School placed in special measures (From Bicester Advertiser)

I thought our sons troubles at this school were just because he has a learning difficulties, but now not so sure. What I do know us that there are some brilliant teachers there who work really hard and long hours (having received emails at nearly midnight from one in particular), but there are a lot who just don't seem to care. Ultimately this is a leadership issue and whatever angle you view it from, to take the helm of a school that was receiving awards two years ago and steer it to this outcome is very poor.

It seems the current incumbent has taken a lot of flack for a school that was already on the slide down. Along with this report it should also be noted that Ofsted are marking all schools more critically these days and that most schools are being downgraded in light of these tougher benchmarks. Also County seemed to have cleaned their hands of this schools many years ago, and instead prefer to throw their weight behind the other school in this area.
I feel it unfair that all of this blame be put on one mans shoulders when in fact many are too blame, including those parents who openly defy the school, and do not support it, and instead criticise the establishment rather than accept that their children are also part of the problem.

This school is a joke! i have never been so angry about a secondary school so much!
They concentrate more on themselves, instead of the students, the bullying is horrendous,the teaching is diabolical,as for the stupid petty rules like the colour code? what the hell does it matter what colour my child's coat and bag are?

'Sorry SAID name you cant come in, as the bag you are carrying contains another colour therefor this messes up and ruins you're education please go home :/'

If i had a pound, for every agree i have had with other family's id be rich!
As for parents.. defying the school!?? If they think they're wrong! and 99.9% of the time the school is... then **** right they should stand there ground! look at the INFAMOUS School of BCC!

We have a slushy machine woopy doo dar :/

I hear some kids get bullied that bad, the teachers dont do sweet sod all! and let it continue, some children there are so scared they'd rather eat outside in the rain or cold just to get away...


im so glad my child is leaving soon and actually has a better chance of an Education at a well higher standard school, then a shambled one!

and for all those whose children stay there, i really hope things fall into place :D

Sounds worse then Grange Hill >_<

Perhaps they should make another tv series based on this school!.

And for blaming the kids and parents yeah ok!
now try and find another excuse out of the book of lame and desperate excuses for why the school is going to ****!

do you honestly think that bullies and students that cba would complain about how the school is being ran! Ran to the ground that is!

think about it...

How anyone can even begin to defend what has just happened at this school is beyond me. I personally have had to move my daughter to a school in another town because of the complete lack of decency & respect shown by thethe school. I am currently a member of a group on facebook called 'save our students (BCC)' as are more than 550 others, the vast majority of the group have had experiences just like the one of A.Childs.Dad, written complaints to governors get completely ignored, kids are repeatedly excluded for the most ridiculous reasons and not even let through the gates in the morning if they dare to do much more than just breathe. As for the head teacher who refuses to see parents? That's not leadership! How the head and deputy head can bring themselves to even get out of bed in the morning knowing that they have destroyed a local school and a whole community's faith in the education system is beyond me. The whole thing shows a complete lack of decency & respect. The teachers, pupils and parents deserve better and i hope this is the beginning of getting it fixed.

standingupforwhatsri
ght wrote:
How anyone can even begin to defend what has just happened at this school is beyond me. I personally have had to move my daughter to a school in another town because of the complete lack of decency &amp; respect shown by thethe school. I am currently a member of a group on facebook called 'save our students (BCC)' as are more than 550 others, the vast majority of the group have had experiences just like the one of A.Childs.Dad, written complaints to governors get completely ignored, kids are repeatedly excluded for the most ridiculous reasons and not even let through the gates in the morning if they dare to do much more than just breathe. As for the head teacher who refuses to see parents? That's not leadership! How the head and deputy head can bring themselves to even get out of bed in the morning knowing that they have destroyed a local school and a whole community's faith in the education system is beyond me. The whole thing shows a complete lack of decency &amp; respect. The teachers, pupils and parents deserve better and i hope this is the beginning of getting it fixed.

Nice!

standingupforwhatsri
ght wrote:
How anyone can even begin to defend what has just happened at this school is beyond me. I personally have had to move my daughter to a school in another town because of the complete lack of decency &amp; respect shown by thethe school. I am currently a member of a group on facebook called 'save our students (BCC)' as are more than 550 others, the vast majority of the group have had experiences just like the one of A.Childs.Dad, written complaints to governors get completely ignored, kids are repeatedly excluded for the most ridiculous reasons and not even let through the gates in the morning if they dare to do much more than just breathe. As for the head teacher who refuses to see parents? That's not leadership! How the head and deputy head can bring themselves to even get out of bed in the morning knowing that they have destroyed a local school and a whole community's faith in the education system is beyond me. The whole thing shows a complete lack of decency &amp; respect. The teachers, pupils and parents deserve better and i hope this is the beginning of getting it fixed.

NICE!

I'm waiting to discover which school my son is going to. This news makes me sick with worry, as we live in catchment for BCC so the chances are this is where he is heading.

What on earth is going on??? We've attended Open Day for 2 years now and each time we are told how much progress the school is making, but clearly Ofsted have other views.

There are two Secondary's in Bicester - one is "Oustanding", the other is "Inadequate". I would like to see the media look into this. How can one be regarded as the best, and the other the worst? What has happened???

And what are the parents supposed to do? Are we all supposed to move into the other side of Bicester if we want our children to have a decent education???

Cooper gets a multi-million pound new 6th form, BCC looks like a dump quite frankly.

I have to say I am concerned to read some of the comments above from some of the parents - it seems as though the new leadership have tried to introduce strict standards of dress and behavior and this has upset some people - I don't see this as a problem, in fact I would expect this from a good school. Disappointing to see some parents can't cope with this.

