Head apologises as council sacks Bicester college governors (From Oxford Mail)

About time. Now the school at least has a chance with these people running it. David Dunne and Bob Wintringham were both chairs of governors when their schools got Outstanding inspections, and Jill Judson was a headteacher of an Outstanding school.

It's just a shame that the County Council had to sack the governors, rather than them doing the decent thing and resigning.

I'm not entirely sure why this man is STILL allowed to make plans for the future when he has quite clearly already failed to epic proportions in the past? It seems insane that this is allowed to continue right under the nose of the authorities. They are completely aware of the situation within the school and of the conserns of the community so does this not make them just as bad? What will it take to turn this school around? With the current SLT still in place the only answer is 'a miracle'

Interesting to see one of the old governors reinstated maybe because he is also a councillor - I think there maybe a bigger picture here. Be interesting to see how things develop.

CAMBERWELLCARROT wrote:
Interesting to see one of the old governors reinstated maybe because he is also a councillor - I think there maybe a bigger picture here. Be interesting to see how things develop.

I think Michael Waine was an Associate Member of the governors at BCC, rather than a full governor.

That meant he was asked to attend certain meetings and contribute to the discussion, but had no voting rights.

Usually this is because the governors decide that someone might have some skill or knowledge that they don't have, and so they join in as an "extra pair of hands".

Bicester Federation of Learning (The Cooper School and Glory Farm) has one of these types of governor too.

I would like to see an apology to the pupils who have moved schools........ Because of his bully boy ways and stinking attitude children have moved so they can receive the education they deserve! Shame on you do the right thing and RESIGN respect is earned not a right!!!

A school is run more by the head and his SLT than the governors. Yes they do have some say in how things go, but ultimate responsibility is the head's as he/she is there every day.
If the governors have been taken in by someone that can talk the talk, they are to blame, but their influence is nothing like the headteacher's.
It is therefore only a matter of time before he should go too.
However, governors are relatively easy to get rid of, but heads are harder. There will also be a financial issue here, as OCC will not want to have to pay out for an unfair dismissal claim. It might be a while until a lot of people get their wish.
If the IEB feel he has to go, they can of course facilitate events.

I think I must have missed something here.......the principal is choosing NOW to apologise to the community.....after the DFE have replaced the governing body.....should the apology not have come before? Too little too late? I am at a loss as to how he feels that he is the person best placed to lead the school out of crisis. Surely it was his three year plan that put them there in the first place?? Unless, of course, he is going to be taught how to lead a successful school by the people who know!

retiredteacher1949 wrote:
A school is run more by the head and his SLT than the governors. Yes they do have some say in how things go, but ultimate responsibility is the head's as he/she is there every day.
If the governors have been taken in by someone that can talk the talk, they are to blame, but their influence is nothing like the headteacher's.
It is therefore only a matter of time before he should go too.
However, governors are relatively easy to get rid of, but heads are harder. There will also be a financial issue here, as OCC will not want to have to pay out for an unfair dismissal claim. It might be a while until a lot of people get their wish.
If the IEB feel he has to go, they can of course facilitate events.

You are of course right, but only partially. If a head isn't up to scratch the Board of Governors has both the authority and the power to take action (and certainly an obligation to act too).

What was clearly the case was that the BCC governors were happy with the old state of affairs and were patently unwilling to do anything about the state of the school.

The IEB now has the ability to take whatever action they think is necessary, and I doubt they will follow the same line as the BCC board.

He sure is looking extremely happy in this photo , can't wait until the IEB do the right thing and Sack him, won't be much longer, of that I'm sure .
Not impressed that Michael Waine has done another shift , tactical move Mr W going over to Cooper when you did , I thought you was too busy to commit to being a Governor .
One thing I have heard is that the IEB can reinstate some of the old governors , lets home they don't .
I have noticed they haven't got any Parents involved , lets hope they rectify this as a matter of urgency !!!

Typo hope

It is the right decision for education in Bicester. What a shame the governors didn't realise this a long time ago. I suppose that said far more about them than anyone else could.

I have absolutely no doubt all the selected IEB members are the right people to put the school back on the right track to recovery.

Amnesia wrote:
It is the right decision for education in Bicester. What a shame the governors didn't realise this a long time ago. I suppose that said far more about them than anyone else could.

I have absolutely no doubt all the selected IEB members are the right people to put the school back on the right track to recovery.

What do you base this comment on 'right people for the job' I think not! I have a son who attended the school in Bartlets time what a joke! I have a daughter that is currently attending the school, who is florishing. All I have seen over the past few weeks are people who enjoy **** for **** sake. I attended the parents meeting and found the parents rude arogant and full of their own self importance with a captive audience, support the head teacher and shut up.

