Fears allayed on school link
AN ALLIANCE between the Minster School, Southwell, and Magnus School, Newark, would help both to improve, according to the chairman of governors of the Minster School.
Mr Nigel Turner told Southwell Town Council the alliance would increase professional development opportunities for staff at the Minster School, which would help attract and retain staff for longer and help the school’s capacity to improve and reach an outstanding Ofsted rating.
He said the proposal to form a National Challenge Trust between the schools was unlikely to mean resources such as money, time, and leadership would be taken away from the Southwell school.
He said the Minster School would be monitored throughout to ensure it continued to improve.
Under the proposal, staff from Southwell would advise those at the Magnus to help it out of special measures. The Minster’s head, Mr Phil Blinston, would be executive head of both schools.
Mr Turner said: “The ethos of the Minster School and the Magnus School is such that if we can help others we should help others. If in three years we can help the Magnus School and, at the same time, improve our own than that is something we should do.”
Town councillor Mr Roger Dobson, a teacher for 40 years, was concerned that teachers in Southwell would be overstretched by the extra responsibility.
Mr Brendan Haigh did not think the challenge trust was the right solution to help the Magnus School.
He said: “I don’t think people in this town really realise how fortunate we are when compared to Newark to have the educational facility we have.
“I feel desperately sorry in many ways for parents and children in Newark who have been let down for decades by the county council and the government. It has had very special problems because of catchment area and special needs requirements and the whole education system in Newark has been woefully underfunded.
“What I fear is that this trust is a way of trying to improve eduction in Newark on the cheap. Newark needs millions and millions of pounds of investment.
“The Newark catchment area is very different from the Minster’s with very different needs of children. Wouldn’t it be better to just find the money to reorganise education in Newark?”
Mrs Beryl Rimmer, a former teacher and Ofsted inspector, said one of the reasons the Minster was a good school was because it was in a good catchment area.
She was concerned the link could create a good Ofsted report for the school without students’ standards and progress levels improving a great deal
She said: “I would hope the reasons for doing this are to do with the quality of education of the children, not for the benefits of the organisation.”
Mr Turner said staff employed as part of the trust would create more staffing hours and the move would only affect management level staff who spent less time with students.
He said: “The school is going to move from good with outstanding qualities in its Ofsted to outstanding in all aspects, not just special education and pastoral care. so the benefits to your child would be a better education.
“The main reason we are doing this is to improve the education capabilities of the school.”
