Head Leaving Sydenham School

[Mrs TP]

Does anyone know why the head is leaving? This came as a bit of a bolt out of the blue and in her letter to parents she refers to 'stepping aside for a younger person', which seems such an odd thing to say especially as she is 10+ yrs off retirement.

No mention of a better offer or lifestyle change, which leads me to wonder has she been pushed?

[suzisoo]

Do you mean Sydenham girls or Sydenham high?

[Mrs TP]

Sydenham School the state girls' school, poss previously called Syd Girls.

[Rhamnousia]

God

[Otta]

Rhamnousia Wrote:

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

> During her relatively short tenure at Sydenham,

> staff morale plummeted, many experienced and

> valued staff left and results consequently

> declined. I interpret her imminent departure as

> 'jumping before being pushed'.

How do you know all this?

> Hopefully the

> Governors will recognise their folly in having

> appointed her and recruit a better quality

> replacement.

Why was it "folly" to recruit her? I assume there is a recruitment process and she came out on top. You can't always tell how a person is going to get on in real life, her CV may look great.

[Mrs TP]

Oh dear I was certainly not aware of staff morale plummeting. In any walk of life a new person at the top inevitably leads to movement below - you see it anyway and everywhere for a whole variety of reasons. Frequent movement is also a feature of city secondary schools. But at Sydenham there has also been a hugely stable teaching element.

I just find it hard to believe she is not staying to see the works finished or to see at least her first intake cohort through their GCSEs.

[Rhamnousia]

How I know 'it' is not really relevant. What is more important is I do know it. Folly can always be recognised in retrospect and it would be reassuring for Governors to recognise this and ensure the recruitment process is more rigorous and effective this time around.

[Louisa May]

It is relevant how you know 'it'. You've published a statement that is damaging to someone's reputation, which, if false, is libel. So your evidence is key.

[alice]

ofsted said Leadership was 'outstanding' in 2013

[Otta]

Quite right Louisa May.

And

"Hopefully the Governors will recognise their folly in having appointed her and recruit a better quality replacement."

Suggests that the actual act of recruiting her was folly, like they went "wehey, lets appoint this really bad person for a laugh", which I very much doubt.

Basically Rhamnousia you come across as someone with an axe to grind and a personal agenda. You won't explain yourself, so I think we should all take your posts on this with a pinch of salt.

[sweetducks]

I have two daughters at Sydenham and all of our dealings with the Head have been excellent. It's a real loss to the school that she's going.

[confusedbyitall]

I also have a daughter at Sydenham and thought Ms Unsted an excellent leader and a pleasure to deal with. I spoke with her tonight (parents evening) and asked her whether she was "pushed" or retiring as she stated....she told me definitely not pushed and that her very elderly mother and a school {with an 8 form intake each year} was just too much for her to deal with - at her age - her words not mine! (by the way she looks amazing)

Many secondary schools have a high turnover of teachers, Harris, Kingsdale etc. sometimes having someone new in is time to get rid of the cruisers...

She will be missed and her replacement has a lot to live up to.

Edited to add that results have been going up!!!

[Rhamnousia]

Really Otta, libel? Not even close! And confusedbyitall - you really are confused. In 2014, The benchmark 5 GCSE including English and Maths results were down 11% on 2013 results. It is a real stretch of the imagination to believe that a headteacher who presides over this decline in results has done an effective job.

But hey, confusedbyital as long as she looks good, that's the main thing!

http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/school.pl?urn=100741

[DaveR]

"Really Otta, libel? Not even close"

Are you familiar with the concept of innuendo meaning? What do you think the average reader would understand you to be saying about the competence and/or character of the head in your first post?

[Otta]

For the record I didn't say anything about libel, that was another poster.

I said

"Basically Rhamnousia you come across as someone with an axe to grind and a personal agenda. You won't explain yourself, so I think we should all take your posts on this with a pinch of salt."

And I'll stick with that.

Not like a single other person has agreed with you.

[intexasatthe moment]

The thread's first post asked if anyone knew why the head was leaving and speculated that she may have been pushed

It seems a bit contrary to jump so hard on the person responding to those questions .

[Otta]

I didn't immediately jump on them, I asked nicely how s/he knew these things that they were saying. They then said it didn't matter how they knew, they just knew. Which in my opinion is not worthy of being taken seriously.

[Curmudgeon]

I was extremely attracted to Sydenham school in part due to the head who I was immensely impressed with. As a secondary data manager I saw nothing in the DFE reports over the last few years to cause any alarms to ring.

I wish her well and hope the replacement headteacher continues to make Sydenham School a success. I am extremely hopeful that on Monday I will discover that my daughter will be in their next year 7 cohort. Excellent school, excellent facilities, lovely students.

[confusedbyitall]

Well said Curmudgeon!

Rhamnousia - you come across has someone with a massive chip on your shoulder. If you look at the data you posted across both the LA and all England results dropped between 13 and 14. Sydenham is well above average, with the intake it has its inspirational.

The teachers, kids are all amazing, perhaps your an ex pupil who feels hard done by....your arguments are not worth much to me or the other thousands of kids , parents and teachers that will miss Ms Unsted.

[newboots]

Rhamnousia was obviously unaware of the shakeup in GCSE results across the country in 2014 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/gcse-results-2014-inquiry-as-teachers-express-shock-at-variations-in-grades-9684456.html

[Rhamnousia]

Dear Ms Unsted fans,

I am so happy that you see her leadership as a success! I am particularly happy because you can only be ecstatic about the performance of her successor - who can only be better. They may not have such a handy line in small talk, always have their hair perfectly tinted or be so consummately made up. However, they may possibly be able to achieve the same standards as other local schools such as Bonus Pastor, up 3% to 67% or prendergast Hilly Fields, up 3% to 77% (despite the changes to GCSE's.

Also I am hoping the new Head won't send out any appalling ageist messages about 'making way for a younger person', when her pupils are likely to have to work until 70.

Good luck to you all, teachers, parents and especially students. I am off to hone my axe and to see if I can get that cip surgically removed. xx

[StraferJack]

Rhamnousia definitely not coming across like a petulant (wo)man-child with massive chip on shoulder - and that is even if we allow for the fact that everything (s)he says MIGHT be factually correct. (S)he still sounds like an immature individual

[Curmudgeon]

Troll account set up just for this thread

[bawdy-nan]

One of the things I found extremely impressive about the head when I visited the school was that she was the only school leader who talked about actively encouraging ALL students to stay on for sixth form. Her attitude to the idea of education was inspiring.

[AdaDoom]

I'm wondering if anyone knows any more about this now? Just found out our daughter will be going in Septwmber and we're all delighted so hope this isn't something less than positive to be concerned about. Has a replacement been appointed?