Jump to content

Recommended Posts

As a prospective parent, I do not feel comfortable with this relationship. First the move to academy and now this, where is this all heading? The school was growing before this government took its place and should therefore not be able to lay any claim to anything. In fact it could be argued that the change in the school which is reflected in the building would not have been possible without the Building Schools for the Future program which has lovingly been scrapped by this new government.

It's a brand new academy and popular, this is their view of the future so why would he not go there?


I'm sure a lot of the public sector don't support the government, mostly because the gravy train has stopped and you can feel some of the pain the real world has been subjected too for the last three years.

From the sounds of things the visit took most of the staff and the students by complete surprise. Of course that was all carefully stage-managed for the news item. I think its pretty embarrassing to put the students in that situation to be honest. We are teaching them to blindly bow down to political authority. I know that the students at Kingsdale are bright and discerning and yet they did not seem to be given the chance to do anything other than ogle at a celebrity! As a parent I am furious and now feel that Kingsdale has declared its colours with even more pride than when they jumped on the dubious-academy bandwagon!


I sincerely hope that, in the next copy of the school newsletter, the students are given the opportunity to debate the positive presence of their esteemed visitor. That is what I would recognise as education.

As a parent did you apply to Kingsdale and it's dubious academy status or did you send your children to the ideologocally pure but less successful schools nearby?


As a parent I'm outraged by all these parents who seem to detest Kingsdale. I wonder who applied to make it so oversubscribed, you hypocrites.

Maybe he is going to send his bin lids to Kingsdale, he hopes to send his kids to state school (apparently).


If he does send his kids to a state school, I'll applaud that, irrespective of his reasoning, as it seems our local schools are not good enough for our local councillors, yet they never tire of preaching to us as to how good these schools are whilst hypocritically despatching their own children to private schools.

I haven't read any messages from parents who seem to "detest" the school, simply parents and onlookers who are suggesting that the school was successful which may be why they chose the school for their own little ones, prior to the coalition. Also it is not unusual for people to respond in this way if their political ideologies do not meet, so I think the anger which has built up here may just be as a result of that rather than anger towards the school.

Nom de plume Wrote:

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

> As a parent did you apply to Kingsdale and it's

> dubious academy status or did you send your

> children to the ideologocally pure but less

> successful schools nearby?


Anyone with a child in the current Year 7 or older - i.e. all the curretn pupils - will have applied before the school considered academy status. The decision to encourage outstanding schools to become academies only came in with the present govt.


People applying for Year 7 to start this September, I also doubt if they would have been aware of the change to academy status as AFAIK it wasn't confirmed until after applications went in in October 2010.


As I understand it, the decision to become an academy was made for pragmatic reasons and not to jump on any kind of bandwagon.

westof Wrote:

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


> . The

> decision to encourage outstanding schools to

> become academies only came in with the present

> govt.


Maybe in terms of official policy this is true, but I don't think the outgoing administration saw academy status as just being solely a rescue vehicle for failing schools either - it was just less bold about the timetable for changing all schools.


For what it's worth there is much to be criticised in the Coalition's education policy, not least the changes to teacher training, but removing schools from LEA control and giving them more autonomy isn't one of them.

Nom de plume Wrote:

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

> As a parent did you apply to Kingsdale and it's

> dubious academy status or did you send your

> children to the ideologocally pure but less

> successful schools nearby?

>

> Which would those be then nom? And what measure of success are you using?

sillywoman Wrote:

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

> Which would those be then nom? And what measure

> of success are you using?


westof Wrote:

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

> Genuinely curious - can you actually name me an

> "ideologocally pure" local school?


The point I was making was that Kingsdale seems to be attracting some criticism for being (a) an academy and (b) hosting a visit by the Prime Minister. The implication is that it is either supportive of Government policy or has been somehow duped.


I was poking at all the self righteous and hypocritical indignation on this thread.


One of our local schools is outstanding and has been visited because it's an example of what the current Government wants for all schools. The leadership of Kingsdale will have taken the visit as a validation of their success, and so should we.

As there is (now) no current election we could assume that the school was being visited by the Prime Minister (in that office) rather than the leader of the Conservative Party. Most schools take visits by the Prime Minister as being rather good things. Obviously the Prime Minister wishes to promote and endorse the policies of his government - but if this is a celebration of success for the school (I assume it was) this reflects back on the pupils and teachers in the school in what (should be) a positive and reinforcing fashion.


Raining on their parade is a somewhat curmudgeonly attitude.

The point I originally tried to make was that I cannot understand why the head teacher would present themselves to be an ally of this government who has made some shocking changes which will affect the children who attend Kigadale ie. Students who are exceptionally able and bright but on the whole (although not so much any more) able to pay up to ?9000 per year in tuition fees. Whilst this is only one example of their policies which will impact on our childrens' future, it is one example of why the school should be distancing itself from this government.


I have just spoken to a friend who has a child who attended the school, she suggested that this is just another one of the head teachers moves to increasing his chances of receiving his CBE, OBE or similar? Interesting but perhaps just another conspiracy story.

