening, although we are willing to compromise and fit in with their schedules.

Some councillors, of course, are currently away on holiday or business, but we are expecting most responses within the next week.

To help everyone know the state of play, we have added a tab to the main page now which lists the councillors’ responses and how they have responded to that request.

Some of them, of course, have heard SMS speak at one of the 11 open meetings we arranged or were invited to speak at and they are excused extra homework unless of course they really want to 😉

All we are asking is that we are heard.

Make sure you are heard and TAKE ACTION NOW.

Day 78 – A Lower School Teacher Speaks

SMS received this email yesterday and, with the permission of its author, it is repeated here in its entirety – further contributions are welcomed of course.

After you’ve read it, don’t forget to TAKE ACTION of some sort TODAY…

—————————————————————————————————————

The current 2/3 tier debate within Bedford Borough is rather a sad indictment on our education system. Having taught within Bedfordshire for twenty five years, for all that time I didn’t realise that my sole purpose was to facilitate mandatory GCSE results. Perhaps I have been naive? I always assumed I was an educator – inspiring children, instilling social and moral values, allowing confidence to grow.

To date, the consultation process presented by the 2 tier lobbyists has concentrated exclusively on GCSE results within the Borough. No consideration seems to have been given to the ‘child’. Doesn’t ‘Every Child Matter’ in Bedford Borough? There will only ever be a certain percentage of the school population who achieve 5 A-C grades at GCSE but what of the others? It would seem that in this consultation they are being disregarded.

Let’s think further into the future than merely GCSEs. Let’s consider these young adults applying for their first job. How many employers take on people solely on academic qualifications? None. How many employ the confident, friendly applicant who comes across well at interview, who shows initiative and enterprise, even though their paper qualifications might be slightly less than the next person? Most.

I am convinced that the 3 tier system allows children to develop confidence gradually and naturally, almost as an unseen, progressive process. Leadership opportunities are afforded to the children at more regular intervals than occurs in the 2 tier system. All Year 4 children in lower schools assume positions of responsibility; all Year 8s in middle schools similarly gain experience in such leadership roles (sporting opportunities in this regard are particularly evident for both Y4 and Y8 children) and this natural, yet regular, access to positions of responsibility promotes self-belief and assurance. Again, leadership opportunities exist in upper school for the children to continue their role of young ambassadors and leaders. In my role as PE co-ordinator, staff invariably comment on the mature young adults who visit lower schools to lead sporting activities. I am sure it is as a direct result of the gradual building of self-esteem, confidence and natural progression that the 3 tier system allows.

For this reason, forgetting GCSE results for once (!) I would maintain our 3 tier system in the Bedford Borough.

Day 77 – SMS at Full Council

Last night at Bedford Borough’s Full Council meeting, SMS asked a two-part question of the Speaker, who asked the Mayor to respond.

1. Would you please clarify the decision-making process now that legal advice has been given, especially with regard to the majorities needed at each stage in Executive and Full Council.

2. As Full Council now has a role to play in any decision to change schools structure, and bearing in mind that a common belief is that the public consultation document (and indeed process) has been very one-sided, would you allow a presentation of the alternative view against change to be made at Full Council before members are asked to vote on this issue.

Frank Branston’s response to the first question was extremely confusing to those members of SMS in the audience and the Speaker eventually intervened to suggest that Phil Simpkins (Chief Execeutive of Bedford Borough) write to SMS to clarify the majorities needed at the various stages of the process. We will post that information when it arrives.

In answer to the second part of the question, Frank Branston said that it was his intention to hold an informal public meeting where supporters of both two and three tier would make their case.

Critically, he didn’t say whether all councillors would be expected to attend, whether SMS would be invited to present for three-tier, and when this would be held. Frank also merely said that it was his intention…not whether it would actually happen.

SMS could always present for both sides you know…a bit like the consultation meetings where Chris Hilliard presented for both sides.

SMS now calls for Frank Branston to arrange this “informal” meeting as soon as possible after the consultation period has ended, preferably during the week beginning July 27th and with all councillors strongly invited to attend. Should they be unavailable on the chosen evening, SMS will contact them individually or in groups to arrange to meet.

Again, we will post here when the date is known…

After the replies to our questions, SMS made a short statement to Full Council.

