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As a family of schools, we work collaboratively to give our children the very best start in life. We deliver this through:
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We aim to be a force for good in the community we serve, supporting social mobility and regeneration through education. We call this mission “sea-change”.
In the two primary schools, where the Trust’s vision is now established, parents and teachers are voting with their feet against both schools. Morehall Primary has seen a massive fall off in popularity, with just 11 families choosing places at the school for 2018 entry, at 13%, second lowest figure in Kent. Second lowest in Folkestone is Martello Primary, Turner’s other school, at 60% and subject to a high turn-over of children, seeking other schools. Between them they account for 48 of the 74 vacancies across the town’s seventeen schools. The two schools are currently on their third joint Executive Head in just over a year. Folkestone Academy is in the middle of a major structural reorganisation to align itself more closely with some of the Trust’s ideals, in the midst of considerable staff turmoil. The Turner Free School on its front page of 'latest news' informed browsers that it had attracted just 70 applicants for its 120 places for some time after I wrote this article. It has now been removed as a result of my drawing attention. I am told by the Trust that the school has now had 240 applications with half placed on a waiting list, but this site is the only place you would know the fact. If that is the case, then probably most of these have also secured places at Folkestone Academy.
This monopoly in secondary provision across Folkestone is unique in the county and has the effect of eliminating choice for families who dislike the ethos projected by the Trust in its schools. There is considerable deprivation in parts of the town, most notably nearer to Folkestone Academy.
There is no doubt that the three/four Shepway non-selective schools (including Marsh Academy in New Romney) suffer from the two Folkestone grammars offering the Shepway Test which sees around 150 additional children who have not passed the Kent Test taking up places in local grammar schools each year. This will not only skim off many of the most able but will have played a significant part in the closure of Pent Valley in 2016. That school suffered from poor leadership and became unpopular with families so that its intake became unviable, the consequent closure certainly not being the only example of such an extreme response to solving a leadership problem.
Folkestone Academy is in the middle of an unpopular and major reorganisation, set out in a Consultation document, headed up by new and temporary leaders, which appears rushed and mainly designed to shed 42 staff. I give several examples below illustrating the mixed and mixed up ideas and what appears to be ad hoc decision making.
At the same time, and partially because of the lack of enthusiasm for both schools, Brockhill Park Performing Arts College has become one of the most oversubscribed schools in Kent turning away 134 first choices this year. Jo Saxton, CEO of Turner Schools has produced a Youtube interview with Academy FM, run by Folkestone Academy in response to a letter to parents triggered by this article, here and featured/reproduced in Medway Vox. Amongst the many comments published below is one I have had to abbreviate because of its length. However it is important and from a recent member of staff, so you can read it in full here. Sadly, the video also continues a theme of promoting manipulated examples, three below.
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Quote on the subject of staff cuts:'Let's be clear. The document doesn't say anything about numbers'. Technically correct for the document itself, but very misleading as the attached Appendix goes into great detail about the proposed loss of 42 staff, including 10 teaching and subject structures staff (although the letter to parents talks about 'The creation of new teacher posts') and the titles of the posts to be removed. There are various other 'errors'. Quote on the alleged unpopularity of primary schools: 'Yeah, I don't understand that. Certainly, Morehall Primary has got waiting lists in some year groups. Martello Primary has trebled in size since we first arrived there'. Both technically correct but both misleading. My data for Morehall was about the 11 children applying for admission in September 2018. As recorded below, the other year groups were full from admissions during previous managements - underlying the decline this year. In January 2016, in its second year of operation, the Martello roll was 49, the normal intake having reached year One. By January 2018, the school had grown by admitting four full year groups, with a little infilling to 151 pupils, and for September 2018, there were just 18 pupils applying for the 30 places. |
The 21 comments to date are at the foot of this and all four pages of the article. They make interesting reading.
