HARLOWFIELDS IN CRISIS
The school has been left rudderless and leaderless by a totally incompetent set of Governors
They appointed Tim when we all knew he wasn't up to the job, and we
stated so on this website. Rumour was that he was John Major to
Barbara's Thatcher (well Major did resonablly well much to her
consternation), but Tim was set up to fail and 2 years was a suggested
time he might survive to give Barbara a cushion, so that the next
incumbant wouldn't find out what had been going on!
So why this huge long gap before appointing a new head "with the LEA's
vision" note; not the best person for the job! Well knowing Tim was on
his way out in Feb /March they could have had an advert in for
appointment FOR EASTER, certainly FOR SEPT. This is disgraceful
and has now resulted in various Heads being co-opted for 2 terms
***APOLOGY***
I HAVE JUST HEARD FROM
A RELIABLE SOURCE, AND THERE AREN'T MANY OF THOSE, THAT THE
TERM "STAKEHOLDER" IS A TERM WHICH HAS A
BROADER MEANING THAN FINANCIAL AND THAT THESE STAKEHOLDERS ARE NOT
FINANCIAL.
I ACCEPT THAT, AND ALTHOUGH THE SCHOOL FINANCES HAVE A LOT OF QUESTION
MARKS THEY ARE NOT TAKING PROFITS FROM THE CHILDREN TO GIVE TO
STAKEHOLDERS. WE WILL CONTINUE TO INVESTIGATE AND TRY AND WORK
OUT WHAT EXACTLY IS GOING ON WITH NMSS. APOLOGIES IF I GAVE
ANYONE KITTENS
***END***
Remember the school was nearly PRIVATISED in DEC.2002, well the council
said then that they could privatise each element separately, and we
think this is what they have done.
We know that there are now quite a few STAKEHOLDERS. Is Brian Surtees a STAKEHOLDER? It seems likely that these stakeholders
are taking profits from the money allocated to our children! This is
unethical. It seems to me that there is no other way for stakeholders
to make a profit, other than directly from pupils.
When the teachers are out of school 'enlightening' mainstream teachers
our children will be 'taught' by LSAs, indeed they already are. This is
not good enough, and is illegally discriminating against Special Needs
Pupils, compared with mainstream.
We were wondering why the school policy of keeping parents OUT and UNINFORMED
was still in place. We think it is because for this PRIVATISATION and STAKEHOLDER issue
Be warned parents. All these public servants are now private stakeholders whose only motive is to make money
And BINGO they've just saved £120,000 plus by 'parting' with Tim
and not bothering to replace him. Now that's a nice profit.
There has been no proper publishing of finances for years now, and very
poitedly now answering of financial questions asked repeatedly by
parents, verbally and in writing.
Barbara and Anne were very flustered and acted suspiously when
police arrived in the Head's room about a completely unrelated issue.
THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW BUT DON'T KNOW ABOUT HARLOWFIELDS
(1) The school is now officially a NEW MODEL SPECIAL SCHOOL (NMSS) not that they will tell you this
or what exactly it involves
The Admissions Policy has changed in Sept 2006. What does that mean for our children and class composition
(3) All parents have been 'persuaded' to have pupils bussed to school to
prevent most parents from ever seeing inside the school while it is
operating and minimise the chances of parents meeting up
(4) The school now has only one very small swimming pool. The hydro
therapy pool is not being replaced inspite of lots of pupils like PMLDs
who should be offered this vital facility.
Well that's saved a lot of money for the stakeholders!
(5) Children who need Speech Therapy, including those who didn't even get it on their statement, rarely see a Speech Therapist
Well that saves a lot of money for the Stakeholders
(6) Children who need Physio rarely get it delivered by a Physiotherapist, but rather by LSAs
Well that saves a lot of money for Stakeholders
(7) Nobody will tell you what size a group is,which gives them the excuse to have LSAs teach what is effectively a whole class
Well that saves stakeholders money
(8) The National Autsistic Society have not registered Harlowfields as
having Autistic pupils or a qualified Teacher of Autism. Why not? And does it mean that it saves the Stakeholders money?
(9) Nobody bothered to inform parents even about the Fete Day Profit or
thank the people who helped. Lets hope that doesn't mean the
stakeholders pocket that as well. No but it is possible that they get
the PTA to pay for things that the school should pay for
Well that saves the stakeholders money!
WELL YOU GET THE DRIFT DON'T YOU
Finally if any of this is inaccurate we are quite happy to hear from anyone including Stakeholders
(e-mail address at front) and print the correct information, but there
is certainly some thing very sick about poor old Harlowfields. Our
children deserve much better, and rather poitedly one of the elements
of an NMSS school according to official documents, is the importance
placed on THE PARENT PARTNERSHIP and we won't let that rest