TIM SUSPENDED - SHOCK
MARCH 23rd Brian Surtees writes to all parents (probably)
" following discussions with the Local Authority, Tim Miller has been suspended from duty, pending investigations into key issues relating to leadership and management matters, affecting the school and its pupils."

A shock to us all, particularly after OFSTED said leadership and management were O.K. (even if we disagreed with them).
It has to be something serious and concrete (Tim doesn't seem to know). Someone in or near management is likely to be the source.
Possibilities.
(1) Brian Surtees is carrying out L.E.A.'s, or Barbara's dirty work. Parallels with Thatcher and Major!
(2) Anne Haberfield gets a sideways 'promotion', but rather pointedly it doesn't happen until Sept. so she has to take a term off.
(3)The 2 new Ass. Heads, Catherine Jarvis and Rosemary Moore, may think they've arrived on the Planet Zog
(4) Finance - the most frequent reason for suspending heads - OFSTED may have just finished a proper audit - and found something? This would be a real joke considering nobody ever investigated various claims about finances under Barbara.

WORST CASE SCENARIO.--If Tim is not reinstated, then with the drastic changes due in Sept, Barbara might return if she's not already there in the back ground. (that would tell us a lot about why Tim was suspended, stabbed in the back, metaphorically. Also note Brian twisting the knife by telling everyone what Tim has been accused of. Nobody communicates properly for years, then they tell parents a bit too much.
Tim may well be cleared, but I doubt if he'll be reinstated, because of bad feeling and fractures which would persist, so whatever the outcome he is unlikely to return, which happens to fit in with my original suggestion two years ago, that he was just filling in until the NMSS comes into being in Sept 2006.

BEWARE THE SUMMER TERM. Unless someone is brought in to cover it looks like the 2 new Ass. Heads will be running this term of complete upheaval.
It will be down to them to officially and finally break the news that most of the pupils are going to be 'integrated' or shipped out to other primary or secondary schools with their teachers. At these new schools they will do some lessons as a unit and will integrate in other lessons. Notice that none of the parents have any idea that this is about to happen - hence the reason for the lack of communication from the school, or any attempt at parent bonding.
Remember what they don't want you to remember is that you have a Statement for your child which says Harlowfields on it (or possibly even Tye Green, or The Mead, if that's the case you really do deserve what's coming), so one could possibly argue that your child should be physically taught on the premises. This is why they don't want us to get together.

READING BETWEEN THE LINES... 2 extra days of school closure seems very extravagant of management just to cope with one person missing. Sounds like an excuse to me, and not the first time a poor excuse has been used to close the school unnecessarily. Why close the whole school? Re-arrangement of classrooms....

WHAT S.E.N. SCHOOL HAS 6 MANAGEMENT and 12 TEACHERS. Rather top heavy don't you think. Come on parents the writing is on the wall very clearly. Two of the management are responsible for Autism and PMLD's the only groups of children to be left in the school.
Goodbye Mr. Meekcoms....what is going to happen to further ed. I hope it's not back to Harlow College.

NO MORE ANNUAL PARENTS MEETINGS OR REPORTS EVEN IF THEY WERE WRITEN IN INFANTILE LANGUAGE LAST TIME.
Schools now have to fill in a self evaluation report which will be accessible on a Web-site. That is if the school can or has the will to get its act together to actually put it on line this term, reporting on Sept.04 to Sept 05. Not much chance of that for another year or two! Remember the last APM, which we all knew was the last, but a curious game was played out offering another Parents' Meeting in Autumn 05, which of course everyone knew wouldn't happen. Why are they so dishonest and hell bent on keeping parents out of the loop?

Whoever is in charge...COMMUNICATION, AND MORE COMMUNICATION RIGHT AWAY ABOUT THE CHANGES ABOUT TO BE HEAPED ON OUR CHIDREN.

If you want to support Tim, give him a phone call, he's in the book

Next Time... I will develop the NMSS idea like I promised a few months ago, dealing with where the Social Services fit in, Respite etc.
and the concept of the teacher-less classroom