Route 39 – Double standards, surely not?

Route 39, the as yet unproven free school academy in North Devon, and their supporters are currently basking in their dubious ‘success’, having received news recently from Torridge District Council that due to austerity cuts, the council simply cannot afford to challenge; via an expensive judicial review, the Secretary of States decision to over-rule the council planning authority (what authority?) and the Governments own Planning Inspectorate.

Led by the Acting Principle of the School; Mr Jordan Kelly, in a ‘Protest’ march on April 1st (no, its not a joke!), Route 39 supporters picketed the council offices at the vote, waving placards, chanting and apparently verbally abusing other people trying to get into the council chamber to speak. Later that same evening, following the councils decision narrowly in their favour, the school supporters then proceeded to drive through the tiny village of Bucks Cross, where their new school will now be constructed at huge taxpayer expense, blaring their car horns and screaming the name of the school out of their car windows!

In the meantime, the Route 39 website states “We look forward to working productively with local residents to ensure that the school becomes the asset to the community we intend it to be” and on their Facebook page the following promise is made: “The hand of partnership is proffered. Although it might be too soon at the moment, we believe that combined energies could be a formidable force for good in north Devon.”

This week, Chair of Governors, Mr Richard Bence and presumably the trustees of the ‘free’ school appeared to hold out an olive branch to the local community, stating again on Facebook: “To those who have fought with passion against the development, please consider using your energy to be a part of how the Academy develops. It will be a positive and pro-active benefit to the students, the Academy and the AONB. PM me or this page.”

Shame then that on Mr Bence’s personal Facebook page this week, it seems his good lady wife might not share the same community spirited view as he, writing “Huge congratulations and thanks to all the governors and teachers at Route 39 Academy who have worked so hard throughout all the filth, slander and lies that have been thrown around over the last 4 years. Finally their undivided attention can be spent on the right thing. (Maybe they could spend a while responding to the appalling rubbish that some people have spread, as they were too professional to slag off the ‘no campaigners’ and people who should know better. Boy, did I want to though!?) Welcome back to our husbands and wives! It will be good to have you home.“

Having never met Mrs Bence, one can only presume the ‘filth, slander and lies‘ and ‘appalling rubbish’ she must be writing about was all the negative, disingenuous and misrepresentative comments peddled by Route 39 and their supporters when they were trashing existing local schools to prospective parents, the fiction that made up the Route 39 application to the Department of Education (particularly that bit about the numbers of children that would be attending the school) and the constant social media bad mouthing of the local community of Bucks Cross and Bucks Mills, describing them as “selfish retired people that have never had kids”!

As regards being ‘too professional to slag off the no campaigners‘, one would have thought that Mrs Bence was aware that Mr Bence and the trustees of Route 39 attempted to have NDG removed from his role as a Governor of a neighbouring secondary school, claiming that postings as NDG had “brought the role of governor into disrepute”. In a face to face meeting in July 2015, Mr Bence accused NDG of libelling himself, other trustees and the school itself and of deliberately targeting the children at the school!

Mr Bence and the trustees were cordially invited to put forward evidence that NDG had stated anything that they considered to be factually incorrect or inaccurate – NDG offered to remove anything on this blog that was proven to be untrue and would apologise unreservedly if this turned out to be the case. Both Mr Bence and Route 39 Academy have to date furnished no evidence at all to substantiate their outrageous claim.

It was also pointed out to Mr Bence that the opinions stated were exactly that – opinions, that we all have a right to hold and that as the Chair of a school funded with tax payers money – they are a ‘state school’ as he now proudly proclaims, he, the other trustees and the employees of the school are considered ‘civil servants’ in public office and as such are held to a higher level of accountability than the average man in the street. This means that their actions are also open to a higher degree of fair scrutiny and criticism, a role which NDG has provided consistently throughout this period.

In respect to Mr Bence’s allegation that NDG had deliberately targeted the children at the school, this was vociferously challenged and he apologised and retracted these despicable comments.

Mr Bence was finally asked how else NDG could further assist him and he asked if NDG would be willing to speak to the children at Route 39 directly? This request was agreed to but rather unsurprisingly, the invitation failed to arrive!

These personal attacks from Route 39, its trustees and its supporters simply serve to remind us why we must continue to stand up and challenge inequity, inequality and self-serving greed wherever we find it. We accept that we may not always be successful, as in this unfortunate case, but no-one can ever say we didn’t do our level best to protect our local children’s education and the countryside in which we reside.

Finally, one pearl of wisdom that Mrs Bence might like to think on – “Don’t get confused between my personality and my attitude. My personality is who I am, my attitude depends on who you are!”