I hope your lucky enough to get the school that you want so your child doesn't have to suffer like ours did. The uniform thing might sound pathetic but until you live through it you don't realise what they put the kids through. It has just turned into a circus where children are excluded for the colour of their SOCKS and put in the ILA with other classes because there are so many teachers signed off with stress and they don't do supply teachers so your child could be one of 50 (sometimes more) children of varying ages stuck in a room full of computers with only 2 members of staff to supervise. My daughter didn't have an english lesson for more than 6 months in year 7. You couldn't make this stuff up! Join the facebook group & talk to the people who are living with this train wreck everyday, ask questions and make an informed decision. There are some fantastic teachers at the school but they are under a massive amount of stress. I truly do wish you the best of luck

Sid Snakey wrote:
I'm waiting to discover which school my son is going to. This news makes me sick with worry, as we live in catchment for BCC so the chances are this is where he is heading.

What on earth is going on??? We've attended Open Day for 2 years now and each time we are told how much progress the school is making, but clearly Ofsted have other views.

There are two Secondary's in Bicester - one is &quot;Oustanding", the other is "Inadequate". I would like to see the media look into this. How can one be regarded as the best, and the other the worst? What has happened???

And what are the parents supposed to do? Are we all supposed to move into the other side of Bicester if we want our children to have a decent education???

Cooper gets a multi-million pound new 6th form, BCC looks like a dump quite frankly.

I have to say I am concerned to read some of the comments above from some of the parents - it seems as though the new leadership have tried to introduce strict standards of dress and behavior and this has upset some people - I don't see this as a problem, in fact I would expect this from a good school. Disappointing to see some parents can't cope with this.

strict standards of dress and behaviour and this has upset some people.............. not allowing a child into school because they have a logo on a black coat is not us parents not supporting the school you try buying a totally black coat that your child will wear, I have no problem with the dress code of the uniform but a school that allows people to wear trainers instead of shoes then isolates them for a coat with a small motif is having a laugh, and the behaviour code....... that is laughable the only time they enforce that is when the bullied daily child stands up for themselves for retaliates then they are given detention and excluded but the people who persecute them are left to do what they like

Sid snakey.............
oh where oh where do I begin ?

" I don't see this as a problem, in fact I would expect this from a good school. Disappointing to see some parents can't cope with this."

wait till your child comes home every day crying because when they have gone to a teacher the teacher has said oh not again or just ignore it, despite the fact that that child has had THEIR work book removed from the teachers desk in class by some of the children the pages ripped out and then put in a puddle........... action to children who did this? nothing action to child who is upset cause everyone is laughing at them cause they are upset to be removed from lessons and put in ILA
well if you find this acceptable and can cope with then then I feel sorry for your children as you see this as acceptable behaviour

AnoneMouse114 wrote:
It seems the current incumbent has taken a lot of flack for a school that was already on the slide down. Along with this report it should also be noted that Ofsted are marking all schools more critically these days and that most schools are being downgraded in light of these tougher benchmarks. Also County seemed to have cleaned their hands of this schools many years ago, and instead prefer to throw their weight behind the other school in this area.
I feel it unfair that all of this blame be put on one mans shoulders when in fact many are too blame, including those parents who openly defy the school, and do not support it, and instead criticise the establishment rather than accept that their children are also part of the problem.

you are seriously having a laugh cause you can not be so stupid as to be serious, do you actually have a child that attends BCC?????

I have repeatedly been to the school with regards to bullying, some of the lame excuses I have heard them tell my children is
"they are moving soon"
"go and tell a teacher they will deal with it" well that is laughable, teachers attitudes are oh not again or just ignore it, even having meetings with welfare and form leaders does not solve the problem and then when you say I am thinking of moving them to another school and the reply is
"yes thats the best solution as nothing more can be done here" and do not get me started on the year 11 classes, removed from lessons 2 days before an exam to learn what they've not learnt yet, new teaching coming in half way through year to tell them they've learnt wrong stuff
you make your concerns known and you write to the governing body as you being a reasonable person follow the schools complaint procedure, and the governing body do ................... absolutely zilch they don't even acknowledge your letter and you wonder why we go to OCC and remove our children... anyone moving up this year I truly hope that by us standing up for OUR children that your children get a decent education

AnoneMouse114.. the OFSTED report is there in Black and White! You can point the finger where ever you like but your comment in light of the recent official report just proves what all of us parents have been desperately trying to do something about... The school is in serious denial! Why on earth would any parent stand up for a school that fails to educate and support our children. A school that in fact is distressing our children to be at. While you all keep pointing that finger of blame elsewhere you will never address the real problem which is quite clearly and without a shadow of a doubt in the hands of the people that are in charge of the school. How dare you try and blame caring parents and their traumatised children for standing up and believing in a better education for their child in an environment that is safe and nurturing. I have also applied to transfer my child from BCC and she is only in year 7! The report was the last straw after last week her best friend who is bullied so badly (and is now also leaving as a direct result of this) was unable to sit down inside to have her lunch so they both had to sit outside on a bench in the snow to eat their lunches and were repeatedly hit in the face with snowballs whilst doing so... What happened?? Nothing! Just another typical day at BCC.

To Sneaky Sid I desperately tried to get my daughter into Cooper, I took it all the way, appeal hearings etc but with no success. Cooper school is inundated with applications and unless there is a sibling there or you live in the catchment area you have no chance whatsoever of getting a child into that school. I think it is disgusting that we have one school in Bicester that is "outstanding" according to OFSTED and another "inadequate". Ever since I can remember there has always been a clear divide between the schools but this is now unexceptable. Why should us parents who live in this catchment area have to play the postcode lottery and except a below sub standard education for our children where the bullying makes the likes of Grange Hill look like a walk in the park.

All these measures of discipline that are talked about are all in the wrong places punishing the children who are already distressed and allowing more serious behaviours which need to be addressed to go unpunished. Whatever background a child goes to makes no difference on the way they should be expected to conduct themselves at school. It's certainly not my child's problem if they are having "troubles at home". Every child deserves to be educated in a school where they feel safe and supported as I said. There is no excuse for anything less as our experiences as we grow are ultimately what define us as adults so the sooner the heads of the school man up and take responsibility for this the better. What more important job can there be then the responsibility of moulding a child and their future, nurturing them and encouraging them so they can be the best they can?? Are you doing this BCC??

