I believe the term ‘collateral damage’ used by politicians to dehumanise war-time civilian casualties is entirely appropriate for such victims of schools without a proper moral compass.
Invicta Grammar, as an academy technically directly accountable to Department for Education through the SE Regional Schools Commissioner, should have been dealt with equally firmly. I challenged the DfE on the matter, but was told it would be up to case law to determine the matter, and there the matter rested until I was contacted by St Olave’s parents and advised them to take legal advice.
Since my exposure of the issue, numbers of students leaving after Year 12 in Kent and Medway grammar schools dropped sharply for 2017, the St Olave’s case showing it had not been widely accepted elsewhere. I am confident it was also happening in non-selective schools, although this is impossible to pin down using census data (my technique before students started contacting me individually), as many students would be leaving anyway at the end of Year 12, after following one-year courses.
I have spoken and corresponded with many of the Invicta Grammar victims of the collateral damage as Invicta relentlessly pursued its target of excellence for its A Level grades, featured in all its literature. You will find some of their testimonies as comments at the foot of the original article. The fact that it has also has one of lowest staying on levels into the Sixth Form of any grammar school in Kent is another indicator that all is not well.
There is of course also a wider issue, the overall lack of accountability to the Regional Schools Commissioner and DfE. These argue that Ofsted and academic performance are sufficient to monitor most issues, but failures such as this and other exclusion and Home Education matters, financial irregularities, meltdown between Ofsted, or in the large gaps that exist between checks for new academies or change of ownership, the negative consequences of what I call Tough Love – with its own built in collateral damage, etc, etc, show they are not!
Try my articles on Lilac Sky, Turner Schools, Oasis Isle of Sheppey Academy, SchoolsCompany, Holcombe Grammar School, the Williamson Trust, Invicta Grammar, Ebbsfleet Academy, Failure to provide appropriate non-selective provision in Tunbridge Wells, Medway UTC, Knole Academy, Swale Academies Trust, to see too many failures to take action. Please note that several of these items have links to multiple articles as stories unfold.
