November

The Big Local Survey - have done your yet?

As St Martins has 2 bids at the LJC  and its in St Martins it would be good to get people there.

Big Local survey has been delivered to all properties in Weston Rhyn, St Martin's and Gobowen they can be returned by post or village collection points. The closing date for return has been extended to 17th October 2011. If you have not completed your survey yet please do so .

Selattyn,Gobowen St Martins and Weston Rhyn Local Joint Committee is holdng their next meeting at St Martin's Centre on 18th October 2011 at 7pm. Agenda items include a presentation on Broadband Development and Local Youth Survey Feedback.

NOTICE

We, the Governors of Ifton Heath Primary School, wish to publicly state that we do not support the current proposal to close Ifton Heath Primary School.

 We therefore advise the public that we are beginning consultation to become an Academy School, thereby becoming independent of the Local Authority but retaining all the benefits of this primary school on its current site.

 There will be initial public meetings here at school at the start of the new term and we urge all interested parties to attend.

 Please write to the council to express your views on the proposal.

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Parish Councils response to the Schools proposed Merger

Read the Draft Minutes of the Exrtaordiary Meeting of the Parish Council on the 27th July 2011.

Council recommend that Option 5a be adopted i.e. Do nothing, save £3.14 million in the expectation that Rhyn Park will recover......... to read the whole document click here

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THE LATEST FROM IFTON HEATH

To: Keith Barrow                                                                                                                              27^th July 2011

From: Julian Cattley

Cc: Cabinet Members

 Dear Mr Barrow

 I write following the experience of representing our school and children at the cabinet meeting 20^th  July 2011.

 I would have thought given the extended consultation period granted by your cabinet and the fact that we were not yet in a statutory phase that any discussions , including the generous invitation to the floor would still remain balanced prior to a public vote being taken.

 It was with great disappointment that as soon as delegates sat down you were openly sharing personal views about the protest that our parents and children had every right to make. Had this been in isolation it would perhaps be considered as politeness to the young delegates on your part but you then continued to make reference to this throughout the meeting and counterpoint it with the praise lavished upon Rhyn Park.

 Let me again state that in no way am I stating or implying that the contribution of Rhyn Park students should be underplayed as they did themselves credit, I too excelled at Rhyn Park under the leadership of Janet Warwick so I too have had the best of times there.

 What was apparent throughout proceedings was insensitivity to our plight and a seeming disregard for the impact or toll this was taking. Coupled with your constant implied derision of our protest and elements of what we said it appeared that as a chair leading a body you were far from providing the appearance of a reasonable and balanced leadership of the meeting. You also seem to have misinterpreted the reference to our commitment in terms of both myself and the head fighting for the school. Your presumptions and implications we are somehow fighting for the building are somewhat ill conceived; when we use the word ‘school’ we consider it our children, our staff, our spirit, our ethos, our community, our learning environment and the joy and wonder we provide in educating our children. You would do very well to remember this in future and thank you for identifying this potential issue as an element that might be misinterpreted, we will be sure to clarify so no one else misunderstands in future public statements.

 If I were chairing a meeting where I was so frequently doing things to so belittle the injured party I would hope that one of my colleagues would call me to account, yours did not. Additionally it was very disappointing that a member of your cabinet walked out during the proceedings, given the gravitas of the decisions being made, I am sure that proceedings could have paused if absolutely necessary but for members to not even hear much of one party’s representations again seems very poor conduct. Let me be clear – I would have happily waited to be heard properly by all and would expect, not unreasonably, for that to be the case in a meeting. Please do not take this to be a personal criticism if perhaps one of your cabinet is unwell or suffering from some sort of medical issues; but better procedures should be in place so that members do not leave during such a formal occasion.

