Goodrich School in Daily Mail

[alice]

definitely dodgy with more than a hint of panic - if you want to know about the changes just read the ofsted report

[bawdy-nan]

I met a Daily Mail jourmnalist at a party in ED once, not so long ago - lives locally, has primary aged school kids. Seemed quite alright really, as a human. The Daily Mail's ghastly but not a bad way of taking the temperature (febrile on some issues) of a fat swathe of this country. It's also written by people who live locally and, I know, read the forum and talk to their local friends and neighbours. It's a prime DM story and its hardly a surprise it made the paper.

[Amelie]

@SimonM

LB Southwark, according to the Mail, held an enquiry. It is very unlikely that the Legal Services department didn't know about it, they would have been asked to advise on the applicable law. Therefore, the Head of Legal Services could and should have put a stop to the whole business.

[pep]

.....and I always thought ED residents thought of themselves as the liberal intelligentsia. You know many of you would clearly be happy under a totalitarian regime - silence the media, silence the debate, we don't deem this appropriate for this forum, blah blah. There is a veritable witch hunt for the source of "the leak" now it would seem. Get the language - "leak", "mole" etc. My kids don't go to Goodrich but at their local state school you don't have to sign the official secrets act. However on the other hand the hypocrisy of the personal attacks on this thread really put the curtain twitchers of the 1950s to shame - really and have you noticed how people aren't so keen to red raddle their steps any more?

You know what some of you should really try and relax - go shopping to the pretty shops on North Cross Road and prepare for your anti-Royal Wedding parties by buying some paper plates which you can serve your ironic fairy cakes on (no doubt many of you call these "cup cakes" but that's another issue altogether).

Why on earth would anyone want this hushed up anyway? Many of you seem to imply or even directly state this would be an ideal state of affairs. I don't think silencing debate and the media has ever been proven as a particularly desirable situation, and whilst I am happy with the backward glance Orla Kiely makes to the 1950s I rather think that censorship of this nature would be a retro step too far.

[Shaggy]

*Yawn* Christ, you are all so fking boring. Get lives. Anyway, you have all convinced me that the state sector is a non-starter. Have fewer kids and send them private. If you can't afford it, get better jobs.

Simple.

Btw I know many journalists on the Mail. They are all extremely nice people.

[taper]

This is not a healthy open debate: this is a cross between a kangaroo court and a saloon bar sh1tfight. The school's responsible for the education of 100s of children. This thread can only damage the school. The issue is best dealt with by the LEA, the school and parents in private. Those of us with no interest should keep out.

[Dorothy]

A disproportionate number of parents at Goodrich are journalists. Any one of them could have supplied the story. Or, indeed, someone entirely unconnected with the school could have done so. Or even someone on the school staff themselves. Or perhaps someone who knows someone who is the cleaner of the gardener of the personal trainer of a parent at the school. Or even maybe someone who has randomly trawled this very Forum. Who knows, and it really doesn't matter. It would be interesting to hear Mrs P's pov, but I think the most likely thing is she now knows she over-reacted and whatever she says from this point on will never be right. She will be playing it by the book.

[SimonM]

.

Therefore, the Head of Legal Services could and should have put a stop to the whole business.

You make too many assumptions. But I will stick to saying that I know from experience that certain local councils are not shy in ignoring legal advice from their own Legal Services, if for whatever reason it suits them to do so. Council Legal Services can only advise their client of the legal position.

[LadyLibra]

It has to be said that I know white people, through experience, are very good at trying to get themselves out of 'holes' when caught being racist. I used to live in the Dulwich area and know how the white middle class parents fight by 'any means necessary' to make sure their children get the best educationally. My guess is they do not want Mrs. Patterson as their Head, being black of course 'she isn't good enough for their precious babies' - I remember a similar scenario at St. Saviour's School, Herne Hill, when they had their black Head. The fact remains that Southwark houses some of the best private schools in London or maybe in the country and these parents, would send their children to private schools, but cannot afford it. They have to realise they live in London, it is very multicultural and if they do not want a black head, they have to do 'white flight' and go to another town outside of London, where everyone is white.

I feel sorry for Mrs. Patterson, being black myself, I know what it is like to have racist slurs, 'jokes' or the like hurled at me, all underhanded of course - and have most of my life. Hence it has to be said most of those parents will never walk in Mrs. Patterson's shoes, so will not ever understand how she feels. The saddest thing is, I am sure most of these white middle class parents are university educated, so one would hope should know better!!

[northlondoner]

....stunned silence. That seems to have shut everyone up!

[lovegoodrich]

Lady Libra it's not a question of racism on the part of parents. Far from it. Parents at Goodrich are sending their kids to Kingsdale in droves, where the visionary head is also black. It's the secondary school of choice.

[Echoes]

Are you a complete idiot? My wife is NOT the poster Emily. She has not said she knew about it going into The Mail because she didn't. Now children, please piss off and play nice.

[northlondoner]

Race! Education! The Daily Mail! Even property prices! A classic EDF punch up. All it needs is something about gang activity or political correctness gone mad.