Bob 1900 wrote:

Amnesia wrote:
It is the right decision for education in Bicester. What a shame the governors didn't realise this a long time ago. I suppose that said far more about them than anyone else could.

I have absolutely no doubt all the selected IEB members are the right people to put the school back on the right track to recovery.

What do you base this comment on 'right people for the job' I think not! I have a son who attended the school in Bartlets time what a joke! I have a daughter that is currently attending the school, who is florishing. All I have seen over the past few weeks are people who enjoy **** for **** sake. I attended the parents meeting and found the parents rude arogant and full of their own self importance with a captive audience, support the head teacher and shut up.

Support the Head Teacher of a school which received almost the worst Ofsted report ever in Oxfordshire?

Parents aren't arrogant they are angry. And with good cause if you believe even a quarter of the comments made on the BA website.

Since the last Ofsted inspection loads of staff have left and results have taken a nose dive.

You will find that people who are going to shut up and support the current head are in a very small minority.

Severian wrote:

Bob 1900 wrote:

Amnesia wrote:
It is the right decision for education in Bicester. What a shame the governors didn't realise this a long time ago. I suppose that said far more about them than anyone else could.

I have absolutely no doubt all the selected IEB members are the right people to put the school back on the right track to recovery.

What do you base this comment on 'right people for the job' I think not! I have a son who attended the school in Bartlets time what a joke! I have a daughter that is currently attending the school, who is florishing. All I have seen over the past few weeks are people who enjoy **** for **** sake. I attended the parents meeting and found the parents rude arogant and full of their own self importance with a captive audience, support the head teacher and shut up.

Support the Head Teacher of a school which received almost the worst Ofsted report ever in Oxfordshire?

Parents aren't arrogant they are angry. And with good cause if you believe even a quarter of the comments made on the BA website.

Since the last Ofsted inspection loads of staff have left and results have taken a nose dive.

You will find that people who are going to shut up and support the current head are in a very small minority.

The minority in deed were the loud mouthed parents who disrupted a meeting for their own questionable motives. There is nothing worse than a throw away comment and generlisation-loads of staff have left- 12% less than Cooper and 17% less than Gosford, check your stats 'Muppet'

BOB 1900 Your comment that parents should shut up and support the head shows your own arrogance! Parents have every right to be angry, you are very lucky that your daughter is flourishing there, I suspect she is naturally bright and not because of Mr Clarke! The governors, head and SLT have let down the students and community as a whole, in any other industry he would have been sacked straight away. I was at the meeting and didn't see parents full of their own importance, just parents concerned for their childrens future, mine included, I think Mr Clarke got off very lightly.

Bob 1900 Take a look in the mirror!!! loud mouthed you say? telling people to shut up and then calling someone a muppet, I can only see one loud mouthed arrogant parent here and it would appear to be you, resorting to name calling because you don't agree with what's being written on here is very immature.

now correct me if Im wrong but the old chair of governors at the meeting said that IEG didn't even exist .... and what is with the smug grin on his face.... yep I cocked up and some other mugs are taking the can for it.... the letter we received today as parents is a joke asking for our support, he has lied and ruined our childrens education for 2 years.... how the hell does he still have a job?

Bob 1900 wrote:

Amnesia wrote:
It is the right decision for education in Bicester. What a shame the governors didn't realise this a long time ago. I suppose that said far more about them than anyone else could.

I have absolutely no doubt all the selected IEB members are the right people to put the school back on the right track to recovery.

What do you base this comment on 'right people for the job' I think not! I have a son who attended the school in Bartlets time what a joke! I have a daughter that is currently attending the school, who is florishing. All I have seen over the past few weeks are people who enjoy **** for **** sake. I attended the parents meeting and found the parents rude arogant and full of their own self importance with a captive audience, support the head teacher and shut up.

support a head teacher who isn't up to the job? seriously.... you should consider yourself very lucky that you have had no problems with your daughter at school, cause those of us that have did not get the support from him...
anyone can feed their governors aload of rubbish... to hold them totally accountable is a total laugh he should be gone

Job done-easily wound up. Back to my day job of teaching our glorious youth !

Bob 1900 wrote:
Job done-easily wound up. Back to my day job of teaching our glorious youth !

yeah that's right you've wound a few people up! Everyone here is trying to make the school go in the right direction and create a place where our children can learn and make a future for themselves while being safe at the same time. what an idiot you've just made of yourself well done!

Bob 1900 wrote:

Amnesia wrote:
It is the right decision for education in Bicester. What a shame the governors didn't realise this a long time ago. I suppose that said far more about them than anyone else could.

I have absolutely no doubt all the selected IEB members are the right people to put the school back on the right track to recovery.

