under well regarded new Principal David Day appointed last September, its just that standards were so low previously he has a mountain to climb. Mr Gove's Education Department has authorised £54 million on what looks as if it may be a lost cause. One wonders why no one proposed two smaller academies on the island, which would have been so much more manageable than this out of control giant. Reading the report, there many signs of hope for the future, after a disastrous first year under a Principal who promptly left, and "The new principal has a very clear strategic view for the academy’s development and has been strongly focused on ensuring improvements are made in the quality of teaching and learning". However, there are too many criticisms of classroom practice and some teachers must be concerned about Mr Gove's announcement today about making it easier to remove unsatisfactory teachers. Mr Day's problem will be how to attract others to an uninviting prospect!

The Lead Sponsor is the independent school, Dulwich College, which suggests that perhaps private well endowed schools, catering for the most able and highly motivated pupils mainly from prosperous backgrounds, my not have the expertise to govern such institutions. In this case Kent County Council is another sponsor who should have had such expertise, the team being completed by the Anglican Diocese of Canterbury.