The school is opening in September on its wafer thin website where it was still boasting of the 70 applications it had received (until some date after 22nd May when this article drew attention to it). However, apparently the total is nearly twice oversubscribed at 231 applicants (according to Dr Saxton in her video, and not quite the double oversubscribed of her Comment below, but still a remarkable figure) with a waiting list (see Comment below). One of the many issues is that these applications are outside the Kent Secondary Application scheme and so are open to and will include many pupils already offered places at Folkestone Academy, as the only other local school. So, if they all turn up at TFS, this is going to leave a massive hole in Folkestone Academy's numbers. We all have difficulties keeping our websites up to date, but the home page for Turner Free School, headed 'Latest', still contain three more uplifting slogans, a link to the CEO's Video, see above, and three slight Twitter posts from September 4th 2017!!
Turner Schools was one of two applicants to take over the Pent Valley site. The other was Swale Academies Trust who picked up PV in its death throes, but therefore had some experience of the locality and issues. I have my own concerns about Swale, but in this case surely they were the logical choice, or was there political sway?
It is claimed that every pupil at Turner Free School will be able to speak fluent French (or Mandarin), an ambition surpassing most grammar schools‘. ‘Only eight children in the whole of Shepway did a French A level, even though on a clear day you can see France’, although Harvey Grammar had more than this alone last year. ‘Kent also has the highest exclusions from school for racist intolerance and abuse’. Not sure of the relevance of this, but Kent actually has no permanent exclusions for racist intolerance and as the largest Local Authority in the country, many others have a larger proportion of fixed period exclusions. ‘The Academy is founded to transform education standards in East Kent through our HEART principles: High expectations; Energy; Academic subject-based curriculum; Reading for all; and Trust’ - now that is what I call an ambition, transforming standards across East Kent. ‘Ultimately, every student from TFS will have the chance to follow any dream, achieve any goal, and to be anything they want to be’
Currently one wonders what those children who have signed up will discover. The school is already planning to increase to 180 for 2019, in contradiction of its claim that: ‘As a smaller than average secondary school all pupils will be known and educated as individuals’. There is a four page prospectus, equally slogan heavy and fact light, leading with: ‘A Traditional Education for the 21st Century’ . However, there are a few aspirations thrown in: ‘By providing an outstanding education for your son or daughter - with a focus on English, mathematics, science, humanities and a modern foreign language - we will secure their future. These subjects (together forming the EBacc) will mean that your child will be able to follow any pathway, from A Levels and on to studying at Russell Group universities, or on into the world of professional employment….In addition to the EBacc subjects, we will equip our students with a detailed core knowledge in a range of areas, including STEM, music, art and select sports….We will also offer a range of enriching extra-curricular activities and trips in order to broaden the horizons of our students and to bring their learning to life. All students will have access to a range of additional sporting and academic experiences, which will also build their confidence and resilience. This will include residential visits, music and drama performances, debating, mock legal trials and a variety of competitive sporting events…..We will encourage positive relationships through our House System, which will inspire students to strive for both personal and team success’ although this is a principle which appears opposed to the one being dismantled at partner Folkestone Academy (below) as incompatible with the Trust’s vision! ‘we will operate a system of Family Dining, which will be packed-lunch free (pity about those with dietary restrictions). All staff will dine with students to build relationships, ensure social inclusion and develop confidence in trying new foods. This will ensure that all students are part of our community and that they can develop fluency in conversation, impeccable manners and the ability to show appreciation for those around them’. And that is about it. Pity about the non-Russell Group Universities who don’t appear to be up to it; no mention of supporting children with Special Education Needs or disabilities, who seem to cause problems in the Trust primary schools.
Although there is no mention of premises or facilities, surely an important factor for all enquirers, the old Pent Valley buildings are currently being adapted for their new use. A whole school roll of 120 pupils or fewer in the first year is very difficult to staff, as is this level of uptake in higher year groups in the future, but all those at Folkestone Academy are having their contracts changed so they can teach across the Trust, clearly planned as an integral part of provision.
