Kingsdale School makes the news again

[bluemusic]

removed (see here for an explanation http://www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?5,914932 - Admin)

[Carbonara]

That's all rather inconclusive, though, isn't it?

No mention of why teachers are leaving. Are good teachers leaving in despair? Are bad teachers being eased out?

It's just a ragbag collection of gossip and facts.

Interesting about the disparity between community schools and free schools wrt to FSMs, though. But wholly predictable.

[bluemusic]

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[Metallic]

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[KalamityKel]

What kind of contract were they on?

[hilili]

Two 14yr old boys from Kingsdale mugged a woman this morning outside Pizza Express. I watched them laugh and run once they got her belongings. Fortunately she shouted and ran after them and one of the boys was caught by passers by - it was after 9am so they should have been in school . I called the Police, hope they learn from it.

[Metallic]

Which Pizza Express?

[Dorothy]

Admin, please could this thread be allowed to stay?

[Metallic]

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[Administrator]

Dorothy Wrote:

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

> Admin, please could this thread be allowed to

> stay?

Yes, unless irrelevant messages are continually posted, and/or legitimate requests are made for it to be removed.

[Carbonara]

It's inconclusive because

a) we are not told WHY they left - if pushed because of poor performacne that suggests it is good for pupils, if driven out by poor management, then bad for pupils.

b)it doesn't tell us what proportion of overall staff that number represents

c) or how many have retired or been made redundant because of curriculum changes etc.

d) there are no clues (probably rightly) as to whether it is linked to the investigation into previous allegations, let alone what the outcome of those investigations might have been.So again, no clue as to what this represents for the future.

All we know is, it happened! Which does suggest some degree of lack of continuity at the very least, but that's all we can really deduce.

[Penguin68]

The problems with figures is that, as quoted, they are opaque. Are we talking (40 teachers) actual bodies, or FTE (full time equivalent) - if bodies some may have been part-timers/ fractional posts. Staff will 'leave' if they are contracted cover for staff on maternity leave who are now returning.

On the face of it, a turn-over of 32% is very worrying, if it's really 40 FTE out of 125 FTE, for no better reason than continuity of contact - it's quite disruptive if pupils have to build new relationships with teachers each academic year, although quite naturally they will move from one level of teaching to another, which may well mean new teachers. However, if there are really going to be a third new faces in the staff room next year, that will be disconcerting (and not just for the pupils).

Of course, there will probably be a multitude of different reasons for staff leaving - good staff may be getting better (more senior) offers in other schools, sad but understandable they would want to take them; bad staff may be being eased out. What will be worrying is staff leaving because they are unhappy - that's what would be a real cause for concern, as it would suggest a fundemental problem.

But without knowledge we can only speculate.

[Metallic]

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[Administrator]

Certain individuals and their comments have got my spidey-senses tingling again, they (although probably the same person with multiple IDs) seem to have a continued vendetta against this school. Their previous posts (all about the same school) have been removed because they were just unnecessarily vitriolic and of no good for the community and the school. Please stop using the forum to get a chip of your shoulder.

Please note that the Guardian article http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2012/jul/02/speed-read-academies-teachers-meals?newsfeed=true has closed its comments section because of nasty people. I don't want to do that on this thread but if Mr and Mrs Vitriol continue with what they're doing then I may have to (sorry Dorothy).

[Metallic]

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[Carbonara]

If there are legitimate things to be said is there not any open accountable way to say them?

Either there is an unfair smear campaign against the school by aggrieved parties, or there is an important view from teachers or other parties that should be heard publicly but can't be because they have no forum within the system to voice their concern.

Or perhaps we can trust that if a member of staff makes a report to ofsted it will be diligently followed up.

[Metallic]

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[alexaf]

Post removed as it does identify some individuals and thus breaches their confidentiality and their rights under data

protection law.

You don't post something like that unless you are trying to stir up trouble. Please remember that there are people involved here, just because you have an axe to grind does not mean you can use the forum to do it.

Please be aware that should I be legally requested to hand over information to help identify the individual who continually posts malicious material then I will.

The Administrator

[Carbonara]

Metallica, I have no axe to grind at all* - and certainly don't want to see posts or threads pulled. I posed 'smear campaign' by teachers as one possibility, set against another possibility of teachers unjustly silenced. Or maybe there are ordinary reasons for all this. The point is we just don't know and the Guardian article gets us no closer. We need truth and detail in order to understand the meaning.

* not quite true - am anti the Academy movement, very anti free schools, and KD could be an option for us at some stage.

[Penguin68]

As I said in an earlier post - it all depends why they are leaving - but a good track record in a challenging school would give a strong CV (possibly) for those who are career minded.

Maths and Sciences (in general) fast-tracked some graduates into posts (sometimes city types looking for a different occupation) - it is quite possible that, for some of these, teaching wasn't what they found they wanted/ liked - most teachers have longer courses to find this out!

I hope the school is doing proper exit interviews so they know and understand why people are leaving?

[Carbonara]

Penguin - if that were all the case then wouldn't the turnover be replicated in othe similiar schools?

The strong likelihood is that 'something' is going on, but we don't know what, exactly.

Although some googling and searching of Twitter (as prompted in the first post) suggests that it is 'bullying' (I put that in quotes because it is a quote from a Tweet) of staff in the wake of the whistleblowing.The question is, how can concerned parents find out?? Is there a parents forum at the school?

And yes, of course the Guardian are free to report it - my plea is that if there is something worth reporting can they please give details and researched background and likely reasons, not facts and stats which could have all sorts of explanations!

[Pixiedust]

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[Pugwash]

My friend works as a Lab technican and her school (failing) was taken over by Harris. Everyone had to reapply for

their own jobs and were told that unless they met 80% of the criteria they would be given 4 weeks notice, no redundancy pay etc. My friend has been working at the school for last 19 years and has with her senior colleague

developed the wild life garden and nature area which she tends during the school holidays in her own time. One of the criteria she had to meet was teaching in the class room, which as technican was not her role ( she prepared for all the experiements etc). To get round this criteria, we realised that the nature garden was visited regularly by

local primary school children, who frequently asked her about the plants and wild life and she gave information and

advice how to grow things. We interpreted this as an outdoor classroom to meet the criteria, and since she is still working, we assume she met the 80% goal. She however reports that many of the teachers are unhappy the way Harris

runs the school ( these are good teachers who have the respect of the kids and know their subject) and have handed in their notice. From the school gossip - it would appear that the turnover for staff in academies is generally very high as is the rate of sickness.

[trevone64]

does anyone actually no why the teachers are leaving?????????????? rather than speculation?

[alice]

different people different reasons