Just saying….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

…. it might be now!

Sadly, Torridge District Councillors last night voted 15 to 11 not to pursue a judicial review against the Secretary of State’s decision (against all advice and the planning inspectorates recommendation) to let Route 39 Academy build their new secondary school in the North Devon Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Route 39 has 123 students, less than a typical primary school and about 1/3 of the number they told the Dept. for Education they would have attending. To buy the site and build the school will now cost us all £ millions and the countryside will never be the same.

Now that the Government has announced that all schools will be Academies by 2020, why do we need this one? All the other local secondary schools have spare places available for students and most are rated good by Ofsted – Route 39 got a ‘requires improvement’ last Summer!

The Government are now teeing up all schools to be integrated in MAT’s or Multi-Academy Trusts, comprising clusters of schools with centralised financial budgets and control, ripe fruit for ‘out-sourcing’ to the likes of Babcock, Pearson, Ark, E-ACT and other large corporate ‘for profit’ education providers. These companies top slice the first 10%+ from each schools budget for their own shareholders before spending a penny on the children’s education and welfare.

I wonder how many Conservative Party supporters, donors and former Ministers sit on the boards of these organisations?

What a warped world we live in!

Route 39 – Certainly Closer to Closure?

Having taken some time to reflect upon the the documentation submitted by Route 39 to the Planning Inspectorate which; without any shred of irony, they refer to as their ‘proof of evidence’, one could again be inclined to question and challenge some of the statements that have now been put forward as justification for overturning the majority decision made last September by our locally and democratically elected representatives on Torridge District Council’s planning committee.

Playing the blame game!

In statements submitted by Mr Richard Bence, Chairman of Route 39’s Board of Trustees, Route 39 is plainly seeking to place the blame for the schools woeful record of attracting and retaining students on the fact that they haven’t been able to spend upwards of £2 million building their ‘vision’, bang in the middle of our protected AONB countryside.

The document states “Significant concern and uncertainty on students and parents who had already chosen Route 39 Academy as their secondary school and were due to start in September 2013. This led to a reduction in the number of students attending in the first year by an estimated 5 students. Continued uncertainty regarding site has led to significant student instability. In Year 1 of operation, 25 students left during the year and to date, 21 have left this, our second year. This has been balanced in part by students joining, dissatisfied with other schools. In Year 1, 20 students joined the Academy in year and to date 15 have joined this year.”

As usual, this ‘evidence’ makes completely unsubstantiated claims about parents dissatisfaction at other local secondary schools (another example of the denigration of our local school provision that Route 39 openly say they never do!) yet makes no clear comment at all about the dissatisfaction of both parents and students that have left Route 39 for a myriad of reasons, choosing only to say this was because of ‘uncertainty’.

Of the parents who have pulled their children out of Route 39, while uncertainty may indeed have played a small role in their decision, in almost all cases it most certainly was not the primary driver. The quality of teaching, the behaviour of fellow students, odd-ball teaching methods, transport costs, lack of proper governance and the strong perception among some parents that Route 39 has become a school catering predominantly for SEN children from around the wider region (in order to keep the student numbers viable) are just some of the many examples cited by some of these parents that made this very difficult decision for their children.

It is very wrong to grossly generalise the deeply held feelings of these parents, who made their original choice with the very best intentions, but who quickly found that the reality of Route 39 was far, far removed from the image that they were ‘sold’. Rather than undermine these parents, Route 39 might consider acknowledging their failures and admit publicly that their experiment in education does not, in fact, have all the answers for all parents and students.

It’s not us, it’s them!

The documents go on to blame Route 39’s inadequacies on everyone else but themselves. “While the temporary accommodation provides sufficient resources to cover the 11 to 14 curriculum, the Academy is unable to implement significant aspects of the vision including land-based learning. In addition, options for GCSE are limited as there are few specialist facilities available. We have lost a couple students recently to other schools able to offer a broader curriculum. Continued uncertainty regarding a permanent site have had a negative impact on the recruitment and retention of both staff and students. This year alone we have had two candidates refused an interview and one refused a job offer due to uncertainty regarding the permanent site.”

So, according to Route 39, it’s not only the fault of all the other schools locally that have better facilities, better GCSE options and a broader curriculum, it is also the fault of those teachers that refused to join their school. Again, they put this down to that elusive condition of ‘uncertainty’. So did these professional teachers not buy in strongly enough to Route 39’s ‘vision’, were they not offered enough money (Route 39 is not restricted as to what they pay in salaries to staff) or did they perhaps see something in the way the school is actually operating that rang alarm bells? After all, Route 39 did promise its parents and students that their teachers and teaching would be ‘outstanding’, so it stands to reason that teachers would be throwing themselves at Route 39, wouldn’t they?

