Your attention is drawn to the following Press Release, issued today, from the Marton School Action Group:
“OFFICIAL COMPLAINT MADE TO THE GOVERNMENT
Parents from the Marton School Action Group today took the ultimate step in trying to restore their school to its former state by lodging an official complaint with the Government against the Head Teacher and the Local Education Authority.
A ten page letter of complaint, together with a detailed chronology and eight further files of evidence was today despatched to the Department for Education and Skills in London. The patience of the parents had been stretched to the limit by further incidents at the school that had provoked their anger and frustration.
Over five weeks had passed since the LEA was alerted of the existence of a web-page on an “adult” site that had been posted there by the school’s IT technician, Mr Nathan Hill. The page contained photographs taken inside school, one of them featuring Mr Hill and a female pupil, who has since left. Mr Hill did not have the necessary permission of the girl’s parents to use the photograph, and the mother lodged her own complaint with the school. Despite a further official complaint from the Action Group, Mr Hill has not been subject to any disciplinary action, and no formal response has been given to either complaint.
However, the school governors have since met to consider a proposal to amend their own Complaints Procedure. This has now been agreed, and will allow the Head Teacher to be involved in investigating any complaint lodged with the governing body, even if the complaint is personal to her. This is contrary to standard practice adopted by other schools, who consult an independent body on such complaints, and the Action Group consider it a step too far.
At a time when the Local Education Authority are expected to conclude the present long-standing investigation into the suspension of teacher Beverley Alderson, the DFES are to begin their own investigation into the activities of the Head Teacher, the governing body, and the officials of the LEA. The Government have a statutory obligation to reply to any complaint within 15 working days, so a further update is expected before Christmas.”
I can confirm that a full copy of this complaint has also been given to the General Teaching Council for England (who deal with misconduct complaints about teachers), and to Gordon Marsden, MP.
Alan Veale
helen
I'm so glad that this step has been taken. It seems, from what I have read, that nobody has listened so far. Lets hope somebody listens to these very real worries now!
Michael Shore
I am very pleased to hear that the complaint has been escalated outside the Council. There has obviously been a cover up. The Council have not denied any allegations. They have, instead issued threats to anyone who asked a question. I have no doubt that it will all come back to haunt those councillors who have tried to ignore the legitimate concerns. If the allegations were unfounded, the council would have said so. Their lack of comment speaks volumes.
I hope Gordon Marsden will be able to get some answers in all of this sorry mess.
I was sad, though not surprised to read today that Marton has moved down the league tables over the last 12 months.
chris
Compare these results
I have also been looking at the School League Tables and I'm not surprised to see that Marton's results are lower this year. Is it any wonder when there has been so much disruption and the children have been taught by so many different teachers? This is exactly what the parents have been predicting, and were complaining about.
Marton's score dropped from 244 (out of a possible total of 300 for maths, English and science) to 232, a decrease of 12, in the year that Mrs Coupe took over from Mrs Lancaster.
Significantly though, at Mrs Coupe's previous school the results have risen GREATLY since Mrs Coupe left. They have gone from 259 to 284, a huge increase of 25.
You only have to put 2 and 2 together to draw a conclusion from that!
helen
A friend of mine was so fed up with the way things were at Marton she went to Mrs Coupe to tell her she wanted to move her children to a different school. Mrs Coupe told her that she had "taken on a school with a lot of problems". My friend was really shocked and so was I when she told me as we had always been happy with the school when Mrs Lancaster was head. Mrs Coupe asked my friend to leave her children in the school and she would see things improving.
I think the latest league table results show that things have not improved. They have done just the opposite they have got worse.
And now I see that Mrs Coupes old school has IMPROVED since she left!
Perhaps my friend should move her children there?
HM
DfES
Well done to all those involved in submitting this complaint.
No longer can the governors, headteacher or the LEA claim that only a minority of parents are at odds with the management of Marton school. Over 60 pupil shave been removed. There are now over 50 people registered on this site. Alsao look at the number of people viewing the posts - it is clear that a large number of people are interested in what is happening at Marton.
The DfES will examine the complaints objectively - no matter how the governors plead a minority are affecting the school, issues will now come down to how the school have managed the events of recent months.
The time for arrguments between the parents group and school is now over.
KATIE
I looked at the school league tables in the Gazette and was not surprised to see that Marton did worse than last year. All Mrs Coopes changes that have been discussed in this site have not helped Marton. But my real worry is for my child who is in year 6 with teachers who change all the time. I know my child is not doing the same work as the children in Mr Farley's class as I have talked to my friends. How will my child be ready for the Sats exams next year????
If they don't get it sorted soon the results will be even worse next year and my child will be going to high school.
What makes things worse is 2 girls who have fallen out with a girl in the class have been moved to Mr Farley's class. So they have ended up with a better teacher. It just so happens that their parents work at the school. They seem to have got the best deal. At least Mr Farley is a permanent teacher who can cope with the children. If my child has a fight can they go into Mr Farley's class?????
Alan Veale
HMI Visit
For those of you who do not already know, the school has been visited this week by Her Majesty’s Inspectorate. This is a formal “monitoring” exercise carried out by an independent body that is answerable to the Government. The purpose is to evaluate what progress has been made following the inspection by OFSTED last April. The visit took place over Wednesday and Thursday, and the school had little more than a week’s notice of the inspector’s arrival.
The Action Group felt that, in view of the present situation at school, we should encourage HMI to be aware of the views of those parents who have raised concerns, and ultimately felt the need to lodge an official complaint to the Government. We wrote to HMI last week, and were gratified to be invited to meet the lead inspector on Wednesday evening. This is not the time or the place to detail all that was discussed, but I felt you should know that the meeting was very constructive. The inspector (David Byrne) listened to all that we had to tell him – and that was probably the very first time since Mrs Coupe took up office that anyone in authority has properly listened to a parents concerns about the school. Not only that - he was able to reassure us on some points that no one else has been able or prepared to answer, and he promised to do whatever he could, from his own position, to encourage a mediated solution to the problems we have raised.
The inspector confirmed to us that he considered it right and proper that the views of parents should be listened to when undertaking such a monitoring exercise, and he thanked us for taking the time to see him. What a difference in attitude when we compare the reactions of those in more “local” authority. Ruth Coupe, David Lund and Mike Turner – please note!
