Choosing who should run our schools

It seems that my Christmas wish for Weston Favell School to be left alone and remain outside of the clutches of a Tory County Council and a Labour Governments wish to turn them into an Academy against their will has come partly true!

Certainly the news out today that Weston Favells academy sponsor ULT had withdrawn from their intended take over of the school is good news, and it is the second academy sponsor to withdraw in two years of failed Council consultations on plans that the general public simply just don't want. The latest announcement came after the minister expressed "serious concerns" about the lack of progress at the ULT-run Sheffield Park Academy which is currently in special measures.


But be warned, in the new year no doubt the Council will only redouble their efforts to find someone else to sponsor their unpopular plans and they can then try again to convince us they only have the best interest of our children at heart, rather than simply washing their hands of what they decree failing schools. But with 1 in 3 academies now failing you would think the Council would be more cautious as to its choice of partner, and less keen to tell us that State run schools are always bad and Independent run schools always good

But just how much embarrassment are the Cabinet willing to take on this issue, whilst their sponsors fall like wobbly skittles in a bowling alley?

ULT's latest announcement coming on the back of damning reports of their failure elsewhere to turn the fortunes of schools around were not surprising, anyone with a modicum of common sense (So that obviously excludes the Councils Cabinet) could see their failures and poor record staring them straight in the face. 30 speakers who turned up and spoke to the infamous "were not listening" cabinet meeting and scores of others who wrote letter and emails could have told the Council that ULT were not fit for purpose, even the minister hinted at it but they just didn't want to listen.

(see http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com/2009/12/brave-stupid-or-simply-arrogant.html below )

So will they be more discearning in their choice in the future? I doubt it, just look at what they are up to just a couple of miles away at Unity College with the help of the Church of England where the school is being offloaded to another academy sponsor, The David Ross Foundation

(see http://tonyclarkeindependent.blogspot.com/2009/07/role-model-but-to-whom.html from July )

David Ross you may be aware is very friendly with one David Cameron, and is a major donor to the Tory Party (So far so good for the blue rinses at Strawberry Hall I hear you say) but he also courts rather a lot of controversy and this weeks press makes the County Councils choice for Unity's future even more interesting. About a year ago Mr Ross stood down from the Board of Carphone Warehouse after failing to declare that a loan was secured on his company shares, soon after this he was further asked to resign as an adviser to Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London.

Bad press for someone tipped to be a future member of David Cameron's cabinet following a possible elevation to the House of Lords, and time for a period of reflection and for laying low I hear you thinking.

But this week in what is impeccable timing for Strawberry Hall, Mr Ross hit the national press again. The Daily Mail informs us that "within the next few days he can expect to be questioned by police about a fracas involving a young, blonde, Lithuanian woman. The lady made an allegation of assault after she called the police in the early hours of Friday morning to the Belgravia home of Mr Ross"

The Mail then followed up the story by revealing that "the woman at the centre of 'assault' at the home of David Cameron's millionaire friend David Ross is an escort girl"

"The Lithuanian blonde claims she was cheated out of money 'for services rendered' by a man at the house. She alleges that a scuffle broke out in the early hours of Friday, during which she was assaulted"

In a response Mr Ross, who has been helping formulate Tory schools policy, has told friends that the woman was not invited at all, and he threw her out when she confronted him.

It was suggested that the woman might have turned up at the house with several guests from a party hosted by pr guru Matthew Freud which was attended by Ross, David Cameron and his wife as well as other celebrities and political guests. Sometime later after arriving at Mr Ross's house she was told to leave by Mr Ross after she had alledgedly threatened him.

Now I have no doubt that the Metropolitan Police will get to the bottom of what occurred and Mr Ross may well be innocent of any wrong doing and be nothing more than the victim of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, but whilst the national press concentrate mainly on what they say "risks embarrassment for Mr Cameron" the possibility of any embarrassment for the Tory Party in Strawberry Hall is less clear.

Now call me old fashioned, but for me, when picking out future partners to take over responsibility for the education of our children, I want to know and to be assured by our councillors that they are a) up to the job (ULT failed on that score it seems) and b) that the head of any foundation applying to take on such a responsibility isn't going to continue to be in the headlines for all the wrong reasons.

No doubt the Tory Cabinet on the County Council have asked themselves these very same questions? But up until now they have been very shy in revealing to us any of the answers.

