Letter from parent of year 8 child - please listen to us! Dear Nicky Morgan, My daughter attends this school. She is happy and thriving and doing brilliantly as are her friends. She has aspergers and dyslexia and gets so much support here, the pastoral support is also second to none. The parents and children love this school and were distraught when they heard via the media (you did not even have the courtesy to contact the school first!!) that you want to shut it, without even giving it a chance. Even that heinous Ofsted report, distorted, dishonest and damning as it was, expressed confidence in the capacity of the new leadership to turn things round. How can you justify spending all this public money on setting up a school, only let it run 4 terms and then shut it again?! The set-up money has already been spent, the running costs are going to be similar now sending to these kids to other schools, as they all still need to be funded! (If indeed places can be found that are acceptable to parents and children, which I rather doubt - quite a few stated this morning that they would even prefer to home school if it comes to it - they shouldnt have to be considering this). This is public money, as everyone is so fond of saying, and yet how can you justify this waste by pulling the plug before seeing the fruit of the investment? No business would ever be run like this - you would never expect to see a lot of obvious and quantifiable return for at least 5 years - we already have loads of fruit, please read the parents comments on our homepage the durhamfreeschool.org.uk and all the other ways parents are trying to get you to listen to us! The school is in a very healthy financial state and is entirely viable. The new leadership is already turning things round and Mr Eisner has the full confidence of the staff, parents and governors as acting head. He is very capable and utterly committed, as is the other deputy, Mrs Normanton. They give more than 100% in their commitment to these kids. The kids love them and respect them. They are transforming their lives for the better. The data from our parental survey is also on our website - this will also show you that 100 % of parents say their child is happy at the school and 98% said they are fully satisfied with how the school follows up any bullying incidents, which are in fact rare. The mother of the child who supposedly had aftershave sprayed in her face says it was a non-incident. It wasnt sprayed in her face, just in the air so she could smell it. Why are trivial little details like this being made so much of? Our bus company say that compared to the other bus runs they do for other schools our kids are like angels!! Of course children should behave sensibly on buses and the school continually stresses this. Other schools just dont bother recording the incidents in such detail. It saddens me that trying to be entirely honest and transparent is manipulated and used against the school. Its because the standards are high that incidents are recorded, small or larger, and actually dealt with, not brushed under the carpet. That Ofsted report does not describe my childs school. I dont know what is going on but this looks like a stitch up to me and many others for political ends that have no concern for the lives of the people involved, particularly the children - who its all meant to be about after all! Please examine your conscience and do what is right rather than what is politically expedient. Kind regards Jennifer Denning
Posted on: Wed, 21 Jan 2015 23:13:57 +0000
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