And while not content at simply blaming those teachers that didn’t want a job at this particular Free School, Route 39  goes on to pillory Torridge’s District Councillors on the Planning Committee. Not withstanding the fact that these people are democratically elected and that they are duty bound to exercise their duties under the Nolan Principals for Public Office, showing no fear or favour in their decision making, the statement castigates TDC Councillors by proxy because they didn’t deliver what Route 39’s board of Governors had promised to the parents, students and staff of the school. “Parents have experienced the outcome of two Torridge Planning Committee decisions and have no faith in the committee acting in the best interest of their children. It would be unreasonable to expect parents and students to have the will to endure another planning application that would require the approval of the Planning Committee once again…The delays caused by Torridge in planning applications for Route 39 Academy have had a significant impact on the short-term viability of the Academy.”

So what is the motivation?

“The progress of the Academy thus far has placed significant reliance on the team of volunteer Governors. Many have worked for four years on the Academy without pay and at significant cost personally and on their families. I am concerned that there is a point at which this volunteer goodwill becomes exhausted.” Route 39 seem, within this statement to perhaps hint that Route 39 Governors should, in fact, be paid for the work that they have done over the past four years!  This is incredible! Route 39 would do well to realise that school governors at all schools across the area and in fact across the nation, don’t do what they do for money, we all do it because it is precisely what needs to be done for the children. As Governors we volunteer to help our schools and we don’t expect to get paid for it! Why should Governors at Route 39 be any different?

The future is certainly uncertain!

Like a soothsayer reading the runes, Route 39 finally launch themselves into predictions for the future. “The viability of the Academy going forward is reliant on the number of students attending. The impact of continued uncertainty regarding the site has a high likelihood of dissuading future applicants.” they appealingly state.  “As funding is based on the number of students attending the Academy there will be a number of students below which the Academy is no longer viable. It is not possible to give an accurate figure for this as it is dependent on the needs of the students, the breadth of years and the number of students in each year.”

It might be suggested by some that this prediction is already false – the Education Funding Agency (EFA) set a minimum intake of 50 students per year into Route 39 and the academy has consistently failed to attract and, crucially, retain these numbers of students. Indeed, with only 139 students signed to attend the school from September 2015 (Update October 2015 – only 130 actually turned up in September!), the school has only 35% of the total number is stated it would have in its EFA funding application.

It is not unknown for the EFA to withdraw its (our) funding from unviable free schools and academies and with the current situation continuing, it can perhaps be said with a greater degree of certainty than ever that Route 39 is now certainly closer to closure.

And the prize for fiction goes to…”Route 39″

Earlier this week, following the successful campaign by Laura McInerney through the Freedom of Information Act to get public access to the application forms submitted for Free Schools, the Education Funding Agency (EFA) application from Route 39 Academy Trust was published by the Government, and what delightful reading it makes.

The application from Route 39 seeks to present and describe to the EFA the lofty ideals and aspirations for this proposed free school in such a halcyon manner that it was hardly surprising that the EFA swallowed it ‘hook, line and sinker’. One does wonder though, had Captain Edmund Blackadder read it, he might have described the epic tome as “… the greatest work of fiction since vows of fidelity were included in the French marriage service.”

As soon as one begins reading the diatribe of misinformation, half-truths, spin and disingenuity contained within the document, it quickly becomes apparent why the Department for Education (DfE) were so very reluctant to reveal the contents of these applications to concerned local communities.

For example; within the document, Route 39 have deliberately misquoted or omitted comments made by local Head Teachers that were met in the preliminary stages of the application process, meetings that Route 39 sought in order to be able to claim that they had ‘consulted’ with local Secondary School principals.

Local school heads and teachers have been portrayed as supportive of the application when in fact they were not, while at the same time, the Route 39 application implies that our local schools are worthless and under-performing. Small wonder the strength of feeling towards this arguably divisive and disrespectful organisation from our local education professionals and the wider community alike.

What we can now see of course  is exactly what we have long suspected – that the Route 39 application made what could be described as wildly inaccurate, completely unsubstantiated and factually flawed statements about the demand for the school from the local area, the performance of other local secondary schools in the same and adjoining catchments and the suitability of their proposed site for a ‘safe, secure and environmentally sensitive’ school.

The Route 39 application states quite clearly that from the ‘massive’ demand they perceived from the local community for their proposed school (you will remember herds of people flocking to the Milky Way when Route 39 offered them free entry tickets – that was the ‘demand’ that they presented to the EFA), that they would subsequently get 100 Year 7 students attending the school in September 2013/14 and further 100 Year 7 students attending in September 2014/15 and each year thereafter (see the table from the application below).

