School Meals

With the lovely dinner ladies at Alderman Jacobs Primary School

Today, as part of School Meals week, I went to Alderman Jacobs Primary School to sample a school dinner.

I really enjoyed my food - it reinforced the message about the quality of the meals Cambridgeshire Catering Services are providing, they certainly exceed anything I experienced as a child (and indeed much of what I experienced as a soldier eating in Army canteens!!).  There were a number of other things that impressed me, firstly the attitude of the dinner ladies and cooks who run an extremely slick and busy operation in the school, but also the efforts they have gone to overcome some of the age old problems.  So, as an example, year 5 and 6 children are able to preselect their food so that the kitchens don't run out by the time they are served.   I have to end this paragraph by saying thanks to the catering team for putting up with me.

If you are a parent who is hesitant about school meals for your children based on your own experiences - please don't be, things have really changed for the better.

Because I am sure you want to know - I had sausages, carrots, mashed potato and gravy followed by chocolate pudding with chocolate sauce.

I also have to say comment on the politeness of the children as they were being served.  A credit to themselves, the school and their parents/carers.  I have been a Governor at AJS for fourteen years (and have just taken up the role of Chairman of Governors again) and this is one aspect of the school that has always impressed me.

Sex Education - More or Less?

Stewart Jackson, Member of Parliament for Peterborough caused a bit of fuss this week by challenging the notion that more sex education is always a good thing.

It is quite an interesting challenge and is not as controversial as it sounds.   More and more sex education has not provided the huge benefits that people have suggested.  But just looking at the increase in STIs is not the only measure.  There is a slow decrease in the number of teenage pregnancies (an area where Cambridgeshire has a good record) which suggests that something is working.

However, I do not believe the argument is about more or less, it is about better.  I do not believe the overall standard of sex education (and indeed delivery of the rest of the PSHE curriculum) is good enough.  There are some outstanding teachers who deliver first class sex education, but there are others who may be great teachers in their own subjects, but who, for whatever reason, do not deliver PSHE well enough.  Schools need to be realistic about this, so does the education system as a whole.

I want to finish though by saying that Stewart Jackson is certainly not the only person who holds the view he does and those that criticise him maybe ought to examine their own navels first and start to think about why that is the case.  I have a great deal of respect for Stewart and he has every right to stand up and say what he did.

Education in Whittlesey and a few words of thanks

Some of you will have read in either the Cambs Times and the Evening Telegraph (no link available) about my daughter's A Level results (and well done to the Cambs Times for getting her results right!).   Of course, I am really proud of Rosie for what she has achieved - she has worked really hard throughout her time at school, and she got the results she deserved.

Rosie finishing her A Levels means that both of my children have now completed their education in Whittlesey, and both have absolutely thrived here - and I wanted to use this post to express my thanks and to highlight how lucky we are.

Of course Sir Harry take loads of credit.  There are times during both of my children's time there when certain teachers have pulled out all the stops to help them.  Those teachers probably know who they are, but actually the overall ethos of the school, one where students are expected to achieve to the best of their ability, is to be applauded.  This is something that was created by Mike Sandeman during his time as Head and which has carried on since his departure.  Whittlesey is lucky to have a school of this quality, but more importantly, one that also keeps striving to improve.

But we shouldn't also forget that education starts at Primary School and both of my children were also extremely well served by Alderman Jacobs.  But it is true that our primary schools overall are of a high standard and I am sure there are parents from every school in Whittlesey who are as grateful as I am of their particular schools.

So, thanks to everyone at Sir Harry's and AJS for the huge role they played in my children's education.   It is something for which I will always be grateful.

Can I also add my congratulations to the students who have just left the 6th Form, those that I know and have met are a real credit to themselves and to Whittlesey.

Warboys Primary School

This has taken a few weeks because I wanted to get permission to use the photograph.   I really enjoy visiting schools and my trip to Warboys on the day of the Duke of Gloucester's visit was no exception.  The event had a great atmosphere and brought out the best of a school that has a lovely feel and some really dedicated parents.  

The Duke of Gloucester was there to officially 'open' the pirate ship which had been funded to the tune of £14,500k (I think) entirely by the PTA.  We have some great PTAs around the County - but how many could raise that sort of money?

This is a school that is very proud of the improvements it has made and indeed of where it is at the moment.