NO!

Very well said Disgusted parent. The numbers are dropping weekly at BCC while Cooper is over subscribed. It must be putting a massive strain on the other local schools. There is no way the finger could be pointed at the parent or the children. Bottom line is the leaders (i use the term very losely) have failed this school and need to be held responsible!

I have a child at this school and they have experianced the unfairness of the senior management.in their first few months my child had an asthma attack on the way to school, this left them 2 mins late through the gate, still on time for lessons mind. For this they received a 20 min detention. On another occassion the same child wore their pe kit in, as requested by teacher, but forgot to pick up their regular shoes for after pe. Was the child given a warning to be more careful or home called to bring in the shoes? No they were put in isolation for the rest of the day because there was nothing to borrow out of lost property!!!As a parent this feels more like an a few adults on a power trip than trying to instill good values and decent behaviour into our children. My child is a good kid who does not cause trouble and who works hard, completing all of their homework. If any other business failed as badly as BCC the management would have the good grace to leave or they would be fired. Why are the senior leaders being allowed to remain?

I have to say that the school has been nothing but supportive when my son was bullied. We went to the head of year and they phoned us immediately and got to the root cause of the problem. Ofsted are now becoming more strict when grading schools and the Government are now trying to push schools into becoming academies. I'm not saying that there aren't problems within this school. Lessons where the children spend time in the ILA rather than being taught by supply teachers etc. It seems if your child is bright and self motivated- fine. But if they have special needs or require support in other ways then this school needs retrain staff, assess, evaluate and sort out their planning for more productive and interesting lessons not keep plodding on in the way they have been!! This school needs to pull it's socks up big time!! maybe it will now get the help it needs!! ;-/

Senior management that's a joke!! 18 months of bullying and intimidation at that place..... Meeting after meeting promising things have been sorted. When my child finally retaliated I get a phone call telling me its unacceptable and that he was to be punished...... Double standards! What's heart breaking is when your child tells u that they would rather KILL themselves than go back to that place...... The so called SLT have no respect for the parents or the children even for some of the teachers. I've moved my son to a school where he now feels safe...... In the short time he's been there he's back to being a happy confident boy again. When I have to apply for secondary school for my girl it will definetley not be BCC as long as the current head and deputy are there!! Things have to change drastically at that school or future pupils don't stand a chance if a decent education x

If a reporter or the editor of the oxford times would like to read any more horror stories about BCC please feel free to join save our students(bcc) on face book........what's written above is just a brief account of what's gone on x

Want justice for our kids wrote:
If a reporter or the editor of the oxford times would like to read any more horror stories about BCC please feel free to join save our students(bcc) on face book........what's written above is just a brief account of what's gone on x

will willing forward the oxford mail the letters I wrote complaining to the school governors and ofsted

To all those parents that think moving their children to Cooper from BCC will solve their problems I have news for you. Wait until Cooper gets inspected under the new standards and looses its outstanding status and understand that the Governor who introduced changes to BCC is now a Governor at Cooper.
Also do you really want your daughter being made to wear a uniform that looks as though she is out on the pull.

Bicester S wrote:
To all those parents that think moving their children to Cooper from BCC will solve their problems I have news for you. Wait until Cooper gets inspected under the new standards and looses its outstanding status and understand that the Governor who introduced changes to BCC is now a Governor at Cooper.
Also do you really want your daughter being made to wear a uniform that looks as though she is out on the pull.

I eagerly await Gosford and Coopers Ofsted inspections you know when I moved my daughter to Gosford, not only did we meet the house master but also the deputy head and the head who introduced themselves, on our next visit again the deputy head met with us, trying to get to meet Mr Clarke is like trying to get blood out of a stone, even when specifically asking for him you still don't get to see him... and Hollis well all he is interested in is belittling and bully boy tactics, he doesn't listen to a word you say
As for the uniform since when has a jacket shirt tie and skirt/troussers been the uniform of someone on the pull? Cooper girls where the same skirts as BCC girls

Clearly Bicester S you don't have a child at BCC as you aren't worried by the report...
Cooper report on quality of teaching
The quality of teaching is good. While a few lessons observed during the inspection were outstanding and many were good,
BCC got
The quality of teaching is inadequate over time and too much learning is not effective enough to help students progress.....
somehow can't see it dropping from good and outstanding to inadequate really can you?

Bicester S wrote:
To all those parents that think moving their children to Cooper from BCC will solve their problems I have news for you. Wait until Cooper gets inspected under the new standards and looses its outstanding status and understand that the Governor who introduced changes to BCC is now a Governor at Cooper.
Also do you really want your daughter being made to wear a uniform that looks as though she is out on the pull.

Maybe that governor could see it coming & couldn't do anything about it? Maybe he found it impossible to put up with some of the other governors and the SLT? Even if Cooper are graded satisfactory they are still a million miles away from the hell hole which is BCC. It amazes me that you continue to defend the school known as Bicester Concentration Camp. As for the uniform, what a very strange comment to make. Can i remind you that the students are all between the ages of 11 & 16 and therefore minors. I'm not sure i've ever been out on a Saturday night and thought 'oh look at her in her blazer, shirt & tie, she must be on the pull.' Delusional to say the least