What do you base this comment on 'right people for the job' I think not! I have a son who attended the school in Bartlets time what a joke! I have a daughter that is currently attending the school, who is florishing. All I have seen over the past few weeks are people who enjoy **** for **** sake. I attended the parents meeting and found the parents rude arogant and full of their own self importance with a captive audience, support the head teacher and shut up.

You are clearly very lucky that this hasn't affected your family the way it has affected others, myself included. I wish i was in your position right now, you know the one where the camera pans around and it's all smiles around the homework table? 6 months ago the mornings in my house were like scenes from 'The Exorcist' (no my daughter doesn't need one thankyou). She dreaded going to school. This wasn't 'normal' teenage 'I can't be bothered to get up' kind of dreading school but REALLY dreading going to school. Now she is a completely different child, laughing & joking & back to the girl she used to be (well nearly). She was predicted D's & E's at BCC but now she's predicted B's & C's. This isn't an error made by Gosford but REAL assessments
of progress. Some people think this is a witch hunt.... if only it were! I wish every parent & child had the privilege of not knowing how bad things are but unfortunately we don't. You don't know how lucky you are!

What I can't understand is that the IEB have only 18 months to sort this sorry excuse for a school out . Does that also mean the federation with Cooper will also be formed by then, or after then ? Thank God the powers to be didnt go down The Acadamy Route

Alyalyaly wrote:
What I can't understand is that the IEB have only 18 months to sort this sorry excuse for a school out . Does that also mean the federation with Cooper will also be formed by then, or after then ? Thank God the powers to be didnt go down The Acadamy Route

Strange, you must be privy to information that is not out yet. As to my understanding the decision of the IEB to either go Academy or federation has not been decided yet.

Then again it would not surprise me in the least seeing as the names of the IEB members have been leaked when the school staff did not even know, i hope whoever is leaking information from county gets found out and sacked. It certainly does not help anyone if the correct course is not followed.

Bob 1900 wrote:
Job done-easily wound up. Back to my day job of teaching our glorious youth !

I do hope you are not teaching English Bob1900. Your spelling
and grammar on previous posts leaves a lot to be desired.

notoobullying wrote:

Alyalyaly wrote:
What I can't understand is that the IEB have only 18 months to sort this sorry excuse for a school out . Does that also mean the federation with Cooper will also be formed by then, or after then ? Thank God the powers to be didnt go down The Acadamy Route

Strange, you must be privy to information that is not out yet. As to my understanding the decision of the IEB to either go Academy or federation has not been decided yet.

Then again it would not surprise me in the least seeing as the names of the IEB members have been leaked when the school staff did not even know, i hope whoever is leaking information from county gets found out and sacked. It certainly does not help anyone if the correct course is not followed.

The decision on what the IEB is going to do hasn't been made public as far as I can tell. The fact that the names of the board have been released can only mean that someone at OCC has been briefing the press directly - and good practice to me would mean that all students get a letter sent home to tell their parents what is happening.

On the academy front going Academy is not always a great solution - it will take ages to set up (if they can find a sponsor), and there are no guarantees that it will be any better than before (as has happened at the Oxford Academy in Littlemore).

As for the 18 months I think this is how long a school will be in Special Measures for - according to Ofsted if the school still requires special measures after 18 months of monitoring it will have to be reinspected.

Bob 1900 wrote:
Job done-easily wound up. Back to my day job of teaching our glorious youth !

If you are genuinely a teacher that would go some way towards explaining the lack of educational achievement in so many young people these days.

Something is fundamentally wrong, and not just with Bicester, but many other schools - including the once-showcased Oxford Academy in Littlemore. What is baffling is that this is happening despite the £millions which have been thrown at them. The saddest part of all is that it's the children who are suffering, their parents who are having to pay the price for State education, and the thousands of really good teachers who have left, or will be leaving their chosen career because of bureaucratic bungling and poor decision-making by politicians and educationalists alike.

Myron Blatz wrote:
Something is fundamentally wrong, and not just with Bicester, but many other schools - including the once-showcased Oxford Academy in Littlemore. What is baffling is that this is happening despite the £millions which have been thrown at them. The saddest part of all is that it's the children who are suffering, their parents who are having to pay the price for State education, and the thousands of really good teachers who have left, or will be leaving their chosen career because of bureaucratic bungling and poor decision-making by politicians and educationalists alike.

What is really sad is that two schools in Bicester which both get the same amount of money per pupil have such different outcomes.

We really need to bring BCC up to the same standard as Cooper, so that every child in Bicester has an equal chance of a really good, safe and fun education, no matter where they live or which primary school they went to.

It isn't a question of money - it's all about the management, staff and governors working together for the good of the students.

Let's hope the new IEB can sort this out before too long.