Pep, anything to contribute?(Sits back, reaches for popcorn )

[bluecanary]

Yes, but will they close the school and open a waitrose?

[Administrator]

Ding Ding, end of round one. I want to this to be a clean fight and so that means playing the ball and not the player. Yes that's a mixing up of sporting analogies that doesn't technically work but you know what I mean, discuss the issue and not each other. And stay on topic.

Ding Ding.

[witsd]

.

[dully]

LadyLibra Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> It has to be said that I know white people,

> through experience, are very good at trying to get

> themselves out of 'holes' when caught being

> racist. I used to live in the Dulwich area and

> know how the white middle class parents fight by

> 'any means necessary' to make sure their children

> get the best educationally. My guess is they do

> not want Mrs. Patterson as their Head, being black

> of course 'she isn't good enough for their

> precious babies' - I remember a similar scenario

> at St. Saviour's School, Herne Hill, when they had

> their black Head. The fact remains that Southwark

> houses some of the best private schools in London

> or maybe in the country and these parents, would

> send their children to private schools, but cannot

> afford it. They have to realise they live in

> London, it is very multicultural and if they do

> not want a black head, they have to do 'white

> flight' and go to another town outside of London,

> where everyone is white.

>

> I feel sorry for Mrs. Patterson, being black

> myself, I know what it is like to have racist

> slurs, 'jokes' or the like hurled at me, all

> underhanded of course - and have most of my life.

> Hence it has to be said most of those parents will

> never walk in Mrs. Patterson's shoes, so will not

> ever understand how she feels. The saddest thing

> is, I am sure most of these white middle class

> parents are university educated, so one would hope

> should know better!!

Well said. I love the way they keep saying its not racist - its not for you to say.

Of course you can't see the offensive if it doesn't pertain to you. I would like to know what percentage of lynch mobs that harassed Charles Darwin compared to killed black people for getting out of place. Do the goodrich parents understand that lynch mobs signify what some white people would do when a black person "got out of place" by which of course I mean treated themselves as a human being. It is a very strong history. I would say you don't make jokes about lynch mobs to black people. It is highly offensive and down right rude. Yes, you can argue the poster isn't racist but why have a lynch mob when some black people's ancestors where killed by lynch mobs less than a hundred years ago. You wouldn't have concentration camp jokes, you wouldn't mock something murderous for the sake of political satire.

Why all the shamelessness about working for the daily mail? I do read it on occasion to see if the legends are true and you don't have to read long to find the badly written, poorly edited, racist and offensive trash. It is the lowest of the low in terms of publications. Written by morons for morons. It is right wing, backward and stupid.

[Nicholas Spears]

There's more in the Mail about Goodrich today - this time Richard Littlejohn saying Shirley Patterson's not fit to be head...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/debate/article-1380514/Thanks-laughter-John-See-ya-Dave.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

[James Barber]

I've looked at the picture again and it looks like a black man with a white beard surrounded by angry white people dangerous weapons.

Oooh goody. The Daily Mail thinks it should decide who gets or keeps what job. A veritable job lynching.

The Daily Mail has proved the heads point for us.

[cazzyr]

An inane and clearly insulting poster, so typical of yawn "middle class irony" which I reckon is a cover up for a hell of a lot of racism, sexism and general bigotry... such a shame a talented head felt victimised enough to feel she couldn't deal with it alone.

[Nero]

Maybe it is nothing to do with the colour of her skin, but her attitudes? Is she too 'right-on' for the majority of the parents? Is she, conversely, too strict? I doubt people automatically think 'black = bad', but they might - subconsciously or otherwise - equate her race to certain political and cultural leanings that they don't like. I have no idea either way in this case, but I would prefer people to sit and think a while before taking up a cudgel.

[*Bob*]

It's hard to decide who comes out of this the worst (apart from the children and the rest of the staff). I think I'd prefer to have both governors and a head who were capable of better judgement.

Actually it would be nice to have a governor and a head who could manage to resolve any differences at a level somewhere above 'playground' in the first place.

[ianr]

This Flickr photostream is probably where the poster picture came from. One of the pics has the photographer's comment "A typical school board reaction to teachers teaching biology."

[Monkey]

Why do people assume that parents are giving the head a hard time just because she's black? Because they're white and middle class? Isn't that a racist assumption to make? Goodrich's results have been going down. It's a fact. My poor impression of Goodrich (apart from this thread) comes from looking at league tables and also from seeing a number of grammatical mistakes on their website, including a glaring one on the homepage (now removed)... That's why I decided not to send my daughter there. If a new head is appointed and results start going up, I will reconsider my decision, whatever the colour of the new head.

Headteachers are paid a lot of money (far too much in my opinion) so when they don't deliver, they need to be held accountable.

[Amelie]

@SimonM

I make no assumptions at all, I worked for local authorities as a legal adviser and none of the Heads of Legal Services to whom I reported would ever have let this situation get so out of hand.