My solution? Scrap these crazy plans to offload our state schools to the independent sector via the "academy" programme and start doing the job you were elected to do in giving proper support to our schools rather than treating them like commodities to be shipped off to anyone who will take them.

And listen more to the pupils, parents, teachers and governors who have a big stake in our schools, rather than government ministers and local bean counters.

A role model, but to whom?

At this afternoons County Council Cabinet the local Tories nodded through without dissent their latest plans to push forward with Academy status for Unity College in Northampton.

Those unaware of the recent history may be surprised to hear that they dropped the last failed plans just 3 months ago following protests from parents pupils and staff as to a lack of meaningful consultation and also a plea from all for some stability at the school and a hope for a period of relative calm in which the school can improve its performance and the pupils can prosper.

A new executive board had been agreed for the school and yet before it has even had time to meet, the County Council are once more throwing the school into a period of further uncertainty, and a consultation period that once again coincides with the School Summer Holidays (really helpful)

So here we go again......................................

This time step forward their new preferred partner the David Ross Foundation, and let us give praise for this mans entrepreneurial spirit. This afternoon at County Hall Cllr Michael Clarke (Hackleton) reminded us that this was the man who was responsible for the mobile phone! (Hardly he simply was a co founder of Carphone Warehouse) and that he was someone that would inspire pupils and someone they could look up to.

Unfortunately for Michael I had to inform the chamber that David Ross has another less palatable and less celebrated side to his character.

Mr Ross is a close friend of David Cameron and a big donor to the Tory party he hit the headlines recently for rather different reasons to those trumpeted by local Tory Cllrs. For instance the Guardian of 11th June 2009 tells us that

"Ross was forced to resign as a director of a number of companies, including Carphone, Big Yellow and National Express, after breaching stock exchange rules. He had admitted using his personal shareholdings in the businesses as security for millions of pounds worth of personal loans, but failed to notify his fellow board members. Under the rules governing directors' disclosure, any director must notify the company's chairman of any share dealings, including the use of shares as security for loans. Ross also quit his prestigious role advising the London mayor, Boris Johnson, on the 2012 Olympics"

The American Hedge Fund Millionaire was a key member of Boris Johnsons Olympics team where he oversaw the Olympic budget and advised on legacy issues for the Mayor, but he quit his position following his shares difficulties in December 2008.

The Financial Times indicates possible trouble ahead for Mr Ross when it reported on the 12th June that:

"Mr Ross had a Gilbraltar-based commercial property joint venture with Morgan Stanley called Kandahar Real Estate, but he has bought the investment bank out for a nominal sum. Accounts filed this month for Kandahar Group Limited, a British subsidiary of Kandahar Real Estate that funds several UK property interests, show that auditors have highlighted uncertainty about the company's ability to continue as a going concern. Directors of Kandahar Group expect it to be in breach of covenants on its £247m loan facility with HBOS if the company's property portfolio is valued next month."

So, all in all he sounds like a great role model for our secondary schools kids, I hear you all cry!

The other school the David Ross Foundation manages is the Havelock Academy in Grimbsy where Mr Ross's father built his frozen food empire. It has recently published GCSE results 3% below the national average. Life at Havelock however sounds spiffing with the school broken up "Public School" style into various houses, Tiger, Eagle, Archer, Vanguard, Ramalies, Illustrious, Jaguar and Fortune. The Academy takes its name from the folk-heroic legendary figure called Havelock who was saved by Grim, a Danish fisherman.

But whether or not Unity can be saved once again from whats seems like endless upheaval and continual imposed and flawed County Council consultations or whether its future like Havelock's saviour is grim will now be decided in the coming months.

My own view for what it is worth is that Mr Ross's well established links to the Tory Party and his own well documented problems make him less than an ideal candidate to convince an already hesitant parent and staff group that the future of the school is secured. In fact some might wonder whether the Tory Councillors themselves as members of a Party who may have benefited from Mr Ross's political largess should themselves declare an interest?

I would guess that a number of those opposed to the original Academy bid may well also share my view, and once more the focus will be on not what is best for the kids at the school (stability and a chance for the new executive board to raise standards) but instead on the County Councils gift for getting it so badly wrong in again choosing unsuitable partners for Northampton's most challenged Secondary School.