11 April (Part 1) - Public Cabinet
In several ways last night’s meeting was entirely predictable. Speeches
pre-prepared, insufficient copies of the Agenda for
the eight members of the public present, two beefy bouncers hired at great
expense, and all over in 42 minutes. In other ways it wasn’t.
The Agenda has always been printed on high grade paper, last night’s was verging
on the cheap and nasty; probably a good thing. I threw a nearly two foot tall
pile of Agendas into my nearest communal bin last weekend. There must have
been £15’s worth of paper there, let alone the laser toner. One councillor
offered some sort of greeting as I entered the building. I’m not sure what was
said, maybe Ms. Perrior didn’t want any of her colleagues to hear, but I’m sure
it was intended to be friendly. However the biggest change was that someone had overhauled
the sound system. Every word was crystal clear, far better than I’ve ever heard before.
Perhaps Alan Downing’s allies who cheered
his attempt to ridicule and belittle a
deaf man for his disability have had time to reflect on their stupidity.
The subject of the meeting was Education, in particular the ‘Education Change
Programme’ which is Bexley’s plan to get things back up to standard. I say back
up because it was clear things have been none too good recently. Director of
Education Mark Chambers (£167,343 p.a.) spoke on the subject for four
minutes, it might have been three if he had cut out the umms and errs, and I
wasn’t much wiser afterwards but fortunately the Cabinet Member for Education,
councillor John Fuller, is a man who seems to know his subject.
He said that too many of Bexley’s schools are “satisfactory” - which I learned
at earlier meetings is government code for ‘not really good enough’ - and more are
“inadequate” and “below floor target”. We learned that neighbouring boroughs are
better and something must be done about it. Councillor Fuller was not short of ideas.
I was shocked by two references, once from John Fuller and again from councillor
Gareth Bacon, to head teachers who refuse to coach pupils for the 11+
examination. (For out of town readers I should explain that Bexley has retained
several grammar schools.) I used to regard head teachers as a bunch of Old Trots,
probably because I knew one who was a paid up member of the Communist Party and
took all her holidays in Moscow, and I have regarded all teachers with great
suspicion ever since. My prejudices were reinforced.
It was revealed that whilst many Bexley Heads were enthusiastically embracing
the new ideas, and Bromley council had bought into some of them, a few Heads continued to
offer resistance, but “the pendulum was swinging”. I might prefer an axe.
No more than a couple of minutes were devoted to ‘School Admission
Arrangements’. The Agenda revealed that the council is compelled to consult on
their proposals. They did, it doesn’t say with whom, but no one replied. That was
convenient wasn’t it?
The only comment on the subject of admissions was councillor Fuller’s reference to the
problems arising from the rapidly rising numbers entering primary schools. An
unfortunate slip of the tongue caused him to refer to “admissions blighted by more children”,
momentarily forgetting that Ms. Perrior sitting next to him is about to present
the world with another little blighter quite soon.
Nobody mentioned failing Academies having to be bailed out with interest free loans.