I used to teach at BCC for a term and on the whole found it a horrid experience. The disciplinary procedure at the school didn't work - the same kids would kick off every day and would be found in the hall after school, sent there from a range of subject teachers. There was far too much minor disruption compared to similar comprehensives and SLT were useless. I was an NQT and therefore expected classes to be worse behaved than being taught by experienced staff. I was not blameless and made mistakes in the job with discipline. This is to be expected in most teachers' first jobs and it was certainly an eye-opener. A couple of times SLT were informed about incidents in the classroom and did nothing about it, which meant kids weren't disciplined effectively.
NQTs are supposed to be supported and unfortunately I wasn't. The two male members of SLT were ineffective, with the female member of SLT being the only one who seemed to care.
The best thing for BCC would be to change the senior leadership team, maybe even appoint the female SLT member as headteacher permanently as she is very good at her job. The head once shouted at a staff member in staff briefing because this teacher didn't agree with the head. The teacher promptly put notice in the same week and left the same term (end of summer term). There are other things the head has done which I'm sure if OCC had record of, would mean he would be gone. Of course the governors have backed him fully (god knows why) and Michael Waine was the only member to predict a bad OFSTED and he left the board of governors for Cooper (I reckon he was pressured to leave the board)
BCC appointed a good number of NQTs last year which is cheap and not necessarily in the school's best interests. The turnover from September 2011-July 2012 was nearly 60% with regards to teaching staff and around 50% the year before. A lot of first-rate teachers left, including a couple at Christmas.
I would go back to BCC if the leadership changed, but we'll see. If the head survives, the school will improve despite him being there.
Anyone who is finding blame with others for the mess that is BCC is in the wrong I'm afraid and the blame lies with the head and the other male member of SLT.

Well said John and thank you for standing up :)

Well I left the school without being given an opportunity to interview for the full-time post - it's a long story and indicative of the attitude of the head. All I'll say is it's not the environment a NQT would want to work in (especially if they were experiencing problems), as the support structure was lacking.
The staff and students deserve much better - there is an air of disrespect from some of SLT and it rubs off on the pupils, which hinders lessons, the environment of the school and staff morale.

I would agree with the person who said that some parents have to take the blame. Some of them do as well, and their kids' behaviour is a result of lack of parental involvement in their education, culminating in abusing teachers when they phone home about the child's disruptive behaviour.
On the whole, parents are shocked and you see an improvement in the child's behaviour, but with some, the parent blames everything and everyone bar their darling angel!
BCC has a poor disciplinary procedure for students, which means the same kids ruin lessons and bully pupils. Kids these days aren't afraid of the consequences of their actions because there are no sufficient punishments for a lot of them.

standingupforwhatsri
ght wrote:
How anyone can even begin to defend what has just happened at this school is beyond me. I personally have had to move my daughter to a school in another town because of the complete lack of decency &amp; respect shown by thethe school. I am currently a member of a group on facebook called 'save our students (BCC)' as are more than 550 others, the vast majority of the group have had experiences just like the one of A.Childs.Dad, written complaints to governors get completely ignored, kids are repeatedly excluded for the most ridiculous reasons and not even let through the gates in the morning if they dare to do much more than just breathe. As for the head teacher who refuses to see parents? That's not leadership! How the head and deputy head can bring themselves to even get out of bed in the morning knowing that they have destroyed a local school and a whole community's faith in the education system is beyond me. The whole thing shows a complete lack of decency &amp; respect. The teachers, pupils and parents deserve better and i hope this is the beginning of getting it fixed.

Vast majority of 550 have had same issue, when in reality only about 20-25 talk, the rest is made up of some parents, some current pupils, ex pupils, grandparents, people who have never been to BCC or have kids there.
When someone does post a good comment about BCC or praises them they get berated for it and their comments get removed.
The group admin even mailed everyone and asked them to fill out a bad ofsted parent survey, whether they were a parent of not.
Everyone has their own good/bad points and frankly there are two sides to every story.

notoobullying wrote:

standingupforwhatsri ght wrote: How anyone can even begin to defend what has just happened at this school is beyond me. I personally have had to move my daughter to a school in another town because of the complete lack of decency &amp; respect shown by thethe school. I am currently a member of a group on facebook called 'save our students (BCC)' as are more than 550 others, the vast majority of the group have had experiences just like the one of A.Childs.Dad, written complaints to governors get completely ignored, kids are repeatedly excluded for the most ridiculous reasons and not even let through the gates in the morning if they dare to do much more than just breathe. As for the head teacher who refuses to see parents? That's not leadership! How the head and deputy head can bring themselves to even get out of bed in the morning knowing that they have destroyed a local school and a whole community's faith in the education system is beyond me. The whole thing shows a complete lack of decency &amp; respect. The teachers, pupils and parents deserve better and i hope this is the beginning of getting it fixed.

Vast majority of 550 have had same issue, when in reality only about 20-25 talk, the rest is made up of some parents, some current pupils, ex pupils, grandparents, people who have never been to BCC or have kids there. When someone does post a good comment about BCC or praises them they get berated for it and their comments get removed. The group admin even mailed everyone and asked them to fill out a bad ofsted parent survey, whether they were a parent of not. Everyone has their own good/bad points and frankly there are two sides to every story.

If this is true then this sounds like a bad case of Facebook bullying and the group should be reported.

Your right, there are 2 sides. Admin emailed members a link to the parent view site of OFSTED but did not encourage comments either way. The concern for the school has swept the community and people have really pulled together, the success of a local school doesn't only concern the pupils, parents and staff of the moment but a much wider group who have offered support to the families who have & are still suffering. Any comments which were removed by admin were removed as requested by a person 'monitoring' the group on behalf of the school. Posts such as cctv being placed in the girls toilets & such like. Admin agreed and removed them. Each member of the group has the right to add and remove their own comments. Lots of people are understandably worried about being 'active' in the group as they worry about repercussions on their children if they do speak out. Just by being there they are showing support & that in its self is a hugely brave and honourable thing to do.

I absolutely second what standing up for what's right has just said about the face group book. To suggest that we are bullying on there oh the irony.. Not that I expect any of the SLT to understand Irony because the reactions to all the bare faced facts are nothing but stupid and if its wasn't so tragic and be about something which is so important I would be in hysterics at some of the utter tripe I have read here in a desperate attempt to try and defend the school. ... And there was I always thinking that rats always abandoned a sinking ship? Clearly not in this case. As for the comment on the Cooper girls looking like they are on the pull really? Is that all you have in an attempt to slander Cooper? What an utterly stupid unnecessary comment to make.