In fact, the numbers that actually started in September 2013 amounted to no more than 58, of which only 33 were Year 7 students, the remainder being made up of children from Years 8 and 9 that were attending other local secondary schools.

Route 39 had to draft in these other children to make up the numbers as crucially, the EFA had set a minimum target of 50 children starting in September 2013 in order to qualify for funding.

Obviously one would have thought that in return for the £millions of educational funding being requested by Route 39, the EFA would have demanded that this minimum number of students should be from the Year 7 cohort, but that would assume a logic that appears to be sadly missing from the EFA, no doubt because logic would run counter to the current educational ideology of their masters; the DfE. At that time, the Governments headlong rush to open as many grammar school ‘look-alikes’ funded from the public purse as possible before the next general election, would make Usain Bolt look like he was running backwards!

Even Dr John Sentamu, Archbishop of York has today described the governments free schools policy as a “failed attempt” to create grammar schools benefiting those with “means and ability”.

You could be forgiven for thinking that last years intake failure was simply just ‘opening day blues’, but one year on and September 2014’s figures were no better, in fact they were even worse, with only 49 students making up the new intake and the current total standing at a paltry 107! (Ed. May 7th 2015 – We now know the September 2015 intake numbers, 38 from Devon and 9 from Cornwall, a total of just 47 children. This number is below the 50 children required by the EFA and massively below the 100 the trustees of Route 39 have always claimed, from their application and ‘demand analysis’ would want to attend the school. Isn’t it obvious now that there simply is not the demand for this school that the EFA were led to believe existed and shouldn’t this hugely expensive ‘white elephant’ be closed and its allocated funding (£2 million) used to help the thousands of local secondary school children in the area?)

Students (and their parents) arriving at the school full of joy and hope soon appear to discover that Route 39 cannot deliver as bucolic an educational vista as they so evocatively and eloquently describe in their EFA application and the raft of glossy marketing materials subsequently produced by the school (with tax payers cash that should be spent on childrens education).

Even in this past couple of weeks, a local secondary school has welcomed yet another ex-Route 39 student to join its classes, obviously from parents disillusioned by the reality of the Route 39 experiment.

Local educationalists were more than bemused by the claims made by Route 39 within their application document prior to their approval to proceed. Among these were the lauded claims that they would not permanently exclude any student, which was a key example of Route 39’s ‘Definitions of Success’.  They also proclaimed that their absence target (5%) would be “significantly below the national and local values due to initial start up status of the school and implementation of engage, respect and aspire.”

Well, reality tells a different story. Although crowing to the EFA that “Our clear aspiration is that there will (be) zero permanent exclusions and temporary exclusions will be less than 2%”, within the first year, Route 39 had permanently excluded its first pupil.

Attendance rates do not appear to be faring much better, with Route 39’s principal reporting to the academy trust governors in October 2014 that absences were running at 5.9%, going on to inform them that one pupil on the roll had not bothered turning up at all! By way of comparison, the % total absence for Secondary Schools (excluding free schools) across the whole of Devon is 4.9%.

While it is far too soon to begin to assess the actual impact of the educational provision achieved at Route 39 against the almost messianic claims touted within their application manifesto, the word on the street is that once again, the cold reality of delivery is somewhat different to the ‘fairytale fantasy’ contained within the 241 pages of the Route 39 application.

Only time will tell, of course, but whatever the outcome of the appeal made to the Planning Inspectorate over the planning application for the school, in the interests of transparency and accountability we shall continue to scrutinise Route 39’s performance and to hold them to account for the huge amounts of public money that they are spending. This is the very least that we can do for all the thousands of other children in the Torridge area that are being disproportionately denied access to this vital educational funding.

It’s a tough job…but someone has to do it!

It has been fascinating to be involved in the work to help our local secondary schools in the North Devon area deal with the autocratic ideological diktats of our centralised government and it’s insidious undermining of local children’s education through funding cuts right here in our rural backyard.

Through its flawed policy of ‘parent driven’ free schools and academies, such as the proposed Route 39 school which is currently being foisted upon us all by a group of perhaps well meaning, but clearly misinformed, greedy, self-centred and generally naive people that appear to care more about their own children than they do about anybody else’s, the government has set local communities, teachers and parents all across the country against one another in a manner more akin to civil war!

What is so shocking is that despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, the people that support this proposed free school actually seem to believe all the propagandist nonsense that they and the government constantly spout and simply will not engage in any kind of public debate or discussion with anybody expressing a contrary view – from the beginning their attitude has been ‘we want this – it is for us and our children – the government are giving us all this money, which is great, so we can do what we want – we simply don’t care how it affects you or your children – you are ignorant for not seeing what we see – you should be with us, rather than with those other oiks sending their children to the local secondary schools – we are much better than they are!’.