Bob1900, I cannot understand your anger. The Ofsted report sealed the fate of this board of governors. I am pleased your daughter flourished at the school and after your son's experience, that must have been a joy. But that is the point. Every child attending school in Bicester is entitled by right to a good education in a safe and fun environment. The vast majority in one Bicester secondary school are getting one, the majority in the other are not. If you had the time again, what school would you apply to for your children?
Thank goodness the matter is on the way to be rectified and I now look forward to the day when both Bicester schools get 'Excellent' reports.

I've read a (small) number of posts that have tried to suggest the number of staff leaving at BCC was insignificant, eg ' 12% less than Cooper and 17% less than Gosford'.

Below is a list we think is reasonably accurate of staff who left last academic year. This is a VAST amount of talent that the board of governors and SLT let walk through the school gates, and yet they chose not to do exit interviews.

I understand that the SLT viewed this as 'natural wastage' and that it gave them the opportunity to recruit a 'dream team'.

To have this amount of talent leave and then to be still confident they have the right '3 year plan' in place takes a special kind of arrogance:

Mrs Arif-Vardy
Mrs Barker-Boyd
Mrs Berg
Mr Buller
Mrs Bushnel
Mr Carrol
Mr Chambers
Mrs Cooke
Mr Dennis
Mr Djelalli
Mrs Fleetwood
Mrs Gothard
Mr Hamer
Mr Holme
Mrs Holmes
Dr Lawson
Mrs LeBrun
Mrs McDonald
Mr Masterson
Ms McStraw
Mrs Morley
Mrs Morrow
Mr Partington
Mr Peak
Mr Powell
Mrs Randle
Mr Rendle
Mrs Rotheram
Mrs Simmons
Mrs Sleeman Barker
Mrs Williamson

I may have missed the odd name. Feel free to correct/amend, but don't feel free to suggest this is an insignificant staff exit: this was exactly what it reads like - a mass exodus.

Lets see 3 non teaching staff, at least 6 who left in the prior academic year, yep I see the information exchange is as accurate as ever.

There were also a few NQTs who left or were filling in the gaps before this September.

“We have all the components needed to be an outstanding school. I want to be part of making it an outstanding school. I will be sitting down with my senior team to discuss how to move the school forward. Change needs to be done in consultation with the community and needs to be specific to the school. I’m here until the job is done and then I can enjoy the fruits of that labour.” Mr. Jason Clarke, newly-appointed head, quoted in the Oxford Mail/Bicester Advertiser May 2010.

@notoobullying - lets see, umm, actually no corrections mentioned in your post. And your point about non-teachers - what has that to do with my list of staff leaving?

And you're saying more of the staff left the previous year? You mean the situation is actually worse than portrayed? Staff started leaving in droves the previous year and the SLT didn't do anything about it?

Yes, thanks for your input there @notoobullying, glad to see you're helping to improve the quality of information. Did you get as far as my note on the bottom?

Anyone else want to add/correct this list of 31 names? Oops - @notoobullying thinks it should only be 25 names. Not too many at all then.

I see some of the posters are as helpful as ever.

Instead of querying whether a member of staff is a holier-than-thou teacher or a mere cleaner, shouldn't we keep our eye on the ball and notice an awful lot of staff in general have left? Or is @notoobullying hoping to whittle this list down to zero?

My message is simple. A lot of talent has walked out of the school gates. The previous board of governors didn't ask them why. That was a mistake and they've paid for it.

The new management need to arrest this talent drain and understand where the current leadership skills are failing.

Why should I bother to try and patch up your failings of mis-information. You are obviously implying that I am a member of either the prior governenace or a member of SLT by your comment which again is very incorrect.

Whilst there are some good teachers to have left for varying reasons, there are also some bad ones. There are also retirements, sadly one of that list was an early one due to health and passed away during last summer. There were non teaching staff * so how could this TALENT have helped the education).

There will always be turnover of staff, I have no seen the figures for previous heads or schools nearby.

However I would state this, the IEB is now in place as we have all read, rather than keep throwing Inaccurate information around....(which I know the facebook group are SOOOO fond off doing), maybe it is time to actually let the IEB do their job. Because frankly your group are begining to sound like a stuck record, and it got boring a long time ago.

If the IEB think the SLT should stay or they should go, it will need the community as a whole to help the school move forward, if they do not then the IEB will also fail.

Whether or not a disproportionate amount of staff have left, it is time to draw a line under it and let the IEB do their job!

@notoobullying - leaving aside your typos and grammatical errors, and even the odd solecism such as a 'failing of mis-information' which would seem to mean 'correct information', I wasn't implying anything about you being a member of governance or SLT (though I now read your lack of grammar in a new light). I have no idea what you do for a living but I'll go out on a limb and guess you don't work for OUP.

Similarly, I know nothing of your facebook group - is that where uneducated adolescents try to be as rude as possible to each other? They could learn from these posts.