We oppose the change to two-tier on educational and financial grounds based on evidence rather than supposition or conjecture.

We believe that the costs (both financial and human) of this massive disruption far outweigh the benefits – if any benefits exist at all.

We would emphasise that Every Child Matters and this includes the generation of children that would be negatively impacted by any decision to change.

ALL WE ASK FOR IS THE RIGHT TO BE HEARD

Don’t forget to keep talking about this issue, keep it in the news, keep thinking about how you can help today.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Day 76 – Council Tax Set To Soar

The email below was received yesterday in response to a question asked some time ago by a local taxpayer whose children are no longer in the school system.

So, if the only shortfall in funding is £30M (ie that which has been planned for without any detailed costings), Council Tax is set rise by 3.6% until capital receipts or cost savings had been obtained in order to reduce it again.

Three obvious points arise here:

1. They haven’t done any detailed costings, so how do they know that our maximum borrowing will be £30M. For goodness sake, this is like us as taxpayers writing a blank cheque to cover a reorganisation that doesn’t need to happen!

2. Capital receipts? BSF projects have been roundly criticised by independent watchdogs for going over budget, employing too many consultants, and taking too long to deliver…capital receipts (should they be realised) will be swallowed up by these extra, hidden and unforeseen costs.

3. Cost savings? Oh, they mean job cuts for both teachers and support staff.

They also think they are going to cherry pick the “best” teachers and support staff. Well, the news on that is that in any reorganisation SMS has heard of or been involved with, the “best” staff up and leave because they are eminently employable elsewhere. Sounds like a good plan then…not.

So, a message for local taxpayers even if you don’t have children in the system…TAKE ACTION to stop this damaging YOUR pocket.

———————————————————————————————————

From: School Organisation Consultations
To: (removed)
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 8:25 AM
Subject: RE: Questions on Consultation to 2 Tier

Thank you for your question concerning the potential cost of creating primary schools if the Council decides to move to a two tier system, and apologies for the delay in responding.

The worst case scenario stated of £30m would require the Council to borrow under the Prudential Borrowing regime – this allows Council’s to borrow to fund capital investment. If the cost of borrowing was funded by Council Tax this would equate to a 3.6% increase in the level of Council Tax. This could, however, be offset by any savings which arise as a result of the School Organisation Review.

Regards

Joan Wheeler
BSF Project Officer

Day 75 – Full Council to Decide

So, a victory for common sense prevailed yesterday when Frank Branston announced via his blog that legal advice had indicated that any restructuring of our schools system should be decided by Full Council vote – that is 36 councillors plus the mayor with the Speaker holding the casting vote should there be a tie (remember, councillors may abstain so a tie is possible).

All the best news is announced by blog nowadays apparently…we’ll post the official notification of the legal advice here when it arrives sometime today…(see email response from Phil Simpkins – Chief Exec of Bedford Borough – below)

Thanks too, to all the dedicated local councillors who made representations on our behalf, or, if they don’t agree with us or our campaign, on behalf of the voters and taxpayers in their wards.

We would urge all councillors now to engage with both sides in this vital decision, and, after the consultation period has ended on July 24th, hear representations from SMS in the form of a presentation and Q&A session. We are happy to do this in political or mixed groupings or in one large group. We want to debate with you – this is what local democracy is about…

We would also urge Chris Hilliard (Director of Children’s Services) to begin working on a Plan B for three-tier BSF funding of Bedford Borough. Should the decision be for a transformation of the three-tier system so that we have schools fit for the 21st century, then we will all have to work hard to gain that funding, and SMS is willing to provide expertise to help with that urgent task.

It is now more important than ever that if you support SMS, that you lobby councillors, and spread the news about our campaign. This is most definitely not a done deal.

TAKE ACTION

———————————————————————————————————-

Dear Mr Dadd

I have now received definite legal advice which confirms if the Executive, at its meeting on 16 September 2009, considers that the school structure should be changed it will need to make a recommendation to Full Council. Given the importance of the decision Group Leaders have agreed that a Special Full Council will be held on Thursday, 24 September 2009. For clarity, if the Executive decide that there should be no change to the school structure there will be no need for the Special Council meeting.

I trust the foregoing answers your enquiry.