The point I originally tried to make was that I cannot understand why the head teacher would present themselves to be an ally of this government who has made some shocking changes which will affect the children who attend Kigadale ie


Err, possibly because he is professional enough to realise that his own beliefs come a distant second to making decisions which will benefit the school in the long-term. Anyone who knows anything about the new Academy policy realises that he had no other option than to take academy status as eventually the school would have been forced to under terms that were much less favourable than the ones offered last year. This was clearly explained to parents at various meetings he held on the subject. Perhaps he should have "martyred" the school on this issue but I for one would have criticised him had he done so as it would have been a case of letting his heart rule his head.


Re David Cameron, how many schools would turn down a visit from the Prime Minister? Being a Headteacher is not primarily a political role.

bluemusic Wrote:

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

> The point I originally tried to make was that I

> cannot understand why the head teacher would

> present themselves to be an ally of this

> government who has made some shocking changes

> which will affect the children who attend Kigadale


Schools try on the whole to be apolitical, and to refuse a visit is in itself a political statement, unless they also choose not to take visits from local MPs or Councillors in case it was interpreted as endorsing their politics rather than recognising their office.


As an outstanding school i'd be astounded if the visit wasn't used in some way to stimulate debate about politics / government/ economics so this will be useful for the pupil's understanding of the world.


It's a bit sad that recognition of a school's success is the subject of political grandstanding and suggestions that it's driven by the head's ego.

bluemusic Wrote:

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

it is

> one example of why the school should be distancing

> itself from this government.


Come again?


Schools should distance themselves from this - or any other - government?


How should they do this, exactly? And how far should such schools go in carrying out their distancing? Civil disobedience, guerilla warfare?


And you don't even have a kid at the school - viz "I have just spoken to a friend..."

What a lot of rubbish.

Whatever your political views having the Prime Minister visit is a great event to make the children feel their school is special.

The chair of governors is a Southwark Labour councillor - and has been both for many years.

Funilly enoguh I visited the day before and the head and chair of governors very kindly gave me two hours of their valuable time.

The kids I met were smart and the school was clearly up to something preparing itself.


Had really useful discussions about admissions and I suggested some changes that they were clearly partly already thinking about. I also suggested the chair a cross political party potential way to hel pthe scholl serve Southwark even better.

Had really useful discussions about admissions and I suggested some changes that they were clearly partly already thinking about. I also suggested the chair a cross political party potential way to hel pthe scholl serve Southwark even better.


How can they do that? Due to the location of the school any introduction of a catchment area would benefit Lewisham, Croydon, Bromley, and Lambeth more than Southwark.

For what it's worth there is much to be criticised in the Coalition's education policy, not least the changes to teacher training, but removing schools from LEA control and giving them more autonomy isn't one of them.


Disagree with that, I think that is pretty much the worst part of it.

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Latest Discussions

    • We’ve got a gap on the roof of our shed that needs patching  don’t want to buy a huge roll so hoping someone has some leftover  happy to collect/reimburse 
    • I never said I thought it was targeted or deliberate. There also has never been a “stand off” or confrontation, we’ve spoken to them in a friendly manner about it. Our experience is they don’t seem to care. That’s the frustrating thing for us, if someone politely raises a concern at least take a second to reflect. Treat others how you would want to be treated.  I don’t want them to lose their job, far from it. But considering it could cost me a days work to fix any damage, I’m within my right to try prevent it.   
    • The SE22 Evri delivery family are lovely, and always say hello wherever we spot them in the area. We gave them a box of chocolates during Covid as they were working their socks off at Christmas
    • What was he doing on the stage at Glastonbury? Or on the stage at the other concert in Finsbury Park? Grinning like a Cheshire cat whilst pissed and stoned 20 somethings on the promise of free internet sung-- Oh Jeremy Corbyn---  What were his policies for Northern mining towns with no jobs or infrastructure? Free Internet and university places for youngsters. What were his other manifesto pledges? Why all the ambiguity over Brexit?  I didn't like Thatcher, Blair or May or Tony but I respected them as politicians because they stood by what they believed in. I respect all politicians across the board that stick to their principles. Corbyn didn't and its why he got  annihilated at the polls. A socialist, anti imperialist and anti capitalist that said he voted for an imperialist and pro capitalist cabal. He refused to say how he'd vote over and over again until the last knockings. He did so to appease the Islington elite and middle class students he was courting. The same people that were screaming that Brexit was racist. At the same time the EU were holding black and Asian immigrants in refugee camps overseas but not a word on that! Corbyn created and courted a student union protest movement that screamed at and shouted down anyone not on the left . They claimed Starmer and the centre right of labour were tories. He didn't get elected  because he, his movement and policies were unelectable, twice. He turned out not to have the convictions of his politics and died on his own sword.    Reform won't win an election. All the idiots that voted for them to keep out Labour actually enabled Labour. They'll be back voting tory next time.    Farage wouldn't be able to make his millions if he was in power. He's a very devious shyster but I very much doubt he'd actually want the responsibility that governance requires.
Home
Events
Sign In

Sign In



Or sign in with one of these services

Search
×
    Search In
×
×
  • Create New...