The Duke of Gloucester was of course why all the children and parents were at the school - but for me these pirates were the stars of the day - which is why I asked for the photograph.

School Olympics

On the surface this forthcoming announcement from Jeremy Hunt, the Culture Minister and Michael Gove the Education Minister is great news.  The idea of an olympics for schools is excellent - competition is a vital part of growing up (and indeed of adult life) and so is sport - so we should be in no doubt that good will come of this.

However, I am a little troubled by the fact that funding for this has come from the National Lottery.   I thought one of the aims of the Conservatives was to stop it being used for Ministers' pet projects and to return it the magnificent funder of community and arts projects that John Major created.

I suppose it is all in the bigger picture and we should wait and see what happens elsewhere.

Building Schools for the Future Contract Signed

I am pleased to say that the contract for Fenland wave of BSF was signed yesterday.  This gives the go ahead for the work on all four of our secondary schools as well as Fenland's pupil referral unit and Meadowgate Special School. 

Next steps are to start the building work at Thomas Clarkson CC and Neale Wade CC and for the design work to start on the other locations.

A number of staff at the County Council have really gone the extra mile to bring this contract in early than we forecast.  It is something we should all be grateful for.

Lib Dems - twisting the truth

We recently had a call in by a number of Liberal Democrat Councillors about a decision to support the Governing bodies of Longsands and St Neots Community College who chose to look at a Federation to merge the two schools to help deal with St Neots being in special measures.

In proper English.  The Liberal Democrats questioned the Cabinet decision to support proposals for the schools to work closer together and thought we should have paid more attention to the Government's preferred solution.

Part of what they said had a point.  The Cabinet paper didn't pay enough attention to the other option.  That doesn't mean it wasn't considered, it was; there is a huge amount of work done before papers go to Cabinet and discussions and consideration of options took place then.  Rather than manufacture a political furore and create uncertainty amongst the Governing bodies, it would have been far more appropriate for them to have a private meeting with officers at the Council, which would have allayed their concerns - but their was no political mileage in that so they chose to go for the most expensive, most time-consuming and the one that caused most undertainty for the schools and the community.   That's the Liberal Democrats for you.

It was very clear through the meeting that the options had been well considered, that both schools were absolute behind the proposal to federate and that the reasons for not going with the Government's agenda were very clear.  The only thing the Liberal Democrats have to hang a hat on is that this is an untried solution (but so is the Government solution of a National Challenge Trust - and that did not have the support for the schools).

At one point in the debate, one of the Head Teachers at the meeting made this point - that the reasons were very well thought out and were sound, but that it was a "leap of faith" because it hadn't been tried before.  Councillor Peter Downes, the Lib Dem spokesperson for schools then chose to take that remark totally out of context in order to exaggerate the risk.  That may have been unintentional, but that's the way it looked - so I took him to task over the way he had taken those words out of context.  "Sorted", I thought.  Except shortly afterwards a  leaflet has been distributed by the Lib Dems doing exactly the same thing - taking the phrase "leap of faith" totally out of context. 

Peter Downes is a retired ex-Head Teacher, something he chooses to point out at appropriate times, yet when it comes to a serious education debate he could not use that experience to find anything wrong with the decision so, instead, chooses to take a Head Teacher's words out of context to make political capital.

This is a fairly typical example of Lib Dem behaviour.  People will get leaflets from them making what seems perfectly reasonable statements, but beneath them is often a maze of maipulation.   We have a number of elections coming up soon - just remember this when you come to vote.

School Visits

Last week I spent time at Alderman Jacobs School talking to the Head about the recent outstanding OFSTED inspection as well as visiting and talking about Safeguarding and Special Needs.

Yesterday I was at New Road School to record a short interview about Groomfields, the County Council's grounds maintenance contractor.

Yesterday I went to Neale Wade and had a conversation with the head about their issues and also had the opportunity to talk to some of the school parliament representatives about March and Neale Wade issues.  I always wonder what they think being dumped in front of a politician.  But they were really good and I left with a few ideas to discuss with the locality manager that could help what we do with young people in March.

Today I have been to Sir Harry Smith CC to discuss safeguarding and behavioural issues.

It is interesting that there are some similar themes emerging - the most important of which is probably concerns about future funding.  We are heading towards some very difficult times and there is some uncertainty about how this will impact on schools. Cambridgeshire schools are poorly funded (by the Government!), so any cuts are likely to have a disproportionate impact.