2:40pm Saturday 21st August 2010
AS a parent of a prospective pupil, I attended the sham which went under the guise of a public consultation on the Winsford Academy run by E-ACT at Verdin High School recently.
As expected, it was very slick and polished and I believe was carefully controlled to ensure the dissenters among us did not query the pitch of E-ACT.
I listened with much amusement as the interim principal put forward his theory that the reason why pupils misbehave was because they were bored and were not being stretched enough.
It was as though he was saying that come September 1, at the flick of a switch all such problems would be eradicated because of different approaches that the Academy would promote,.
Not only is this a slur on the good names of the existing teaching staff at both schools, who will undoubtedly have tried a range of different approaches to resolve such issues, but also it is frankly pie in the sky.
If the gentleman is as experienced an educationalist as it was claimed, then I cannot believe he stood up there and said that.
While I admire his vision to make the Academy the best so as to attract people from outside the borough, and also ensure that Winsford children do not go elsewhere to be educated, again, he has either not done his research or is sadly misguided.
Another speaker went to great lengths to say they would keep the buildings in an excellent state of repair, because by law they are obliged to.
Then again, if you were given something for free you too would probably make a great effort to support its upkeep.
Something which has been swept under the carpet is the fact that not only will the education of our children be handed over to E-ACT but the buildings and land will be too.
Buildings and land worth million, which taxpayers have provided, will just simply be given away.
A further sham appeared today in the form of the report on the local authority inspection of the schools. Now if you were Cheshire West and Chester Council (CWAC) officials, who have decided to wash your hands of secondary education in Winsford, would you produce a report that was positive and praised the efforts being made to improve?
Of course you wouldn’t.
You would want the report to focus on the negatives and play down the positives. After all, if the schools had managed to turn things around, or were making significant progress to do so, there would be no need for an Academy, would there?
One thing which disappoints me is that I emailed all the Liberal Democrat councillors, except Bev Theron who does not have an email address, and was not even afforded the courtesy of a reply.
The only conclusion I can draw is that they too actually support the setting up of this Academy.
Representatives of CWAC’s education committee can rest easily in their beds in the knowledge that their quest to rid themselves of under performing Winsford is almost done.
No doubt there will be much joy at Council HQ as its standing as a borough in the secondary school league tables will no doubt improve. Trebles all round!
PAUL KOLLER Winsford
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