What’s even worse is that as we come to learn more about how Route 39 and this government intend to drive this proposal through, despite the overwhelming number of objections lodged by local people opposed to this ridiculous scheme, we begin to see how the cards are stacked against anyone that dares to question, challenge or god forbid, oppose what these people are so selfishly trying to do.

Route 39 have received many hundreds of thousands of pounds from the Department of Education to spend on consultants, legal experts, PR managers and other lobbyists to guide and assist them along the way to ‘fulfilling their dream’. These organisations know the lay of the land; they have (for a nice fat fee) helped Route 39 and many other free school applicants write their prospectus’, they have guided the staff interview processes, they have set out the sale pitch for prospective parents, they have manipulated the ‘evidence gathering’ process (calling it consultation, when it quite obviously is nothing of the kind), they have coached Route 39 in dealing with ‘disruptive local elements that may object to the end-game’ (ignore them and they might go away seems to be the advice to heed) and they have shown them how to influence, persuade and otherwise lobby our locally employed planning officials and democratically elected district representatives. In short, they loaded the dice heavily in their favour and spun their stories faster than Alastair Campbell on Red Bull!

The ‘No to Route 39’ group, on the other hand, has no bucket-full of tax-payers cash to dip into, no steely eyed planning consultants to show them how to ‘present the right things to the planning committee’, no ‘Eli Gold‘ style campaign manager to get the story ‘on message’ or to tell them what to say to appeal to the ‘core demographic’ – they simply understand what the fundamental difference is between right and wrong and are not afraid of standing up in public and saying how they feel. They want what is best for ALL the children in North Devon, not just what is best for a small cadre of the privileged minority!

David Cameron came into this coalition government preaching the ideals of localism and the ‘big society’, stating, if I recall correctly, that people in local areas should be empowered to make the right decisions for their local communities ‘at large’ and that each of us, as individuals, should essentially ‘do our bit’ to support our local institutions at ‘grass roots’ level.

I thought when I became a parent governor at a rural North Devon secondary school that this was what I would be doing – giving freely of my time, interest and experience in order to ‘put something back’ into my local community. For me, helping to provide the school with essential support and oversight, assuming the role of a ‘critical friend’ and acting as a representative and voice of all the parents whose children attended the school seemed like the right thing to do. Little did I realise that I was about to be pitched into the front line of educational armageddon! It is certainly a tough job… but someone has to do it!

I truly hope that at the upcoming planning committee meeting, that our local district Councillors will do the right and just thing; taking account of the strong and sincerely held feelings of hundreds of local residents, educationalists and concerned parents that are rightfully fearful of the consequential impact that this free school proposal will have on the educational prospects of the 4500 children currently being taught in our local secondary schools. Our Councillors have a duty to do what is in the best interests of the MAJORITY of our young people, which is quite obviously not to approve a multi-million £, tax-payer funded educational experiment that will in the short to medium term only benefit the 55 children of the proposers and their like-minded friends!

Watch this space!

Route 39: Engagement, but not as we know it!

Route 39 had previously requested to give a presentation of their plans and progress at last nights meeting of Woolsery Parish Council. That was of course until they learned that the Parish Council had invited the ‘No to Route 39‘ group to also meet with the local councillors to present their view of the situation.

Route 39 – disappearing faster than a rat up a drainpipe!

Route 39 did a prompt ‘volte face’ and disappeared faster than the proverbial rat up a drainpipe, leaving the Chairman of the Parish Council to read a less than engaging statement to the 75 gathered residents eager to hear both sides and to express their own views, incidentally none of whom had required the inducement of a free ticket to a theme park in order to turn up!

What was quite obvious from this charade was that Route 39 have absolutely no intention of entering into any serious public debate, consultation or examination of their proposals, with either affected local residents, secondary school educationalists or concerned parents.

Following the public meeting, the Woolsery Parish Council moved onto its normal business, which included voting on the application by Route 39 for the provision of planning permission for its 3 year temporary accommodation at (yes, you’ve guessed it) the Milky Way theme park!

Needless to say, with only one abstention for a declared interest, the Parish Council voted unanimously to object to the Route 39 proposal – it’s heartening to see common sense prevail at grass roots political level!

You can read the full details of the meeting and see the statements made by both sides at the excellent Bude and Beyond website: http://budeandbeyond.co.uk/free-school-the-public-meeting/

“Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics” – Why Route 39 are in a spin!