But isn't it also true that after the initial start of your Facebook group the school offered appointments to all to air their views in a one to one session, Some accepted and some did not. Even some came back with positive comments that were removed as they were positive comments, and they were not on the request of this monitor.
So if the school was having these meetings and there were positive outcomes, why would people feel "scared" in coming forward if there were legitimate issues and this was not just another witch-hunt group?

*facebook group.

Although I am a member of the group it is not my page so I am unable to comment. However I did go to one of those meetings offered by the schooI. I also posted honest feelings about the meeting and thank you for bringing that up because now I can categorically state that not a single thing that was assured to me has transpired.
Also having what I see as a much needed (as you can tell by parents testimonies and OFSTED themselves) support group for parents and pupils where they are actually listened too is anything but a witch hunt although I can see why people in the firing line for this total disaster would like to have people think that and use it as a scape goat which still is not tackling the real problems ... Again!

As far as I'm concerned, the head has had enough time there - has been 2 years and 2 terms. I was there as a trainee teacher and came back 18 months later as an NQT and both times, the staff morale was low, although admittedly much lower the second time. A lot of the best teachers have left. There may be 2 sides to every story, but if most of the best teachers have gone and a significant number of parents have aired negative feedback on ParentView, what other view can one get, other than the head is failing the school?
The 2010 OFSTED report noted that a significantly higher proportion of parents/carers replied to the OFSTED survey than is typically usual? The head had only been there for 2 terms and was in his 3rd term during the inspection, but nothing seems to have changed in 2 years.
I had several parents air their grievances to me whilst I was phoning home, concerning issues that were not due to my phone call home! Obviously I was diplomatic, but a word of warning to anyone who rings the school in the future - all calls are monitored (have been since April 2012).

John, thank you for your honesty and sharing, please note that most of us are in support of the teachers, my sons teachers are excellent just low morale and constantly having to say sorry our hands are tied,
I no longer phone in I email everything so that I have a copy to prove when they argue with what was said, it is very sad that so many teachers left but who would wan to stay where your not respected or supported by your managers. I personally feel really sorry for the teachers that have remained but also so very thankful that they are giving our children some consistency with lessons, however is too late for my son he has had so many different teachers for some subjects with new teachers saying that they've not been taught the right things, then you have them being pulled out of lessons to revise/learn for an exam in two days time, its so unbeliveable its laughable

Anyone who wants to get in touch can do so through the facebook site 'saveof our students (BCC)' or email sosbcc@hotmail.co.uk

standingupforwhatsri
ght wrote:
Anyone who wants to get in touch can do so through the facebook site 'saveof our students (BCC)' or email sosbcc@hotmail.co.uk

Oops.... typo... save our students (BCC) is the facebook group

concernedtat wrote:
John, thank you for your honesty and sharing, please note that most of us are in support of the teachers, my sons teachers are excellent just low morale and constantly having to say sorry our hands are tied,
I no longer phone in I email everything so that I have a copy to prove when they argue with what was said, it is very sad that so many teachers left but who would wan to stay where your not respected or supported by your managers. I personally feel really sorry for the teachers that have remained but also so very thankful that they are giving our children some consistency with lessons, however is too late for my son he has had so many different teachers for some subjects with new teachers saying that they've not been taught the right things, then you have them being pulled out of lessons to revise/learn for an exam in two days time, its so unbeliveable its laughable

In one subject last year, some students had 4 teachers during the year as well as significant time spent in the ILA (independent learning area). That is not good enough, even for a subject that is not considered core. Changing teachers all the time gives no consistency for behaviour or teaching style, which affects child learning massively.

I haven't seen the Ofsted report yet because they haven't published it, and when you ask Ofsted when it will be available they refuse to say.

What is clear though is that BCC has not been up to scratch for some time, and has serious problems. It isn't fair on our children to have two schools which are so very far apart in terms of discipline, behaviour and educational standards, and have educational outcomes that are decided mainly on where they live.

Cooper is massively oversubscribed and we cannot expect people to move house in Bicester (or outside) just to get their kids into a decent secondary school.

BCC desperately needs to be turned round as quickly as possible so that all our kids get a fair chance. It can be done - after all it isn't that long since the Bicester Ad was constantly running stories about how bad Cooper was and how good BCC was. In just a few years Cooper was turned from an ordinary to an outstanding school - BCC now needs to do the same.

Bicester S wrote:
To all those parents that think moving their children to Cooper from BCC will solve their problems I have news for you. Wait until Cooper gets inspected under the new standards and looses its outstanding status and understand that the Governor who introduced changes to BCC is now a Governor at Cooper.
Also do you really want your daughter being made to wear a uniform that looks as though she is out on the pull.

I wouldn't believe everything you read in the Bicester Ad. The governor you are talking about was a governor of both schools, and had been for a long time. He is now chair of governors at Cooper, and felt it was inappropriate to be chair of one while being a governor of the other.

And your comment about the girls' dress code at Cooper says more about yourself than it does about the people wearing it.

p.s. *loses not looses

Severian wrote:
I haven't seen the Ofsted report yet because they haven't published it, and when you ask Ofsted when it will be available they refuse to say.

What is clear though is that BCC has not been up to scratch for some time, and has serious problems. It isn't fair on our children to have two schools which are so very far apart in terms of discipline, behaviour and educational standards, and have educational outcomes that are decided mainly on where they live.

Cooper is massively oversubscribed and we cannot expect people to move house in Bicester (or outside) just to get their kids into a decent secondary school.

BCC desperately needs to be turned round as quickly as possible so that all our kids get a fair chance. It can be done - after all it isn't that long since the Bicester Ad was constantly running stories about how bad Cooper was and how good BCC was. In just a few years Cooper was turned from an ordinary to an outstanding school - BCC now needs to do the same.