Regards

Philip Simpkins
Chief Executive

Day 74 – Teachers’ Jobs

Over the weekend, our online petition made it past the 1000 mark. This is in addition to the many written petitions circulating that (genuinely) we have no idea how many people have signed (our best estimate being in the low thousands). Please encourage everybody you know who supports us to:

1. Fill in the consultation document.
2. Sign the online petition.

———————————————————————————————————-

Teachers were told during the official consultation meetings by John Goldsmith that the same number of teachers would be needed if we changed to two-tier – it stands to reason he said, there are the same number of “youngsters” to teach.

It stands to reason, but also was apparently wrong.

One day after the final consultation meeting at Hastingsbury (the one where Martin Fletcher boasted about his online poll) there was a meeting of teachers at Goldington Middle where Brian Glover and a senior HR official said that there would in fact be redundancies.

Other official meetings between council officers and teachers have not been advertised by some Heads to their staff – maybe they forgot to tell them?

John Goldsmith also talked about “ring-fencing” positions, joint appointments between schools, and seamless merging to the new structure…and Cinderella just passed Sleeping Beauty on her way to Disneyland…

The only rings here are the round holes into which some square pegs will be force-fitted…joint-appointments are a fantasy if schools cannot organise transition in an orderly manner…and as for seamless change…we’d better ask the planners of the Millennium Dome or Heathrow Terminal 5 or the Channel Tunnel if they told the same fairy stories before they started.

The fantasies spread by the architects of this damaging change need to be examined very carefully by every teacher working in Bedford Borough who should be hammering on the doors of their union reps.

TAKE ACTION

(this blog was brought to you by Grumpy)

Day 73 – Rainbows

Today is Sunday, often a day of rest, a day to spend time with family and/or friends, or a day to recover alone.

Today is also both sunny and showery, a typical summer’s day in England in fact and maybe, just maybe there’ll be a rainbow later…

…and maybe that rainbow will have a pot of gold at the end of it, stored there by the intellectual leprechauns that have invented the fantasy about there being sufficient money available for the biggest capital project ever attempted in this neck of the woods…

…maybe…

Perhaps more realistically, instead of a pot of gold there will be an IOU from the current government, an IOU that is extremely unlikely to be honoured by the next government (of whichever hue)…

…especially considering the International Monetary Fund’s comments about the British economy reported today in the Sunday Telegraph and other newspapers…

Northampton attempted a wholesale change of school system without the requisite funding in place and its educational systems collapsed, and their results plummeted – they have the most schools on special measures and on notices to improve of any authority in the country.

The supporters of this damaging move to two-tier claim that they want to “transform” teaching and learning in Bedford Borough…

They certainly will transform it – into a complete mess.

TAKE ACTION to help stop this.

(PS this blog was brought to you by Zippy)

Day 72 – Votes

On Thursday SMS received several emails from irate teachers who had been asked to vote “in a suitable fashion” by an email originally sent by Martin Fletcher, Head of Hastingsbury Upper School. The email is reproduced below and was sent to all the other upper school Heads.

SMS have been aware of this poll since Martin made a speech at the official consultation evening at his school during which he stated that 85% of votes were for a change to two-tier.

What Martin forgot to mention was that only 600 votes had been recorded (less than the size of his school), most visitors to school sites are their own pupils, and that individuals can vote from multiple computers and multiple times (once per day per IP address).

Last weekend, SMS added the Hastingsbury poll to its TAKE ACTION tab, tucked away next to Doug McMurdo’s poll.

There was no coordinated effort to spread the news about it widely; no blog about it (until now); no major expenditure of time (as we’ve all got much better things to do).

The results are meaningless – but please do add your vote if you wish – we wouldn’t want Martin to feel the people of Bedford Borough didn’t care – he has a blog too if you want to read his thoughts…

Polls are usually put on websites with amusing and irrelevant questions (eg is Madonna looking her age?) as any intelligent person should realise that their results are worthless as an indication of public opinion.

Martin Fletcher should stand outside the lower schools of Kempston, as SMS have done, and listened to the 60-80% of parents that naturally support our campaign, without any undue influence or manipulation.

The email below smacks of desperation.

