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School Website

Over the years from comments and complaints received, it might have been prudent for Mr. Kidd to have not investigated the ‘mysterious’ disappearance of the school website and let it simply vanish forever !

It had never presented a professional website but this reincarnation is significantly worse. It’s slapdash, full of mistakes, very slow, confusing, out of date and is far from what should be in place – or maybe it is so because it does reflect the true state of the school !

A website directly reflects on a business. In many areas of our lives we say appearance is not important. However, when it comes to a website, appearance is everything. If a site does not look professional and is not easy to navigate, the business will be viewed as mediocre and that it may not provide the quality of the products / services that are promised.

There is no excuse for poor website design. A website should be fast and easy to navigate. It should have a clear purpose – to convey information.

Bad spelling and grammar are indicative of uneducated and lazy designers and of their client, who clearly has little or no interest in their own website. (Especially for a school website, correct spelling should be important, as should be attention to detail.)

Duke Street Primary School should be improving – it needs to following a poor Ofsted Inspection in March 2010 (NOT 2011). So present the school properly with a quality website that is active and full of life – if nothing else, remove it until an acceptable standard has been reached. At the moment, it is an insult to the importance of the lives of our children attending your school and to us as parents !

Help Save Chorley Football Club

Chorley FC manager, Garry Flitcroft, with, from left, Richard Houghton, Stephen Penlington, Julian Pendleton, Andy Turner, Andrew Kidd, Peter Goldsworthy and Graham Watkinson

Standing on the Victory Park turf it’s the team that Chorley FC manager Garry Flitcroft is hoping can secure the future of the Magpies.

The former Blackburn Rovers captain went public last week with size of the club’s financial problems.

The players haven’t been paid for a fortnight and, unless the club can raise an immediate £20,000, he may have to let half his team go after Saturday’s game with Nantwich.

“We urgently need people to rally around the club.”

Chorley Football Club

Value For Money ?

On Wednesday 12 January 2011 the Department for Education published schools’ spending data for 2009-10. This data comes from their Consistent Financial Reporting returns and is grouped into categories of income and expenditure. The Department has also included key performance indicators for Key Stage 2 and GCSEs.

This is part of the Department’s aim to make more of its statistics available and supports the Coalition Government’s data transparency agenda. In order to make this data more accessible to the general public we have published it in a clear and simple format. In addition, the Department is publishing the raw data files so that people can further analyse the data themselves.

The Department wants to encourage parents and the wider public to look at the data and to compare the spending and performance of schools in their local area. The school spending tables have been published in three Excel workbooks separated into primary, secondary and special schools. The primary and secondary tables include a key performance indicator for Key Stage 2 and GCSEs respectively. The fourth workbook contains the raw data. All of these tables can be found in the ‘Associated resources’.

The illustrated data above is the expenditure per pupil for Duke Street (2009 - 2010). We leave parents to study this information and to give us your feedback.

The only comment that we wish to make is with respect to the school’s Supply Teacher expenditure which we consider to be excessive and is one of the highest within Lancashire. (There is a corresponding deficit in the school’s permanent Teaching Staff costs.)

It seems inappropriate that Duke Street is so reliant on supply teachers. Staff stability and performance are generally better in schools with permanent positions. We suggest this observation to be a contributory factor in Duke Street’s disappointing academic Ofsted performance figures.

Schooloscope

Prompted by the comment “My Children’s School” from the previous blog entry, we found the school by Googling “This is an outstanding school. Everything about it keeps getting better and better.” The report originates from Prince Rock Primary School in Plymouth who received a truly outstanding conclusion by Ofsted in March 2010. (Maybe Duke Street should consider making its New Years’ resolution to be to try to aspire to their standards ?)

The Google search result produced a link to a very good school performance site called Schooloscope. This site has many useful and interesting features. For example, with Duke Street selected, clicking on every other school in Chorley shows that children are happier elsewhere.

Comparing Prince Rock and Duke Street provides a revealing and stunning contrast in school performance.

Schooloscope makes the clear and well illustrated point that Duke Street performance is not what one would expect from such a well provisioned school. Parents and governors must ask questions, especially with regard to the leadership of the school. Unlike Prince Rock, Duke Street does not enjoy an atmosphere of happy and contented people; staff and pupils - why ?

Obfuscating and concealing facts are not the way ahead ! The school did have rats in the kitchens in 2008 and it did receive a deserved poor Ofsted report in March 2010 - the rationale and motivation of a head teacher who attempts to suppress and deny such facts are extremely worrying !

An earlier comment from 2008 does not explain nor excuse the behavioural patterns exhibited by the head teacher but it shows that they originate from his childhood and by his own admission on Friends Reunited – even more worrying that anyone would wish to brag openly about such tricks and deceit; worse a person in authority, a head teacher !

So come on parents - this is your school, your children’s school - as a taxpayer, you deserve better - as a parent, you deserve better and your children certainly deserve better !

Ofsted Report March 2010

With reference to the entry The Slippery Slope, we have been in receipt of several complaints. They all refer to the fact the school’s website does not link to the latest Ofsted report and the misleading quotes from the earlier report of 2007.

We would like to think that this an oversight on the part of the school, even though 9 months have elapsed since the investigation.

Some prospective parents felt strongly enough to address the issue with Ofsted and they have sent us the following response from Christine Gilbert, Head of Ofsted (HMCI).

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Dear Mr and Mrs L........

Thank you for your email of 17 November 2010, received in my office on the same date.

I am sorry you have concerns about the school’s website link to its ‘latest’ Ofsted inspection report. You explain that the website for Duke Street Primary School does not provide a link to the most recent Ofsted report.

I have looked on the school’s website and I agree that typing in the keyword ‘Ofsted’ produces quotes from, and a link to, the Ofsted inspection report of July 2007, rather than the more recent inspection report of March 2010. This is disappointing as it is important that parents like yourselves have access to the most up to date information about the school. However, as you may be aware, the most recent inspection report for any school can be found on the Ofsted website at www.ofsted.gov.uk. I have asked that contact be made with the school to advise them that someone has complained about the website.

While I understand your concerns about the website, I should advise that Ofsted does not have the statutory power to instruct a school to modify its website or to enforce changes, notwithstanding that updating the school website would result in a more up-to-date picture of pupils’ achievement and the quality of provision. Should you wish to pursue your concerns further with regard to the school’s website, you would need to follow the school’s complaints procedure and put your concerns in writing. You should be able to obtain a copy of this procedure from the school. You may also wish to consider writing to the chair of governors for the school expressing your concern.

Thank you for writing to me on this matter. I hope this response is helpful and that you have been successful in your search for a suitable school for your daughter.

Yours sincerely

Christine Gilbert

Who Likes Comic Sans ?

It’s clear that Mr. Kidd likes Comic Sans - the school logo and nearly every school publication uses this font. However according to news today there are millions of us who hate and detest Comic Sans - should the school show more initiative and better taste ? What do you think ?

BBC News	: What’s so wrong with Comic Sans ?
Website	: bancomicsans.com