The school has the report. They are legally obliged to give you the report on request. If they don't, they are breaking the law. OFSTED's website makes that clear.

I too would like to express my dissatisfaction at the leadership and the way they deal with things at BCC. Approximately 18 months ago I had no choice but to remove my son after just a term at BCC. He went from an enthusiastic little boy who was very excited to start senior school, to a child who had no motivation and was very subdued. In the short time he was there, he had personal items go missing, the classes were noisy and disruptive, with no guidance from teachers, he spent a considerable amount of time in ILA due to staff shortages. He was even reluctant to do his homework as 'there's no point, the teacher doesn't even bother to check it - says 'put your hand up if you've done your homework'
Since changing schools, I have my son back again.
I am most upset that I should have to send my children to an alternative school when we live in close proximity to BCC through no fault of their own. It was absolutely impossible to speak with the head teacher, in the end I removed him, not once did someone from the school contact me to hear my concerns, they just wasn't interested.
We are now two years down the line and it is evident nothing has changed. New leadership is the way forward, our children deserve the right to a decent education.

John D Walker wrote:

Severian wrote:
I haven't seen the Ofsted report yet because they haven't published it, and when you ask Ofsted when it will be available they refuse to say.

What is clear though is that BCC has not been up to scratch for some time, and has serious problems. It isn't fair on our children to have two schools which are so very far apart in terms of discipline, behaviour and educational standards, and have educational outcomes that are decided mainly on where they live.

Cooper is massively oversubscribed and we cannot expect people to move house in Bicester (or outside) just to get their kids into a decent secondary school.

BCC desperately needs to be turned round as quickly as possible so that all our kids get a fair chance. It can be done - after all it isn't that long since the Bicester Ad was constantly running stories about how bad Cooper was and how good BCC was. In just a few years Cooper was turned from an ordinary to an outstanding school - BCC now needs to do the same.

The school has the report. They are legally obliged to give you the report on request. If they don't, they are breaking the law. OFSTED's website makes that clear.

Ofsted told me that once it was published on their website I will have the right to ask for a copy. Until Ofsted publish it the report is not final.

I must admit that I do have my concerns regarding the recent Ofsted inspection/report and am slightly worried regarding the current leadership/SLT of the school, but on the plus side I am extremely pleased with my sons progress in the time that he has been at BCC, his learning and results have exceeded our expectations and he is making extremely good progress in all subjects.
He had a ‘run in’ with a couple of over excited boys a few weeks ago and had to leave school because he was hurt, the matter was dealt with extremely promptly by his head of house and we received a phone call home by 3.30pm the same day detailing what was to happen to the boys concerned and advising that should anything else un towards happen they would be excluding them forthwith!
He also wears a ‘superdry’ jacket to school, which quite clearly has a rather large logo on it, this has never been mentioned to him and he has never been refused entry at the gate. His bag is also brightly coloured and this again has never been an issue?
Whilst I do understand that some parents have had serious issues regarding their children and the running of the school, I believe that we should all be looking forward now to a brighter future and stop dwelling on the past.

I share the sentiment that we can hopefully look forward to a school which rapidly becomes fit for purpose. I am, however, a little perturbed as to how the current senior leaders can move it forward, since they are clearly the ones who took it to the current position. In the Newsletter the 'principal' related the things which have been happening since 'September', but we know that some of these initiatives have been in place for the 12 months prior to that...see the College website. The focus has been on Teaching and Learning for over 12 months, and yet has slid from satisfactory to unsatisfactory. How can this have happened if the current leaders have shared their vision successfully with the staff?
It worries me that the words 'low staff morale' were mentioned in another one of these comments, because a staff which believes in the leadership, and understands the mission work together, and improve!
I challenge the LEA, and the DFE to examine the strength of the leadership team VERY carefully, to see if it does indeed have the capacity to put Bicester Community College back on the educational map for the right reasons. My comment is not made lightly, but based on a comment from the Newsletter which implies that it is not the ideas which are wrong, but merely that the pace of change is not quick enough. I would question whether the leadership team are engaging their staff and giving them clear enough direction, and the time to implement the changes effectively. Change cannot be rushed, but needs embedding....is it too much too soon?If the current 'principal' and his vice principals do not have the breadth and strength of leadership skills required then it is clear that no amount of support from external agencies will help, and new positive strong individuals must be found who can deliver.
The people of Bicester deserve a choice of good schools. Children only have one chance!

I share the sentiment that we can hopefully look forward to a school which rapidly becomes fit for purpose. I am, however, a little perturbed as to how the current senior leaders can move it forward, since they are clearly the ones who took it to the current position. In the Newsletter the 'principal' related the things which have been happening since 'September', but we know that some of these initiatives have been in place for the 12 months prior to that...see the College website. The focus has been on Teaching and Learning for over 12 months, and yet has slid from satisfactory to unsatisfactory. How can this have happened if the current leaders have shared their vision successfully with the staff?
It worries me that the words 'low staff morale' were mentioned in another one of these comments, because a staff which believes in the leadership, and understands the mission work together, and improve!
I challenge the LEA, and the DFE to examine the strength of the leadership team VERY carefully, to see if it does indeed have the capacity to put Bicester Community College back on the educational map for the right reasons. My comment is not made lightly, but based on a comment from the Newsletter which implies that it is not the ideas which are wrong, but merely that the pace of change is not quick enough. I would question whether the leadership team are engaging their staff and giving them clear enough direction, and the time to implement the changes effectively. Change cannot be rushed, but needs embedding....is it too much too soon?If the current 'principal' and his vice principals do not have the breadth and strength of leadership skills required then it is clear that no amount of support from external agencies will help, and new positive strong individuals must be found who can deliver.
The people of Bicester deserve a choice of good schools. Children only have one chance!

Severian you said: "Ofsted told me that once it was published on their website I will have the right to ask for a copy. Until Ofsted publish it the report is not final."
This is not what the Ofsted website says.
In its FAQs it mentions that and I've cut and paste it:
"When will a school's report be available from the school?