A headteacher designate, Kristina Yates, has been appointed. She is currently Vice Principal at Folkestone School for Girls, but with a background at the non-selective Marsh Academy. She is to be assisted in the running of this initially 120 pupil school, by a 'big-hitting team' of three Assistant Principals, two previously Assistant Principals also form Folkestone School for Girls. Their biographies certainly suggest a great deal of experienced senior management from the beginning of June to run such a small unit, unless the school plans to expand faster than agreed (although any extra pupils would be drawn from the FA pool). Otherwise, it is almost impossible to imagine job descriptions of three such senior staff, alongside the classroom teachers to be appointed to justify what I assume will be a salary to match that of their previous posts. It makes the claimed overstaffing of FA (see below) fade into insignificance.
It appears that the success of Turner Free School will depend on the further unpopularity of Folkestone academy.
The Academy was founded under the sponsorship of Roger De Haan, a Folkestone businessman and philanthropist from its opening in 2007 at a reported cost of £40 million. Turner Schools arrived at Folkestone Academy in April 2017, the Trust's Chairman and CEO taking on the same roles at FA, with Mr De Haan relinquishing his role. This was in preparation for the formal re-brokering in December 2017 toTurner Schools . In recent years the school has been struggling, so a new approach is to be welcomed in principle.
Since then the Academy has been going through a whirlwind of change at the top. Warren Smith, Principal for the previous ten years, suddenly left last June 'to seek new challenges' (a common euphemism for having been got rid of with payment), along with one of his two deputies the other leaving at the end of term, a month later. Mr Smith was succeeded as Secondary Headteacher by Andrew Milliken, previously Deputy Head at the now closed Chaucer School, and Head of School at the now closed Walmer Science School. Six months later, Colin Boxall arrived as Interim Principal until July 2018 to work alongside Mr Milliken but who quickly vanished from the scene. Turner Schools describes Mr Boxall as having been 'Principal of a number of schools, including an Outstanding Academy in Kent'. The only local Academy I can find of which he has been Principal was the notorious Bishop of Rochester Academy, where he left suddenly after eighteen months, shortly after revealing plans to cut up to a third of the staff. It would be very interesting to learn the Outstanding Academy to which Dr Saxton refers. Before taking up the Folkestone role he was also Interim Principal at two Ofsted previously failed schools. I have been sent a Consultation document by a blog called ShepwayVox, about a major reorganisation of the secondary section, with appendices for the restructuring and redundancy issues. The academy proposes to abolish 42 named posts although ‘This reduction is mitigated, to a large degree, by existing resignations’ , reflecting the high rate of turnover of staff this year. The proposed changes of staff responsibilities clearly indicate a transformation in philosophy moving the school to a much more academic curriculum led approach, with the well established vocational courses appearing to be downgraded and the number of ‘Aspiration and Inclusion Staff’ being nearly halved down to 39 staff members. This is a coastal area with a high level of disadvantage and lack of aspiration. The school is scrapping its vertical House system: 'A move from a vertical house pastoral system to one based on year groups; a new House system will be introduced for charitable fundraising, sporting and other competitive events.
The document makes clear that the reorganisation is driven by budgetary considerations: 'Like other schools, we are also operating in straitened times'. The school remains based on a ‘realistic’ intake of 270 pupils (rather than the inflated 300 places per year that were assumed and funded in recent years)'. The quote in brackets suggest the Trust has not bothered to check the reason for the previous increased roll, which was simply because the school took on additional places at the closure of Pent Valley, hardly deserving of the pejorative ‘inflated’. Staff contracts are being revised to operate on a Trust wide basis, presumably so that the school can provide teachers for the Turner Free School.
It might have been thought wise given the rate of change at the top, to leave breathing space for the new team to assimilate the situation, especially with yet another new Principal planned for September who presumably will have their own views, but clearly not the style of Turner Schools. Indeed one would have thought the eminent Local Governing Body should have provided a brake on this breakneck rate of change.
In spite of the reduction in numbers of teaching staff, the school is currently advertising for six posts closing date 31st May. Four of these are Heads of Department, so will be unlikely to attract external applicants, as 31st May is the final day for submitting resignations for September. Three of these are for the major Departments of English, Maths and Geography. I happened to look at the first two. Oddly, they have a completely different structure, reflecting a school that has no clear strategy. Both have a very general introductory page, sent out for some reason from the Sixth Form Centre, but neither gives any indication of the radical change of approach set out in the reorganisation Consultation. The English Head of Department then turns via a Word download into a five page very generalised essay, although indicating that the successful applicants will be in charge of a single Key Stage, probably KS3. Amongst the specifics: the challenge of 'To establish strong cross-curricular links with other departments including helping to establish key numeracy skills', and 'Evaluating the design and delivery of the curriculum for a Key Stage in Dance'.
