Late in the Day

It's not a philosophical point at all, but a small quibble. In the Education Leeds Chief's interview/press thingy today, the spokesperson said that City of Leeds School's alternative proposal came late in the day. Well, either Mar 5th was the end of the consultation period or it wasn't. Not late in the day, but at the appointed time.

This is the plan: and it's serious suggestion from Education Leeds, and it was, unsurprising, rejected by all candidates and voters in the recent Hyde Park local by-election The plan is to close City of Leeds School outright, and divvy the children between five other schools. Oh, and sack all the staff, because, obviously you don't deserve a job if your life's ambitions are limited to helping out the poorer children of the inner-city.

If you took all the students out of City of Leeds School, divided them up into five, preferably preserving family and friendship groups, then sent them to five other schools with strong A-C results, the number of non-English speaking students would probably not depress the receiving school's results below the government-advised figure.

However, the reccommended receiving schools are not really in strong enough positions themselves to be able to accept 200 new pupils each who, besides their lack of English and the fact that some of them had been excluded from other schools already, will be really really annoyed that they have been sent, against their will, to Lawnswood, Carr Manor and co.

And then, two of the proposed receiving schools don't even exist yet: ie Primrose Academy and Parklands Academy. You would have to be fairly naive and trusting on this one. Moreover, there's not enough room in any of these schools to take in so many extra students. So there's some jobs for the builder-boys.

And, as Andrew Edwards said, on Radio Leeds on February 10th to Chris Edwards: words to the effect: the receiving schools will simply absorb the under-performing students into their statistics.

Do you know, I don't even think they will even do that.

Education Leeds, as a private education company will come to to an end next year, but, even by that time, the harm that they have done to West Leeds, Wortley, South Leeds, Intake, City of Leeds, Primrose, Parklands, all the primary schools that they closed, all the primary schools that they now have to build on. . . it will be there for all to see.

This era will be for ever remembered in shame. And for those of us who can say, I told you so, no satisfaction at all.

And it's late in the day; and there's a lot of damage done, and bridges to rebuild, but Education Leeds is thankfully, on its way out, and its roundly-discredited ideas should be on their way out as well. But what is coming, for absolutely sure, is a social disaster, entirely born out of this incompetent meddling in education and schooling that will take a generation to recover from.