You do however raise a fascinating point - namely that non-teaching staff do not make up the talent that helps education.

You would seem to imply that teachers are the real talent. I'll sign up to that. The problem is that the current Leadership seem to be unable to retain this talent. Does my post make more sense to you now?

Instead of all name calling and arguing can we not all agree on one thing - that the IEB brings considerable experience of managing and governing Outstanding schools in Oxfordshire, and that they represent the best chance we have of turning BCC round?

What they need now is the support of parents, staff and students to start putting things right as quickly as possible. And it can't come soon enough in my opinion.

notoobullying wrote:

Alyalyaly wrote:
What I can't understand is that the IEB have only 18 months to sort this sorry excuse for a school out . Does that also mean the federation with Cooper will also be formed by then, or after then ? Thank God the powers to be didnt go down The Acadamy Route

Strange, you must be privy to information that is not out yet. As to my understanding the decision of the IEB to either go Academy or federation has not been decided yet.

Then again it would not surprise me in the least seeing as the names of the IEB members have been leaked when the school staff did not even know, i hope whoever is leaking information from county gets found out and sacked. It certainly does not help anyone if the correct course is not followed.

Please get your facts right and search the web , it's all there in black and white . Thank you very much !

notoobullying wrote:

Alyalyaly wrote:
What I can't understand is that the IEB have only 18 months to sort this sorry excuse for a school out . Does that also mean the federation with Cooper will also be formed by then, or after then ? Thank God the powers to be didnt go down The Acadamy Route

Strange, you must be privy to information that is not out yet. As to my understanding the decision of the IEB to either go Academy or federation has not been decided yet.

Then again it would not surprise me in the least seeing as the names of the IEB members have been leaked when the school staff did not even know, i hope whoever is leaking information from county gets found out and sacked. It certainly does not help anyone if the correct course is not followed.

I'm sounding like a polly parrot now BUT please use a search engine correctly and all the information is there!!! It does take a while but it always comes up trumps for me . As some of you are aware I stated the name of the head of the IEB on a different post on here a few weeks ago and yet again not only was I correct and I found the information via searching . So please don't state comments that are not FACTUAL , unlike mine . Thank you . Shame really because I have found some more amazing Factual things , but I have decided to keep it to myself !!!!

Bob 1900 wrote:
Job done-easily wound up. Back to my day job of teaching our glorious youth !

cocky and arrogant just like Clarke.... with your attitude I seriously hope your not a teacher, cause if so well then that just explains the Ofsted doesn't it

Onwards and upwards hopefully now, with this new temporary and smaller group of governor . Interesting news item on TV a couple of days ago (maybe others saw it?) about why London state schools are now the best even if in poorer areas or not much in facilities - said all about keeping the teachers fresh and keen by constant training, and getting good newly qualified teachers - and keeping them. Certainly a job for the enthusiastic type of person who loves the subject enough to make our kids love it too - I'll stay working in a shop thanks. It can only get better now and I feel a bit better about the future of BCC now.

The problem lies with management and not with the Governors. It's ludicrous. The head doesn't have any interest in the children it's entirely political. I know one of the governors and he was a governor at a local primary school for at least 10 years with no problems. Disgraceful!!! Rant over!! :-(

Good riddance to the apologists for poor standards who sat nodding their heads at governors' meetings and insulting us with their lies about how good it all is even after the report proved what we as parents all knew already. The head staying on is inevitable because he has nowhere else to go (not a great CV!). That, and the fact that doing the right thing would be the best lesson our children learnt from all of this, are compelling reasons why the board should seriously consider sacking the head.
We will be watching for signs of attempted re-entry through the back door of these miserable apologists. They should be banned from ever being governors of anywhere ever again.

Parent12 wrote:
Good riddance to the apologists for poor standards who sat nodding their heads at governors' meetings and insulting us with their lies about how good it all is even after the report proved what we as parents all knew already. The head staying on is inevitable because he has nowhere else to go (not a great CV!). That, and the fact that doing the right thing would be the best lesson our children learnt from all of this, are compelling reasons why the board should seriously consider sacking the head.
We will be watching for signs of attempted re-entry through the back door of these miserable apologists. They should be banned from ever being governors of anywhere ever again.

Amazing and spot on comments , couldn't agree more .

Speaking as a parent, I can only say that there has been a growing improvement in the school in the last two years and in the last year in particular; my child is more than happy to attend, she is learning, is interested in learning and getting results. I think the reason the ofsted report was so poor is because it is based on the previous 5 years performance. i.e. including the period prior to the current staff and leadership. Changes needed to be made and staff replaced because when my daughter first went there; discipline was totally absent as were alot of the teachers alot of the time. BCC should never have been put into special measures, especially as the much lauded Cooper was not that far
ahead on its ofsted report. I would welcome a totally independent school inspectorate to be set up to get to the truth in uk education.

