Head Teacher appointed for The Charter School East Dulwich

[brezzo]

Alice, what do you mean by "the Charter has previous on bad head decisions"? Data would suggest otherwise

[James Barber]

I'm delighted that the TCED has moved so quickly. I congratulate them on this. Working with the EFA and NHS Property will be a very demanding role and the mix of school leadership, project management skills and experience sounds a wise balance for this role.

As someone who has had several careers each benefiting from earlier ones I can see no problem in our new head having experience in the financial sector.

I trust TCS teams judgement in making this appointment. They clearly put together the best application for our new secondary school and I have no doubt they've chosen the best candidate for this new headship role.

I wonder whether the second coming would have made people happy with this appointment!

[confusedbyitall]

James - I think people have a right to have a say on a public forum about the new head- as it was the this community that signed petitions etc etc.

I certainly raised an eyebrow when I heard 5 years experience, think a lot would....doesn't mean he wont get support but everyone has a right to voice concerns.

[James Barber]

Clearly as a Lib Dem I defend the right to free speach.

But the implied assumption The Charter School can't have made the right candidate choice isn't fair. They had all the facts and we don't.

When people google search TCSED in the future this will all pop up which will make the job harder convincing paretns to put our new secondary school as their first choice.

[Belle]

But James, the google search argument is a specious one - by that rationale, none of us should ever post anything discursive or questioning about our local schools, in case of future googlers?! Anyone considering the school as a first choice will want to hear all views, I'd have thought.

[jimthebuilder]

Yes Charter does have bad decisions re heads - look at current one - huge numbers of best staff left or leaving - no empathy with kids etc.

[DVnewbie]

Not all people who work or worked in banks are inhumane... Quite a few are very nice, normal and community-spirited. Really... (No, I'm not a banker.) It's certainly not fair to generalise based on one bad experience. And I know a lot of Charter parents who are extremely happy with the new head. My children are not at secondary school yet so I can't speak from direct experience.

[brezzo]

Jimthebuilder, you can't judge current head on current results. He has been in post for a year and a bit, current results will be based on leadership of the old head.

As for staff leaving, welcome to London - people get promoted, move to better jobs, relocate to the 'burbs. We should expect staff turnover. I have worked in education for many years and it rarely happens that people leave because they "can't work with the new guy"

[Stateeducation]

Seems an odd decision to appoint Alex Crossman given he did not even hold QTS in 2012. He has never taught a normal timetable.

To suggest he was on the senior team at Charter in 2012 is not being totally truthful. He was placed onto it in 2012 as part of his training after moving from banking. He held no responsibilities and was not accountable as part of that team

So in fact he has 3 years experience in teaching full stop. All of which has been at the level of Vice Principal