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From: mfletcher [martinfletcher@hastingsbury.beds.sch.uk]
Sent: 08 July 2009 15:48
To: Steve.Peacey@mrus.co.uk; A Lee; LGray@wootton.beds.sch.uk; mike.berrill@biddenham.org; ubyrne@johnbunyan.beds.sch.uk; JClemence@sharnbrook.beds.sch.uk
Subject: Two tier debate

Dear all

I wonder if you can help. The SMS campaign appear to have galvanised parents / activists to respond on mass to our website poll on peoples preferences for two tier or three tier. In the last 4 days there have been 400 odd votes in favour of the retention of three tier. To save me the embarrassment of taking the poll off the website and the subsequent flack this will result in could you encourage your staff to visit our website at www.hastingsbury.beds.sch.uk and vote in a suitable fashion. They will need to scroll down on the front page to the bottom right hand corner to find the poll. It might seem a petty point but SMS clearly think it is worth getting their supporters to vote.
Thanks for your help
Martin

Martin Fletcher
Headteacher
Hastingsbury Business and Enterprise College
Mobile – (removed)
PA Jan Gosnell – (removed)

Day 71 – Milestones

Yesterday we made it to 20,000 hits – unfortunately no Reward Points or Air Miles are forthcoming…

Thanks to all our regular readers, including our “opposition”, local politicians, the press, and the intelligent, amusing and thought-provoking contributions from “Fred Bagnall” and “William”. Without you, there wouldn’t be two sides of the debate being argued.

And that is what we would like to see from the Mayor now – the setting of a date when we can present our side of the argument to Full Council and allow councillors to make up their own minds.

We have never apologised for giving only one side of the story. This is the way mature debate happens. “This House believes that….” followed by the opposing view, both extreme,…and then the decision is made by rational, intelligent people about which view is closest to their own.

So if this is going to happen, SMS applauds the Mayor and asks its supporters now to lobby councillors calmly using the arguments detailed in this blog over the past 71 days…

TAKE ACTION NOW

Day 70 – Change for Change’s Sakes

Apologies to the Daily Blog’s morning readership, who enjoy reading these ramblings with “un cafe et un croissant ou deux”…your correspondent has had a lot on recently…a bit like the mayor in fact…

It is worth reflecting that, after 10 weeks of our campaign, we have experienced a journey from zero to 20,000 hits, from no organisation to a large but soft federation of parents, teachers, governors and taxpayers, from silence and therefore implicit agreement to a loud and insistent opposition voice.

We are not professional lobbyists; we are not aggressive or intimidating; we are creating a noise to represent the normal people of Bedford Borough – the 60-80% or people that agree with us naturally when we stand and hand out leaflets – the people who usually trust professionals to make decisions in the best interests of everyone but are seriously worried by the biased and manipulative consultation process and the empty promises of seamless change and financial security.

There are few ordinary people now unconnected with education that support change. If there were a referendum with both sides allowed to lobby openly, the vote would clearly be for the retention of three-tier.

We can only hope that the decision will now be made by Full Council, where all councillors will have an independent voice, and that those councillors will be allowed to listen to both sides of the argument before casting their votes.

There is no overwhelming evidence for change. It is change for change’s sake; the last throw of the dice by education officials who have run out of ideas. It will result in educational and financial chaos.

Help us stop this. TAKE ACTION now.

Day 69 – Thank you Nadine and Alistair

SMS has now had time to digest yesterday’s Hansard of the Adjournment debate called by Nadine Dorries and supported by Alistair Burt and here we publically thank them for their support of the parents and taxpayers in their constituencies.

Just a pity that Patrick Hall seems to be keeping a very low profile. As a well-known supporter of the switch to two-tier, perhaps he would make his current views widely known, especially with a general election less than a year away. The voters of Bedford and Kempston deserve better than this.

And to clarify this immediately: SMS is, of course, completely apolitical and composed of many individuals from across the political spectrum, including many who do not usually participate in political issues of any kind. We are a pressure group, not a political party.

The critical points made by Iain Wright (the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families) are:

“It would be wrong for me to stand at the Dispatch Box and state, for example, that in all cases a two-tier system automatically lends itself to higher educational success.”

“Local people and agencies know best what is most appropriate for their area, based on an acute understanding of these complex factors, and can make judgments on school reorganisation accordingly.”