 Sadly this offence was not isolated in terms of our representations. It was no surprise that Rhyn Park support this proposal given the fact it is one of the very few that offer anything other than closure. The relief amongst your cabinet was palpable as they had something positive to cling on to. Does this really suggest this is the best way forward or does it simply seem so, given the amount of challenging decisions you have had to make. As one of your colleagues pointed out, your cabinet has the responsibility at present, success or failure; at present every school closed is a failure.

 This brings me to my last point that again belittled our communication and was deeply offensive as part of the proceedings and that was one of your colleagues’ comments that ‘at last someone is thinking of the children’. I imagine to all heads, governors, teachers, parents and in fact anyone in the room that is responsible for education this was a poorly chosen term that damns everyone’s efforts and for a good percentage in the room that is voluntary application as well. This same member also pointed out she was speaking to the silent majority, we have already proven we are not discussing a silent majority in our case. Despite final comments Rhyn Park is a good school little has been done to address the falling numbers on roll which are far more than simple population changes, Ifton again did the work discovering most mobile, high flyers choose to attend Lakelands or Marches.

 Overall I feel that the comments of both you and other cabinet members were belittling, and hold little in terms of respect or sensitivity for those schools you are executing. This is a very poor show given the importance of such discussions. Biased and irresponsible commentary during a meeting needs to be considered very carefully.

 I hope this at least gives you pause for thought, and please remember that when you are challenging governors, we have given a truly disproportionate amount of our time since these appalling proposals were made. We do this work for the children of our school, securing the best opportunities for them, with not a penny paid in recompense for our services. Many of us have even made contact with central government, a point which you seemed to hold great store in when questioning another local counsellor. It would I think be better for you give a wider note of appreciation to the cost in time let alone anything else you have brought on so many in education through these proposals and revel slightly less obviously in the few positive moves you have taken.

 Your college is right, you are responsible at present and this plan clearly shows that for whatever reason, Shropshire Council continues to fail to secure an appropriate fund for the continuation of education serving our varied communities and needs.  It is after the show on the 20^th July and the many mistakes made by your officers over recent months that we must now consider moving to some form of independent status and removing ourselves from such poorly conceived and executed decision making. It was also interesting to hear the comment that Rhyn Park’s debt is ‘historical’ this perhaps alleviates some responsibility from the current acting head. Despite an effective sounding title it simply means a debt that was neither dealt with when it was created or reduced by consecutive governing decisions, again an indication of failure in both management and governance.

 In summary we have spent a great deal of time very carefully considering your proposal and we are not against change but in all actuality your officers’ reports and cabinet discussions show no evidence of effective change, no real evidence of added benefits and no guarantees can be given. It appears that Rhyn Park is being somewhat courted by your cabinet to potentially justify your vision policy when they in fact are the failing party in this situation with falling rolls and a substantial debt.

 Yours sincerely

 Julian Cattley

Why is it that Ifton Heath School does not want to Merge with Rhyn Park School at this moment in time?

Statement from the Governing Body of

Ifton Heath School

23rd June 2011

As governors of Ifton Heath school we remain committed to securing the best sustainable future for our learners. With a view to this we have worked tirelessly with both County and Rhyn Park to review the current proposal and a wider range of options.

 It is very clear from detailed discussion, consideration of feasibility and with reference to models such as Saltburn Learning Campus that an all through school requires substantial investment in terms of both time and money to establish appropriate inspirational accommodation as well as aligning governor and staff management.

 At this time, where despite working extensively to consider the situation and raising a legitimate collection of genuine concerns, we are advised that we have been heard. At the same time the response to our input has been limited and has not allowed for any progression in terms of consultation or decision making with all of our stakeholders.

 We have been encouraged to lead with positive thinking about the potential for such a project but we have to work within the parameters in which we have been set. Information in response to our queries and requirements has either been impossible to acquire or simply inadequate. We are unable to assemble any convincing argument to give up our school in favour of moving to a potentially limited development that does no favours to either party involved.

We have been encouraged to highlight the positive learning benefits that would occur in an all-through school environment and we are very aware of the potential of such collaboration. However the current proposal does not present significant advancement from the activities we already currently engage in, with great success.

