Bexley Council
is very fond of telling us that it is high up in the various league tables that
London Councils (their private members’ club) waste our money on and how senior officers from other Councils flock to Bexley to see
how things should be done. (Surely
the inadequacy of Bexley’s senior staff (with a few exceptions) has been done to death here already?)
Very selective League Tables. Recycling, Crime levels. Anything else?
As the number of compensation awards from the Local Government Ombudsman would
suggest, Bexley is pretty bad when it comes to looking after SEND children,
although it has to be admitted that child care costs can be eye-watering.
£16,000 a week to look after just one badly behaved child. I think I might
put Donald Trump in charge of that one!
The
teachers’ newspaper, Schools Week (where’s the apostrophe?) highlights
Bexley’s failures in this week’s issue. Pupils excluded from school for their unacceptable
behaviour should, by law, be found another place by the Local Authority, within
six days. Bexley simply doesn’t achieve that most of the time.
The most extreme delays to place a child in a new school are not in Bexley but
on average Bexley is the second worst performer in the country.
Maybe it has something to do with email to the Cabinet Member for Education
always - no exceptions in my experience - getting the following response.