“My Department has no prescribed view on any particular pattern of school provision. Both two-tier and three-tier systems can be successful and effective, so we think that it is up to the local agencies, in close consultation with affected local parents, to decide how school provision is organised in their area.”

“We have no plans to phase out middle schools as a matter of national policy or to remove support from three-tier systems where they exist.”

“It is important to dispel the notion that the substantial Government money available through Building Schools for the Future and the primary capital programme is somehow conditional on the local authority changing the manner in which its schools are organised—that we would not provide the money unless it changed to a two-tier system.”

“I can say that we have funded, through Building Schools for the Future, a number of local authorities that have middle schools in areas such as Hertfordshire, Kent and Staffordshire, and, closer to my patch, in Newcastle upon Tyne and North Tyneside.”

“I do not know the specific proposals that Bedfordshire local authorities will bring forward or the agreements that will be made with Partnerships for Schools. A whole range of different factors is in play, notwithstanding the complex area of public finances post-2011. However, I can say that school reorganisation is based not on funding but on educational rationale and attainment.”

Iain Wright refused to be drawn on public finances and the guarantee of money post-2011.

The money doesn’t exist. Do not believe it. The country is in a dire financial state.

To commit to this massive capital programme at this point would be an appalling decision based on dogma and fantasies of the future rather than a pragmatic assessment of what is possible.

TAKE ACTION NOW

Day 68 – Logical Fallacies

SMS hears that the adjournment debate called by Nadine Dorries went well last night – once it is out in Hansard, we’ll put a link up to it here. It should be on iPlayer on BBC Parliament too…

Hansard
The adjournment debate on Monday 6 July led by Nadine Dorries.

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Probably the biggest issue with the argument for change to two-tier is the illogicality of its main premise.

Educational standards are poorer in Bedford Borough than in other similar parts of the country therefore a move to two-tier will produce a step-change in results.

Whether you agree or disagree with the first statement (we disagree obviously) there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that changing school system will do anything other than result in chaos.

No authority has ever made a wholesale change of school system without there being an education mess created for a generation of children, schools and families.

Northampton changed to two-tier in 2005 and is now the worst performing education authority in the country with more schools on special measures and on notices to improve. It is recovering, but very very slowly.

In authorities that have had two- and three- tier existing side-by-side, nobody has produced any credible evidence that the three-tier parts are any better or worse than the two-tier parts.

Schools differ; they all have unique problems; let’s target our resources on the parts of the system that need immediate improvement and not waste public money on fantasies.

We need you to tell other people about our campaign, to encourage them to TAKE ACTION – now, today, don’t delay.

Day 67 – 3MPs not MP3s

We have had over 18,000 hits to this blog now – thank you. SMS gets air miles at 20,000 apparently.

Tonight (Monday) in Westminster, Nadine Dorries MP has gained an adjournment debate on the Bedfordshire School Organisation Review. This happens after normal Parliamentary business and is expected to take place between 9:30 and 10:30pm.

As reported in the T&C last Thursday, Nadine will quiz schools minister Ian Wright.

Nadine said “I want reassurances from the minister that there is no pressure from the government, financially or culturally, to convert to a two-tier schools system.”

“I will also be bringing up points which people have used, wrongly, to call for a change to the education system. I want to show that government funding does not depend on changing our schools, and to challenge the idea that children in three-tier systems are disadvantaged.”

“I will want reassurances that if such a change is to be made we should have a referendum on the issue.”

“It would be a huge change, with huge consequences and lasting effects – the mayor wasn’t elected with this in his manifesto, none of the parties were elected with this in their manifesto, so none of them should be able to decide without asking the people what they want.”

Ms Dorries added: “I have always been a three-tier person. What you see in Beds is good – small is good”

“I love lower, middle and upper schools, and the care that children receive there”

“Yes, there are problems, but for too long the approach has been ‘Well, we’ll ignore this for now, as we will change to two-tier soon’ ”

“We have a three-tier system and if everybody got behind it I am sure whatever issues we have can be addressed very easily.”

On Tuesday, Hansard, the official record of Parliament, will be published, and a link to what happened will be placed here. Look out for it.

We will also ask Patrick Hall MP and Alistair Burt MP for their comments and blog those too.

Fight the change – TAKE ACTION NOW.