 Specific elements that remain unsatisfactory are as follows:

 > As of 23rd June we have not received any plans despite asking for them from the first consultation, we were also denied access to direct contact with the architect.

 {Notably the Saltburn headteachers were very clear that their involvement at all stages of planning from concept to completion was critical for the process to work well and produce the desired outcome}

> We have yet to be convinced of viable plans to manage the budget of the schools and the serious issue of the debt at Rhyn Park has not changed.

 > The initial suggested project cost of £1.2 million suggests that there are insufficient funds to achieve the required outcome and despite occasional suggestions that more might be available when the issue is pressed no further commitment is forthcoming. It is not enough to require staff to deliver in tired or uninspiring accommodation; you need only refer to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to identify this issue, as it is at the core of teaching theory and practice.

{Notably Saltburn identified that a key element of creating an outstanding learning space was the need for the inspiration and “wow” factor benefitting learners as much as staff and the wider community. Their building cost £16.5 million, not £1.2 million.}

 > Where we have requested information it has become clear that, other than learning how much would be the responsibility of the new governing body, there is no appetite for the council to take responsibility for securing any issues about finance, personnel or increase information about the potential build.

 {Example: If the original proposal would have been for Rhyn Park, as the school with spare capacity, to close County would have had to take on the debt and we could at least start with a clean slate. In this scenario moving Ifton Heath would also have been only one of a possible range of options available as solutions}

 > We are constantly assured that we have been listened to, but we are increasingly concerned that if this is the case then the response has been totally inadequate and rather than meeting any of the needs we have identified issues continue to be side-lined or fogged.

 > It is clear from our visit to Saltburn as well as other all through schools that another key commodity is time. It was through opportunity and time that good working relationships grew and systems developed. In this case we would be thrown fairly rapidly into at the very least an amalgamated governing body and from that there would be no return once the action had been taken.

 > Rhyn Park is under new leadership and needs to be given time to establish its reputation further to draw back the learners that are currently lost to Lakelands and Marches. Already 30% of our learners attend other secondary schools when they leave us with more than 60% of parents now considering this due to the destabilising effect of the current proposal. It should also be noted that another 7% commented they were only attending Rhyn Park because of no other option.

Overall the proposal, despite seeming to have some educational merits lacks even the initial commitment that we would expect from County to appear remotely feasible and with the lack of provision of any assurances to sate our concerns we cannot in all good conscience support something that needs to be done well and in the present climate appears ill conceived.

 {Notably the LA responsible for Saltburn are holding back other planned amalgamation projects due to funds being too tight. They have the experience of a shining beacon example with the Saltburn learning campus and do not want to make the mistake of trying to emulate this without adequate investment; surely a lesson should be taken from this?}

 The commitment that has been required to review such a radical and fundamental change in school organisation must be recognised. The commitment of staff, governors and the wider community has been great, including at present over 50 meetings. It is questionable how reasonable it is to put such groups under continued duress having to consider radical changes with so little support. This situation cannot continue indefinitely without having a detrimental effect on all those involved.

 Finally there have already been casualties in relation to these events with a number of children leaving our school not wishing to be part of the merger or simply concerned about the instability such a proposal causes. In a poll of our parents we have identified that around 60% are opposed to moving to the Rhyn park site with the majority of those threatening to take their children elsewhere. Copies of our findings are enclosed with this statement. This poll clearly demonstrates a threat to the teaching posts at Ifton, a threat which did not exist before February.

 In summary we were promised as part of this deferment that full support and information would be provided and yet we remain in a situation where we do not have enough clarification to make informed decisions. Other than a visit to an all through school that demonstrated how this project should be executed we have little to be convinced by, or to sell to others.

 Julian Cattley

Chair of Governors

This statement represents the official and agreed views of the governing body.

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HERE'S SOME GOOD NEWS