The Ofsted report was based on an inspection carried out over a few days in December 2012, not anything to do with 5 years ago.

CAMBERWELLCARROT wrote:
Speaking as a parent, I can only say that there has been a growing improvement in the school in the last two years and in the last year in particular; my child is more than happy to attend, she is learning, is interested in learning and getting results. I think the reason the ofsted report was so poor is because it is based on the previous 5 years performance. i.e. including the period prior to the current staff and leadership. Changes needed to be made and staff replaced because when my daughter first went there; discipline was totally absent as were alot of the teachers alot of the time. BCC should never have been put into special measures, especially as the much lauded Cooper was not that far
ahead on its ofsted report. I would welcome a totally independent school inspectorate to be set up to get to the truth in uk education.

Cooper was seen as 'outstanding' in 2011, so to say that Cooper was "not that far ahead on its ofsted report" is utter rubbish.
If outstanding is not that much better than special measures, I will apologise.

Parent12 wrote:
The Ofsted report was based on an inspection carried out over a few days in December 2012, not anything to do with 5 years ago.

The new Ofsted criteria is based on "learning over time" which is based on the achievements of year 11 that left in July 2012 and the education that they received in their five years i.e. years of of previous head and staff. This report does not take into account any improvements since September 2012. The Ofsted report for Cooper was not based on the same criteria.

Well how excited was I to receive a letter from bcc this morning.At long last it maybe the apology I've been waiting for!...... To say sorry we haven't answered your e-mails or letters or sorry for the way your child's been treated by bullies or the way some teachers have treated him........NO it's a letter inviting me to parents evening to discuss his progress and well being....... THANK YOU but your 3months to late I removed him last year from your failing school that's run by So called men with over large egos..... Makes you wonder how many other children are still on the books to make that hovel look good!!!!!

I think that the discussion re: Cooper vs BCC at the points of reference for OFSTED can be ideally summarised by looking at the parental questionnaires on the OFSTED website for the respective schools. These speak volumes, and since all parents COULD have responded using this means one would expect those supportive parents from BOTH schools to make their voices heard!

I think that the discussion re: Cooper vs BCC at the points of reference for OFSTED can be ideally summarised by looking at the parental questionnaires on the OFSTED website for the respective schools. These speak volumes, and since all parents COULD have responded using this means one would expect those supportive parents from BOTH schools to make their voices heard!

I think that the discussion re: Cooper vs BCC at the points of reference for OFSTED can be ideally summarised by looking at the parental questionnaires on the OFSTED website for the respective schools. These speak volumes, and since all parents COULD have responded using this means one would expect those supportive parents from BOTH schools to make their voices heard!

I think that the discussion re: Cooper vs BCC at the points of reference for OFSTED can be ideally summarised by looking at the parental questionnaires on the OFSTED website for the respective schools. These speak volumes, and since all parents COULD have responded using this means one would expect those supportive parents from BOTH schools to make their voices heard!

CAMBERWELLCARROT wrote:

Parent12 wrote:
The Ofsted report was based on an inspection carried out over a few days in December 2012, not anything to do with 5 years ago.

The new Ofsted criteria is based on "learning over time" which is based on the achievements of year 11 that left in July 2012 and the education that they received in their five years i.e. years of of previous head and staff. This report does not take into account any improvements since September 2012. The Ofsted report for Cooper was not based on the same criteria.

We didn't need a report to know that the school was failing. What you are pointing out is a small part of the report which acknowledges that it wasn't just a bad couple of days that they observed by chance. It's this clutching at straws type of excuse-making that I find so irritating.
Give the future a chance by calling a failure a failure then doing a lot about it!

Blimey !!!! It's looking a lot like the Facebook group on here !!!!!

Alyalyaly wrote:
Blimey !!!! It's looking a lot like the Facebook group on here !!!!!

I have never seen the Facebook group so I wouldn't know whether this is or isn't the same. But if the FB group thinks that an Outstanding Ofsted inspection is little different from a school being put in special measures then there will be little that I missed.

It has been obvious for years (and long before Mr Clarke started) that the two schools were drifting apart in terms of performance, and in recent years BCC has just been failing on so many fronts compared to Cooper.

At long last Ofsted has been willing to take action, and hopefully we will see the two schools give our kids equal outcomes in the near future.

If people honestly believe that giving the current management team another 2-3 years to improve their act has any chance of happening they need to wake up and face reality.

Things are going to change - so get used to the idea.

@Severian, Seeing as you are such a Michael Waine fanboi, maybe you can answer for him....