The Mathematics Head of Department details lead in to a Head of Faculty, although Faculties are to be scrapped according to the reorganisation document. This follows into a single website page, multi-coloured and shouting (their word not mine!) that makes no mention of mathematics from beginning to end, but is merely yet another collection of generalised slogans! Try: 'Courage - To exhibit positivity and determination in your sprint and marathon goals'. There is no clue as to whether Courage is a requirement, a hope, or just a thought. There is no sign of planning or strategy here, just a sense of ad hoc decision making outside any sort of framework.
The document ignores provision for children with Special Education Needs, who don't fit into the knowledge based curriculum concept as outlined by Dr Hirsch
This is not a happy school.
The Primary section of Folkestone Academy carries an Outstanding Ofsted, and appears to be adopting none of the strong philosophies or models that operate in the other three Turner Schools, or the new brand of the secondary section.
As the Department for Education classifies Folkestone Academy as a new school by virtue of its new sponsors, it will be free from Ofsted for three years.
Morehall and Martello Primaries
One year on, pupil numbers have slumped from being full in 2017 with 30 places on offer, to having just 11 families choosing one of the school’s 60 places for next September, the second lowest take up rate in the county, before another 9 Local Authority Allocated children were added in. Oddly, the school had increased its Planned Admission Number from 30 in previous years, presumably in anticipation of a growth in popularity because of its re-branding, as it had been full or nearly full in each of the previous seven years.
Dr Hirsch is quoted here as defining the Trust’s purpose as: ‘To be culturally literate is to possess the basic information needed to thrive in the modern world’. The raising Aspirations section includes: ‘University visits in Kent and beyond’ - nothing like early planning!”
The school website opens the door to a very high powered, if controversial, series of video clips on educational theory (the link does not work on the Morehall site) which may not be the first thought to attract potential families, many of whom are described by Ofsted as: ‘A higher-than-average proportion of pupils leave and join the school at various times during the school year. Since September, over 20 pupils have joined the school. A higher-than-average proportion of children are from minority ethnic groups and speak English as an additional language. A much-larger-than-average proportion of pupils are supported by pupil premium funding’. On the website I tried: ‘Dr. Jo Saxton asked Dr. E.D. Hirsch (an American theoretical educationist): “How young can you start with a knowledge based curriculum? The link diverted me to a commercial website selling resources to schools, but also filled with educational theories. Choose the right link to take you to a series of video clips, one of which is the required one, which seeks to justify the knowledge based curriculum of Martello Primary.
‘As a starting point children are taught to be aware of each subject they learn and its unique identity. Pupil versions of subject descriptions, or rationales, can be found around the school building to help children scaffold their learning'. It is unclear to me how this approach is intended to relate to the parent body of this school.
Although the school has an Autistic Unit, it has had problems with Special Education Needs, including staff turnover, seemingly at odds with the ‘knowledge based curriculum’ that, according to Dr Hirsch, should be offered to all children and if they cannot absorb it, then they won’t come to harm. Having said that there is an enormous SEN Policy, full of aspiration and offering apparently unlimited resources, but which appears to clash with the reality encountered by some families. There was at the start some mapping of need, but no specialist teacher or TAs and as a result no interventions, and a high proportion of undiagnosed SEN, which appears to fit in with the philosophy of Dr Hirst. However, there is also plenty of expensive external consultancy to steer the school.
What is clear is that the school is not popular with parents, with just 18 families choosing to apply to the school’s 30 places, with another four Local Authority Allocations, second lowest take up in Folkestone.
An exceptional Ofsted Inspection took place in December, triggered by concerns raised from an informal visit from an HMI. In the end the outcome was broadly satisfactory, with staff still settling in to the change of regime, although Ofsted confirms the large turnover of staff, for just 147 pupils.