A school will receive its report 10 working days after the end of the inspection.

When will a school's report be on the website?

A school's report should normally be published on the Ofsted website within 15 working days from the end of the inspection.

The latest report is not on the site yet. How do I get a copy in the meantime?

Please contact the school, which is required to produce the report on request. If you do not have a child at the school, the school may charge you for photocopying the report."


This makes it quite clear that the school is required to provide the report. Whatever you were told is most likely incorrect information.

I would like to state that although it's good to hear of parents with positive comments about the school, it's far outweighed by the negative experiences of parents and students. This ofstead report was only conducted within the school early December 2012! The inadequacies that are highlighted are not in the past, this is happening in the here and now. So I'm sorry but you can't move on from it! How can you ignore the fact that the leadership of this school has let it decline to this state through bad management! How can you ignore children being bullied out of the school, how can you ignore the arrogance of a head teacher that won't meet with parents who have serious concerns about their childs welfare within the school.? The head and his deputy, the governors and the SLT have had long enough to bring about this decline, it's time for a new positive leadership within the school for it to move forward and become a school Bicester can be proud of.

This is what Ofsted told me in an email on Friday:

"School reports are normally published within 15 working days of the inspection. The publication date may be later due to ongoing Quality Assurance Checks. However, school holidays do not count as working days so if a school inspection report is due to be published during the holidays; it will not be published until the start of the new term.

Once the report has been published you will be able to view it on the Ofsted website or you can approach the school directly and request a copy of the report."

This implied to me that the report is only officially published when it appears on the Ofsted website.

Perhaps Ofsted are just not very efficient at updating their own web pages?

The bottom mark for leadership and management speaks for itself. However, there are other factors that parents (and journalists) need to explore. As Bicester Community College went steadily downhill two bodies could have intervened. Firstly, what was the county council department responsible for education doing to ensure the school raised standards all round. That is a question journalists should put, bearing in mind that Ofsted recently singled out Oxfordshire as being an under-performing education authority. Secondly, what were the Governors doing to monitor and advise. They are the representatives of parents. Minutes of Governors meetings are a public record, so I suggest parents and other concerned parties ask to see these minutes. Don't be put off by claims that they are confidential -- this is not the case. Some governing bodies are packed with people who enjoy the prestige but don't do the job required of them. Finally, there will be no doubt the school has some dedicated and excellent teachers. Maybe they are held back by mediocre management. If so, where should the axe fall?

BCC are happy to send out the Ofsted report, assuming you give them your address. So if anyone wants it who doesn't have it, just e-mail/phone them and you can have the report!

Braganca wrote:
The bottom mark for leadership and management speaks for itself. However, there are other factors that parents (and journalists) need to explore. As Bicester Community College went steadily downhill two bodies could have intervened. Firstly, what was the county council department responsible for education doing to ensure the school raised standards all round. That is a question journalists should put, bearing in mind that Ofsted recently singled out Oxfordshire as being an under-performing education authority. Secondly, what were the Governors doing to monitor and advise. They are the representatives of parents. Minutes of Governors meetings are a public record, so I suggest parents and other concerned parties ask to see these minutes. Don't be put off by claims that they are confidential -- this is not the case. Some governing bodies are packed with people who enjoy the prestige but don't do the job required of them. Finally, there will be no doubt the school has some dedicated and excellent teachers. Maybe they are held back by mediocre management. If so, where should the axe fall?

As I understood it many teachers have left BCC in recent years and there has been a massive influx of new staff. The question that must be asked is why so many teachers chose to leave.

It would be intresting to see what was brushed under the carpet with the prior management team, as their results were not that much diiferent in the two years i looked at 43%!!!! and 55% 5 A*-C. Sounds like this has has gone on for far longer than the current management team. Yes i think OCC/LEA/Governors do have some answering to do.

I also would like to refer to http://www.oxfordmai
l.co.uk/news/8672378
.Education_chief_apo
logises_for_schools_
failings/

Which backs up a previous post about OCC and how bad they are.

notoobullying wrote:
It would be intresting to see what was brushed under the carpet with the prior management team, as their results were not that much diiferent in the two years i looked at 43%!!!! and 55% 5 A*-C. Sounds like this has has gone on for far longer than the current management team. Yes i think OCC/LEA/Governors do have some answering to do.

I also would like to refer to http://www.oxfordmai

l.co.uk/news/8672378

.Education_chief_apo

logises_for_schools_

failings/

Which backs up a previous post about OCC and how bad they are.

I think you'll find that the last three Ofsted reports have placed the school at satisfactory or equivalent (i.e. a score of 3 on a 1 best to 4 worst scale).

Severian wrote:

notoobullying wrote:
It would be intresting to see what was brushed under the carpet with the prior management team, as their results were not that much diiferent in the two years i looked at 43%!!!! and 55% 5 A*-C. Sounds like this has has gone on for far longer than the current management team. Yes i think OCC/LEA/Governors do have some answering to do.

I also would like to refer to http://www.oxfordmai


l.co.uk/news/8672378


.Education_chief_apo


logises_for_schools_


failings/

Which backs up a previous post about OCC and how bad they are.

I think you'll find that the last three Ofsted reports have placed the school at satisfactory or equivalent (i.e. a score of 3 on a 1 best to 4 worst scale).

And I think you will find that Ofsted are marking harsher now
http://www.ofsted.go
v.uk/news/shape-of-s
chool-inspection-201
2-0

I don't think it's appropriate to be blaming the previous management of the school. The current one has been there for 2 years and 2 terms, only half a term away from 3 years!
That is sufficient time to change things and get real improvement. The GCSE/A-Level results are not the be-all and end-all here, as the school was inadequate in all FOUR categories:
1. Achievement of pupils
2. Quality of teaching
3. Behaviour and safety of pupils
4. Leadership and management

Many schools are failed on the fact that only one is inadequate. All four categories are and that suggests failure of the current regime, NOT the old one. None of the categories were even good or 'requires improvement' if the leaked report findings are to be believed. That is a woeful report and unfortunately shows the leaders aren't doing well enough.

