Day of Shame for Sheffield City Council (Lydgate)

[Jess 10]

Go for it. We could do with some independent minds on the council.

[max 13]

There are no rules for individuals handing out leaflets. As long as they are not libellous you're pretty free to do as you wish.

 

Do remember though, that if this is about Lydgate School, put in that it was the Lib Dems who promised that all children would be accommodated knowing this to be untrue. There are a finite amount of places in each school and the Lib Dems knew that this would be exceeded.

 

Putting extra places in at Lydgate would have meant redundancy for teachers at the other schools which had spare places, such as Westways.

 

Decisions such as this are hard, the Lib Dems failed consistently to make any decisions and so were chucked out of the Town Hall after a short period in power.

[Carynne 10]

Originally posted by "maxt"

 

There are no rules for individuals handing out leaflets. As long as they are not libellous you're pretty free to do as you wish.

 

Do remember though, that if this is about Lydgate School, put in that it was the Lib Dems who promised that all children would be accommodated knowing this to be untrue. There are a finite amount of places in each school and the Lib Dems knew that this would be exceeded.

 

Putting extra places in at Lydgate would have meant redundancy for teachers at the other schools which had spare places, such as Westways.

 

Decisions such as this are hard, the Lib Dems failed consistently to make any decisions and so were chucked out of the Town Hall after a short period in power.

 

All of this may be true, but is pretty much irrelevant to the parents involved. The fact is that they got a promise and acted on that. There is clearly a huge difference between simply hoping that something might happen, and planning your life based on a firm promise. Whoever gave the promise, the responsibility for not carrying out the actions that would have allowed the promse to be kept (ie. to manage the numbers properly according to the LEA's own plan) is the LEA and the current council. Most importantly, the responsibility for the absolutely shameful way in which these parents have been treated following this bungle clearly lies with Labour. Given a choice between incompetent politicians, I hope that Labour get what they deserve in the elections today.

[Carynne 10]

Good luck to all those parents involved in this bungle by the LEA. Appeals and court in two weeks - I watch with interest.

[Guest Amazed14]

Yes this will be truly fascinating. I was shown a secret letter send last week from the LEA to the headmistress of Lydgate infants admonishing her that under no circumstances should the school be supportive of these parents, and the the only people who should deal with it are the LEA.

[Chris 10]

Typical LEA response - trying to do anything they can that means they come out of the other end of this mess unscathed.

[ShefEducation 10]

Originally posted by "Amazed14"

 

I was shown a secret letter send last week from the LEA to the headmistress of Lydgate infants admonishing her that under no circumstances should the school be supportive of these parents, and the the only people who should deal with it are the LEA.

 

Astounding stuff. Hope some heads roll at the end of this all. Pay yer tax, and get abused by a bunch of bumbling self serving cynics.

[ostercy 10]

Maybe it would be worth someone sending this story to Private Eye?

[LabHonesty 10]

Originally posted by "Amazed14"

 

Yes this will be truly fascinating. I was shown a secret letter send last week from the LEA to the headmistress of Lydgate infants admonishing her that under no circumstances should the school be supportive of these parents, and the the only people who should deal with it are the LEA.

 

The appeal board are going to be considering this issue (19th and 20th of this month I believe). I only hope they put there thinking caps on and try to find some way out of this mess, and show compassion for the parents and children involved. It really reflects very badly on Education management in our city (and many of the affected parents are newcomers to Sheffield) and will taint relations between parents and the LEA for years top come if this gets dragged through the courts.

 

Unfortunately I suspect no heads will roll.

[SheffieldLady3 10]

Thank you to all the kind people who have been so supportive. There are so many children involved in this bumbling inept episode that the appeals are running over two days.

 

We had recently moved to Sheffield when we applied for a school place. We were renting a property at that time and are continuing to rent the same property. We were advised by the LEA that Lydgate Infants had available spaces, as did Hallam school. We were clearly concerned that transfer to Lydgate Junior might be problematical, and enquired about this. We were told by the acting headteacher at Lydgate Infants that places at the Junior School were guaranteed for all children in this school year including children out of catchment, and that there was a written agreement confirming this. This was widely understood to be the case, and was reiterated at parent’s meetings. We were also in receipt of the written public statement from the LEA and governors confirming this promise. This guarantee was also confirmed by direct telephone call to a member of the primary admissions team at the LEA. All other affected parents were aware of this promise. We could not possibly have been expected to understand the verbal and written information provided as anything other than a firm promise. This promise clearly superceded all information in the school prospectus, and according to the public statement was not predicated on anything else.

 

We would NEVER had accepted this place had we known that this promise would not be upheld. We could alternatively have moved to a different rented property in the catchment area while awaiting house purchase, but were told that there was no reason to do this because of the written agreement. In fact, we would probably have decided to leave Sheffield altogether.

 

At no time prior to February 2003 did we receive any information to suggest that a continued place at Lydgate Infants/Junior would not be available.

 

As the Director of Education was a signatory to the LEA statement, we viewed it as the definitive position on the transfer promise. The statement contains the assurance that “..all pupils in Lydgate Infant School current Year 2, Year 1 and Reception and those in Reception in the year beginning September 2000 to progress to Lydgate Junior School, if parents and carers so choose.”

 

Projected admission numbers for the two schools were illustrated in the Public Statement, endorsed by the Director of Education. The promise was NOT predicated on these admission numbers, and parents could not be expected to keep track of these internal arrangements. The LEA has patently failed to carry out their duty to deal appropriately with the mismatch in admission numbers, and it is not clear why our child should be punished for this.

 

The public statement from the LEA was recirculated to all parents six months after it was originally produced, and this reinforced the understanding of involved parents.

 

We have made a number of other important decisions based on the assurances given, including our choice of home (details given)

 

The LEA and its representatives have clearly grossly mismanaged the transfer process between the schools, and their communication with parents has not been appropriate. Parents were entirely justified in forming a reasonable expectation that their children would progress to the linked junior school.

 

We have yet to receive any apology or explanation.

[gtx958 10]

Judging by what u say it looks like a fine example of councillors extremely confident of their position in that they will never be voted out by the electorate. They have been (as a Party) in power too long. It can happen to any party which is in power too long. Power corrupts etc...

[max 13]

Originally posted by "gtx958"

 

Judging by what u say it looks like a fine example of councillors extremely confident of their position in that they will never be voted out by the electorate. They have been (as a Party) in power too long. It can happen to any party which is in power too long. Power corrupts etc...

 

You think 13 months is too long for a party to be in power? What do you suggest a week at a time?