One of the core arguments made vociferously by proponents of the proposed Route 39 Free School at Bucks Cross, North Devon to justify the building of a completely unnecessary new secondary school; within an area of outstanding natural beauty no less and to be constructed with £ millions of taxpayers money at a time when local secondary school budgets for  learning and capital programmes are being decimated, is that there is a proven need as there are not enough pupil places available within local schools to meet future demand!

Janet Downs has done some deeper investigation into this claim and her detailed report reveals evidence that Route 39’s case simply does not stack up:

“According to the (Route 39) website, the proposers (claim to) have, among other things, demonstrated a “Need – in terms of population projections, social demographics and area-wide education performance.”

But information on the ‘New Schools Network’ site did not list North Devon as an area with a shortage of places. And the National Audit Office map shows there is no shortfall in primary places in Devon or Cornwall. As each council has to ensure sufficient secondary places for its primary pupils, it is unlikely that there is a shortfall in secondary places.

The Profile of Torridge 2009 (p.20) gave the following figures re: the number of children in the area:

Age 0-4 2,927
Age 5-9 3,195
Age 10-14 3,769
Age 15-19 4,040

These figures show the number of children declining in the future, not rising as claimed by Route 39.

http://www.torridge.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=1563&p=0

Route 39 also cite the Office of National Statistics (ONS) as the source of a forecast rise in the number of 11-17 year olds in Torridge. Here are the figures from the 2011 census:

0-4 3,157
5-9 3,091
10-14 3,493
15-17 2,336

These children will now be 2 years older and the 10-14 year olds will be 12-16. In other words, they will already be in secondary school. There are 3,493 of them. The census shows that there will be a small reduction in the number of secondary children requiring places.

Route 39 also cite ‘The Draft North Devon’ and ‘Torridge Local Plan’. This is what the plan said about population projection:

“The demographic changes and housing trends are driven mainly by high net in-migration and the urban concentration strategy of past plans. The area’s population is projected to increase by almost 11% between 2011-2031, during which time the age profile of the population is expected to change dramatically. Limited growth is projected in those aged under 15 and very small growth in those aged 25-34″

Note: “Limited growth is projected” for the under 15s

Route 39 say that the extra housing required means there will be more secondary children. But the local plan says it is housing for the rising population of elderly people that is needed:

“There is an imbalance between the very high proportions of large family homes with the increasing demand for smaller accommodation. Changing patterns of household formation and the needs of an increasing number of elderly residents requires a variation in new housing supply in type and size from that which has historically been provided.”

http://consult.torridge.gov.uk/portal/planning/localplan/draft?pointId=s1354529649742#section-s1354529649742
http://neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadTableView.do?a=3&b=6275286&c=Torridge&d=13&e=13&g=6417095&i=1001x1003x1004&m=0&r=1&s=1364400782138&enc=1&dsFamilyId=2474”

It is about time that Route 39 stop playing ‘fast and loose’ with the truth, as it only takes a little research by any sensible person with a broadband connection and a few minutes to spare to realise that they are playing the ‘lies, damned lies and statistics’ game.

All parents deserve to be able to make informed decisions about their children’s education, with both sides presenting the known facts and acknowledging the truth. Unfortunately, Route 39 are seemingly unwilling or unable to do this, which is why we shall endeavour wherever we can to present the reality, rather than the ‘sales’ spin!

Route 39 will be North Devon’s ‘One in a Million’!

With the local Route 39 Free School project receiving only 44 applications for its 100 Year 7 places (44%), it now looks increasingly likely that the project will become North Devon’s equivalent of Bradford’s ‘One in a Million’ Free School.

The One in a Million Free School had its funding pulled by the Department for Education a little over a week before it was due to open. It had managed to fill just 30 of a possible 50 pupil places (60%).

The decision to remove the school’s funding led shadow education secretary Stephen Twigg to accuse the government of wasting millions of pounds on faltering free school projects. Mr Twigg claimed that £2.3 million has been wasted on schemes that either have not opened or have not attracted enough local support, including £213,000 on the ‘One in a Million’ Free School.

It has been estimated that Route 39 has received in excess of £300,000 already in start-up funding, while estimations of the price offered for the Steart Farm site at Bucks Cross range anywhere from £3 million to £4 million. As yet, not a single child has received a lesson!

In the meantime, the Department of Education continues to cut school budgets, under-fund secondary schools in North Devon and has decimated the Schools Capital Refurbishment programme, diverting funds which are desperately required to maintain and improve the infrastructure of our local schools towards these ‘vanity’ projects, dreamt up by perhaps well-meaning but ultimately deluded armchair experts and political devotees.