Why is it that last September when it was announced that he was stepping down from BCC governors, it was stated that he did not have the time for being both a BCC governor and "Bicester Federation chairman", however now he miraculously does have time for both, even though there has been no "formal" decision made on whether BCC is to become part of this federation.

When in reality the reason he did step down is that he was already manoeuvring in the background for this exact outcome (before the Ofsted inspection had even been announced), and knew if he was a governor still he would also have been removed due to this outcome.

Also in 2007 when he stated he knew both schools were failing has HE been able to help cooper school and not also BCC when in a position to offer that help, and I quote from the Bicester Ad..http://www.bices
teradvertiser.net/ne
ws/1150452.Council_l
eader_slams_school_s
tandards/

He said: "In all cases, we are working closely with school leadership teams and governors on real change agendas.
"People will be aware of recent and sustainable improvements at Cooper School, and the engagement of the Oxfordshire education effectiveness service which advises and inspects schools with Bicester Community College."

He talks of improvements at cooper and engagement at BCC, why was he not able to deliver the same for both schools, I will tell you why he has a favouritism for cooper and didn't want to help BCC.
Whilst I believe the other four members of the IEB CAN do some good and help move the school the correct way, I cannot help be feel that Mr Waine has been engineering this for his own aims for far too long. When in fact he should also be held accountable and not be in this position on the IEB.
Nothing like getting your mate an extra few thousand too be an executive head is there, which then begs the question of where the extra 100k for an executive head will come from in this time of austerity, if the federation route is chosen )two IEB members belonging to federation…..again another done deal).

The fact is this school has had problems for years, and like him or not Mr Clarke has been made the scapegoat for the years of neglect by multiple parties, none of which seem to have copped the blame also, and while some said he run roughshod over the school and forced in new changes, others are clearly saying it wasn't quick enough.

Notoobullying : Whilst acknowledging, and agreeing with your comments made about Mr Waine, I would like to take issue with your final assertion. I am CERTAIN that Mr Clarke ran roughshod over the school, and it is FOR THAT VERY REASON that the pace of change was not fast enough. The staff who were at the school when he arrived knew that change was needed, and were ready to embrace that change, and working with him. The problem is that they found that they couldn't, because his reasoning for the changes either was not communicated, or communicated poorly (as can also be said with his communication with other stakeholders e.g. parents). This led to clear divisions which had not been evident in the school before, and thus the pace of change was slow, since staff were not all working towards the common cause. Indeed beyond the 'to become the school of choice for Bicester' the staff had no clear idea of what the aims were, nor, how they were to achieve this, given that old structures were being removed, and there was no real evidence that those new structures being put in would yield anything positive. One might say that the staff should have had more trust in the Mr Clarke, and his SLT members, but I have heard from diverse staff members from the school that there is a serious lack of trust in their ability to lead the school, and this has now been borne out by OFSTED.

@notoobullying:
Maybe the difference is that in Cooper School the governors (including Michael Waine), the Head and the staff work together to make the school get better every year. And Cooper has a head who has transformed the school from one of the worst in County to one of the best.

In BCC it seems that they did the exact opposite - the Head and SLT appear to have worked against the staff, and the governors appear to have done little to hold the leadership to account for the ongoing failings of the school.

As I understand it Michael Waine was an Associate Governor at BCC (hard to tell because the school didn't publish its list of governors after 2011) whereas at Cooper he was a full governor. As an associate governor he will have had little authority to make the Head do anything - but the rest of the governors can certainly be held to account.

The Bicester Ad reported that one of the main reasons Michael stood down from BCC was because he saw a conflict of interest between being chair of one board, and being a member of the other.

As for the possible federation (no idea if this is happening because all I've seen is what the Bicester Ad has published) I would expect there to be less work than being a governor of two separate schools because there would not be twice as many meetings.

It seems to me that your issues with what is happening at BCC are concerned more with a personal crusade against Michael Waine, and much less with making sure that the kids there get the education they need and deserve.

To the contrary, I do care about the kids educations. That is why he should not be there. He has already been part of the historical problem with his inability to help both school rather than just his favourite, and this goes further than just his "governor" roles"...but deep into his role as a councilman and as all the educational committees he is part off.

But otherwise you answered how I expected you too, and that spoke volumes. So I thank you for that.

notoobullying wrote:
Lets see 3 non teaching staff, at least 6 who left in the prior academic year, yep I see the information exchange is as accurate as ever.

Perhaps you should read what has been written. "Below is a list we think is reasonably accurate of staff who left last academic year. "

Do you understand what reasonably accurate means?

Oxford Male wrote:

notoobullying wrote:
Lets see 3 non teaching staff, at least 6 who left in the prior academic year, yep I see the information exchange is as accurate as ever.

Perhaps you should read what has been written. "Below is a list we think is reasonably accurate of staff who left last academic year. "

Do you understand what reasonably accurate means?