“By pursuing pet projects, rather than setting up schools where they are needed, millions of pounds that could be spent on improving education are being poured down the drain,” Mr Twigg has said. He also highlighted that £2 million was spent on the Beccles Free School in Suffolk, which in June 2012 had attracted only 37 pupils in an area with “10,000 spare secondary places”.

Within the same catchment as Route 39, we currently have 4167 secondary school age children on role, with plenty of spare capacity in all secondary schools within the area.

Michael Gove has said he expected the latest wave of free schools to be as successful as the first. “Every child should have the choice to go to an excellent local school,” he said. “These new schools have been set up by idealistic people who are determined to give parents the kind of choice that only the rich can currently afford,” the education secretary added.

Idealistic is an interesting choice of word, but perhaps not one I would have used!

Postscript:

Route 39 have recently announced that they are taking applications from Year 8 students, already attending local secondary schools. They originally stated that the school would have 700 pupils, ranging from Year 7 through to Year 13 (sixth form), thus 100 pupils per year group.

Because they have not been able to achieve their figures for Year 7 students, they are now claiming that they allocated 75 places to Year 7 ( so 44 students = 58.6%) and 25 places to Year 8 students (with 14 applicants = 56%). So now the stats that they are peddling is 58 students from 100 places = 58%, when in fact the stats should be 58 students from 200 places = 29%.

This is the sort of claptrap that these people are putting out into the public domain as ‘facts’. They ought to think about retaking some Basic Mathematics lessons!

 

 

Has Democracy Died in North Devon?

I have read with interest the recent posting on the Route 39 Free Schools website, pointing out it’s answers to the numerous questions raised in recent weeks by parents and the local community.

Route 39’s motto is “Engage, Respect, Aspire” and yet it seems that the school has assiduously avoided engaging with anyone with a differing opinion to theirs, has shown scant respect to members of the local community and local educational professionals and has aspired to push their own agenda, desires and plans.

What particularly caught my attention in their recent update was Route 39’s assertions regarding ‘consultation’.

They clearly state the following “Nov-Jan 2011: Two months of public consultations and open meetings at local village halls supported by leaflets, posters, features in the press/radio and parish magazines. This culminated in 1000 people attending The Milky Way consultation event in January 2012. In total, over 500 families signed up to support the application.”

This is revealing. The two months of public ‘consultations’ that they refer to might usually be regarded as qualitative and quantitative market research. During this process, you get a bunch of people together, present them with an idea and solicit feedback. However, as any good market researcher will tell you, the feedback you receive is entirely dependant on a) the questions that you choose to ask and b) the manner/form in which those questions are asked. Ask the ‘right’ questions, in a particular sort of way and you can get people to say exactly what you want them to say.

Wouldn’t this distort the picture, or enable one to present a view of something that wasn’t, perhaps, entirely accurate? Well, maybe!

These public consultations could also be looked at as ‘sales road shows’ or promotional events, held at a local theme park and aimed at soliciting positive feedback from visitors that happened to be attending that day. Many of those visitors would probably not have been from the local area, though undoubtedly some were, perhaps lured by the prospect of a discounted entry to the park, offered to the visitors if they participated in the ‘consultation’. It all seems a little reminiscent of ‘time share’ sales practices on the Spanish Costa!

This exercise also enabled Route 39 to suggest that 1000 people had participated in their ‘consultation’ (because they turned up on the day). Yet curiously, only 50% (we are told) felt suitably moved to sign up to support the school proposals.

“We worked closely with Devon County Council to establish evidence of need. Signatures from over 500 families showed we were likely to be 68% full in the first year, with very strong demand for subsequent years.” they tell us. However it now seems that according to Route 39’s own announcements, this has resulted in 44 Year 7 children applying for places at the school, which is only 44% (not 68%) of the 100 Year 7 places they originally stated that they would open the school with.

They continue, stating “We have never stopped consulting with and informing the public: attending summer and Christmas events, issuing information to the press, parish magazines, monthly email newsletters, social media and website, keeping in contact with local schools where we have been welcome and meeting with supporters.” These are all great marketing and promotional events and exercises, and I am sure that they are true, however this is not public ‘consultation’. In a commercial world this is known as ‘selling’! Sadly, they do not say that they have also met with their objectors!

What is more concerning is Route 39’s apparent confidence that they can and will proceed as planned without the need for any further public consultation. We are clearly told

“There are three key consultation exercises in the free school process:

1. The parental consultation prior to application and approval
   This took place between November 2011 and May 2012. We had to demonstrate the parental demand and need for Route 39 Academy. This was achieved successfully and approval granted in July 2012.
2. Community Consultation
   This is happening now for a 6 week period and will close on 3rd April. This consultation is not about debating whether the school is needed. Its purpose is to gather local views on the school’s educational vision, its choice of site, the facilities it could offer the community and organisations it might work with. There is also a statutory question required by the Academies Act about signing a Funding Agreement.
3. The Planning Consultation
   The Education Funding Agency manage this process on our behalf and it has already begun on the temporary site and will follow in due course on the permanent site. Local residents are able to express their views formally during the official planning consultation.

The time for official debate on whether there is a need for Route 39 Academy was 18 months ago. We are now in the implementation phase of the school. However, we recognise that questions about the need for a new school continue to be asked.

I would question how an official ‘debate’ could be held 18 months ago when nobody, including Route 39, had any idea what the actual proposals from Route 39 were to be, nobody knew if there was any demand at all, nobody knew where the school would be sited, nobody knew what the consequential impact would be on the local community or how this would affect other local secondary schools in the vicinity!

The community consultation paragraph above clearly tells us that we cannot object to the school on the grounds that it is not needed, even though as the ‘community’, we have had no opportunity to express that objection in an independent public consultation. We can however state that funding for the school should not be given by stating ‘No’ to the funding question on the consultation. Of course, Route 39 (following the governments lead of course) doesn’t want us to do this as they don’t want anything or anyone to get in the way of their plans.

The planning consultation stage is also intriguing. Route 39 and the EFA have selected a site within an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, near to Bucks Cross on which to build. They have yet to even apply for planning permission, but are referring to it on their website as their ‘Permanent’ site. This is rather assumptive and really somewhat disrespectful towards those local residents that are likely to the affected by this ‘proposal’. We know that many locals are less than enamoured by the proposition of construction works in their community, but as we have witnessed, Route 39 have been trying their best to stifle any public debate on this too. A planning application has been lodged for a ‘temporary’ site (back at the theme park) and if you are interested, you can show your views via the Torridge District Council Planning site – don’t try doing it online though (it doesn’t work) – you are best off sending an email via their customer service department.

Route 39’s Facebook site has the following post, attributed to their Head Teacher – “This is England, 2013, where all parents have a right to choose the school that best meets their child’s needs.”

I sure that no-one could disagree with Joss’ sentiment, however all people (not just parents) also have a right to express an opinion and to raise objections when they fundamentally do not agree with something.

I fear that what we are actually experiencing in all this is a concerted effort to undermine the general public’s democratic right to voice an opinion, to express a view and if necessary, to formally object to a ‘proposal’. Informed debate or voices raised in opposition doesn’t help Route 39, they simply want what they want, irrespective of its impact on others! I do understand why, however if this is the future, then sadly, democracy in North Devon has already died!

Route 39’s idea of ‘Community Engagement’!

On Wednesday evening a large group of people turned up to the Village Hall at Bucks Cross to learn more about the intentions of the Route 39 group and their proposed ‘Free’ School, which they have announced will be sited just along the road from the village, in a designated Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

The meeting was called following a debacle one month earlier, when Route 39 leafleted the villagers inviting them to learn what their proposals were all about, the day before they announced to the villagers that they were going to build the school, quite literally on their doorsteps. Needless to say, the locals were a little peeved about this and made their feelings quite plain.

This time around, word had got around about the meeting – so many more ‘interested parties’ turned up to see what the plans were. But this was not what the Route 39 people had intended. They wanted a ‘drop-in’ with local residents, in order to ‘engage their concerns’ – in other words, “come on down and we’ll give you our spin on things, but what we don’t want you doing is hearing anyone else’s opinion on the subject!”.

Now I can understand this – when people want something so badly, they often will do anything to ensure that they get what they want – even if that means stifling public debate, dismissing others with a differing opinion as ‘selfish nimby’s’ or ‘ignorant fools’ or ‘vested interests‘, and refusing to impart key information that they feel will undermine their position.

Personally I think for Route 39 this was an opportunity missed. The folk that turned out on Wednesday evening had genuine concerns and questions that they have as much right to ask as anyone else. Sadly, Route 39 chose to ignore this and instead stuck gallantly to its plan only to talk to those individuals that could prove they lived within the parish boundary of Bucks Cross. The rest of us, including some highly respected Head Teachers from locally affected secondary schools were neither welcomed, acknowledged or engaged – in fact even some of the locals sat there wondering what on earth was going on!

I believe that plans may be afoot to hold another meeting some time next week in order for people of all opinions to come together and discuss openly the pro’s and con’s of this proposal – it remains to be seen whether or not the Route 39 team will have the courtesy to attend. Watch this space!

You can read another report and see pictures of this event here: http://budeandbeyond.co.uk/is-this-consultation/#comment-3149