Yes I do, do you? or do you accept that accept that an error rate of around 20% should be called "reasonably accurate".

Hang on a minute.....are we including the NEW member of staff who is set to leave at then end of this year.....1 year in post!!, and the Head of Humanities Faculty who left for the Royal Latin, at Christmas to a non-promoted post!....let's not forget that the drain continues!

notoobullying wrote:

Oxford Male wrote:

notoobullying wrote:
Lets see 3 non teaching staff, at least 6 who left in the prior academic year, yep I see the information exchange is as accurate as ever.

Perhaps you should read what has been written. "Below is a list we think is reasonably accurate of staff who left last academic year. "

Do you understand what reasonably accurate means?

Yes I do, do you? or do you accept that accept that an error rate of around 20% should be called "reasonably accurate".

The 3 "non-teaching staff" were TAs or involved in SEN/Access Team, so they still have a direct involvement in childrens' education. Having them on that list is therefore quite relevant.
The 6 who left the previous year isn't, but there were a lot more than 6 in that year, which was the point of the original post!
There was, according to one reliable source, a staff turnover of OVER 50% in the academic year 2011/12.
All but one of the maths department left. Is that a sign of an improving school, one that is good to work in and has a head who is on the right track?
No.

citizensunite wrote:
Hang on a minute.....are we including the NEW member of staff who is set to leave at then end of this year.....1 year in post!!, and the Head of Humanities Faculty who left for the Royal Latin, at Christmas to a non-promoted post!....let's not forget that the drain continues!

The head of humanities was one of the best teachers at BCC and was liked by just about everyone, teachers and pupils alike. His leaving sums up the state of BCC.

retiredteacher1949 wrote:

citizensunite wrote:
Hang on a minute.....are we including the NEW member of staff who is set to leave at then end of this year.....1 year in post!!, and the Head of Humanities Faculty who left for the Royal Latin, at Christmas to a non-promoted post!....let's not forget that the drain continues!

The head of humanities was one of the best teachers at BCC and was liked by just about everyone, teachers and pupils alike. His leaving sums up the state of BCC.

Presumably they were poached by the Royal Latin, given who the new head there is?

I don't think there is much poaching needed......the offer of a post in a well run school is obviously too much of a draw. As someone said to me at the end of last year, "There are enough stresses in this job without having constant battles, in an atmosphere like the one we're immersed in on a daily basis. It's just not worth it"

i think the problem here really is, what damage has this school already done to the education of those who were not only under the leadership of Jason Clarke, but under Cynthia Bartlett.

i was personally a student at the time of her being in charge of the school and never felt her presence at all.

Although the current principal has obviously not improved anything, i think this was inevitable had the school carried on the way it was anyway.

He has certainly stopped the glorifying of students who wanted to misbehave, which was an everyday occurance, and he has reduced the amount of lateness in the mornings. whilst i was at that school it was a joke, and although it is sad that the current state is not improved, it has to be wondered what effect the decisions of Cynthia Bartlett has had on the lives, education and career paths of thousands of students who have passed through those gates.

Word is that he's cleared his desk. Whether that is the case, I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow.

retiredteacher1949 wrote:
Word is that he's cleared his desk. Whether that is the case, I'm sure we'll find out tomorrow.

just hope to god they don't put Hollis in charge, he's just as bad if not worse, Clarke hid behind Hollis and Hollis is nothing more than a bully who has no regard for parents concerns

concernedtat: word is he's the acting joint HT along with his female counterpart.

This must be Hollis' dream day...what he's been trying to bully towards throughout his career...moving into the top office (although 'temporarily' i'm sure it will still go to his head)
If either he or J.causon get the permanent post, the school would be better off just closing!!

I would like to take this opportunity to clarify some facts in regard to other comments made on other articles on the Bicester Adveriser online.

I was a Governor at BCC for less than one year. I resigned from the board of Governors as it became absolutely clear that I could not devote the amount of time that this important role deserved.

Nick Mawer wrote:
I would like to take this opportunity to clarify some facts in regard to other comments made on other articles on the Bicester Adveriser online.

I was a Governor at BCC for less than one year. I resigned from the board of Governors as it became absolutely clear that I could not devote the amount of time that this important role deserved.

Nick - I owe you an apology (I couldn't comment on the other board because the BA has closed comments on it).

I discovered you were a governor at BCC from a newsletter they sent out some time ago, and there is no information on their website any more about who their governors were.

I didn't intend to attack innocent people - I just wanted to know who the people were that had been running the school before the DfE intervened.

Might have been better for everyone if the school had gone to the trouble of listing who their governors were.

The important thing now is that the IEB get stuck in and turn the school around as quickly as possible.

Apology accepted. I wish Steve1955 was as gracious.