Heads have been brought in to change schools and have turned special measures into outstanding in 2 years. 2 and a half years, or even 2 years from the 2010 Ofsted report has turned from satisfactory to
inadequate.

Quite rightly someone has pointed out that there has been a change of OFSTED inspection criteria, and the old 'satisfactory' is now 'requires improvement'.

I also believe that Ofsted intended that a school which was graded 'satisfactory' in consecutive inspections to then be downgraded if a 3rd inspection was only 'satisfactory'.
I'm not sure if this process was applied, but the implication of the report is that things have got worse not stayed the same.
In which case the current SLT and governors have a lot to answer for, not the old head and her leadership team.
Blaming the old head for problems now is not fair because the current team has had 2 and a half years to improve the situation.

Whilst OFSTED are using harsher criteria to judge the schools, the schools are MORE than conversant with them. Indeed this particular school went to the extraordinary lengths of purchasing a copy of 'The perfect OFSTED lesson' for each member of staff (as a Christmas present 2011!). The problem is that since then between 40-45% of the staff have left, so any lessons which were learned by them were lost to the school.

The staff who left will have had the opportunity to fill in an exit questionnaire for the LEA, and so they cannot claim to not know what was happening over the period of the last two years, and I cannot believe that the staff will not have voiced their concerns on that form.

It is also a point that MOST of the experience staff who left over the course of the last 12 months were not leaving for promoted posts, but for lower, or parallel ones; and there were early retirements too. It seems very odd that this should happen, since if the teaching staff feel that they are part of something 'good', then they dig in and work together, not 'jump ship'!

citizensunite wrote:
Whilst OFSTED are using harsher criteria to judge the schools, the schools are MORE than conversant with them. Indeed this particular school went to the extraordinary lengths of purchasing a copy of 'The perfect OFSTED lesson' for each member of staff (as a Christmas present 2011!). The problem is that since then between 40-45% of the staff have left, so any lessons which were learned by them were lost to the school.

The staff who left will have had the opportunity to fill in an exit questionnaire for the LEA, and so they cannot claim to not know what was happening over the period of the last two years, and I cannot believe that the staff will not have voiced their concerns on that form.

It is also a point that MOST of the experience staff who left over the course of the last 12 months were not leaving for promoted posts, but for lower, or parallel ones; and there were early retirements too. It seems very odd that this should happen, since if the teaching staff feel that they are part of something 'good', then they dig in and work together, not 'jump ship'!

Neither the LEA nor BCC gave me an exit questionnaire to fill in. Read into that what you will!

You said you taught for a term looking at an earlier post, seeing as you also mentioned that you didn't get the chance to apply for a full time position which you also stated above.

So by that I am guessing you were some form of cover teacher, and i suspect that seeing as you were a cover you didn't need too as it was known you were leaving due to having a short term contract.

notoobullying wrote:
You said you taught for a term looking at an earlier post, seeing as you also mentioned that you didn't get the chance to apply for a full time position which you also stated above. So by that I am guessing you were some form of cover teacher, and i suspect that seeing as you were a cover you didn't need too as it was known you were leaving due to having a short term contract.

A lot of staff on short term contracts seek permanent positions in the place that they are in at first on a temporary basis. It means nothing other than the point this teacher originally made which is that the school denied him/her the chance of a permanent post - this implies a culture of short term-ism which is not a good leadership style - trust me - I know. You might have missed the implicit message in this one.

Parent12 has hit the nail on the head! There was a post to apply for during my time there but was not given the opportunity to do so, due to reasons outside my control.

It was not like any other school I've been involved with, both good and bad, and there are some fantastic, caring teachers there, who aren't the reason to blame for the mess BCC is currently in.
"Special measures is an emotive label" from the actual news article, actually quoted from the head. Is it me or does that sound like an excuse? He goes on to say that [special measures "will increase the capacity of the college to implement more rapidly the steps required to improve."
So money will be thrown at a problem caused by the current leader, not to fix a problem caused before his arrival.
So again the taxpayer foots the bill for sheer incompetence.

Anon68 wrote:
I must admit that I do have my concerns regarding the recent Ofsted inspection/report and am slightly worried regarding the current leadership/SLT of the school, but on the plus side I am extremely pleased with my sons progress in the time that he has been at BCC, his learning and results have exceeded our expectations and he is making extremely good progress in all subjects. He had a ‘run in’ with a couple of over excited boys a few weeks ago and had to leave school because he was hurt, the matter was dealt with extremely promptly by his head of house and we received a phone call home by 3.30pm the same day detailing what was to happen to the boys concerned and advising that should anything else un towards happen they would be excluding them forthwith! He also wears a ‘superdry’ jacket to school, which quite clearly has a rather large logo on it, this has never been mentioned to him and he has never been refused entry at the gate. His bag is also brightly coloured and this again has never been an issue? Whilst I do understand that some parents have had serious issues regarding their children and the running of the school, I believe that we should all be looking forward now to a brighter future and stop dwelling on the past.

About the facebook 550 (of which I am one):
This group started with a comment and a question to others about whether they had similar concerns for their children who go to this school. Within a week (yes- just one week) a few hundred were registered on the site and bearing witness to what was going on, the vast majority choosing not to remain anonymous, which is incredibly brave considering some were risking exascerbating their children's already painful experiences with unresolved bullying, denied access to eduaction and thwatrted aspirations courtesy of the leaders and governors of this school on whom's watch this is all happening. The ofsted report is a mirror being held up and represents an opportunity that will only be realised if all the lessons from the recent past are learnt and decisive action is visible (not a trait of the current excuse-laiden regime). If the Ofsted mirror is brighter and harsher than before - it is all the better for it.
You will see some ill-thought out and poorly grammatised posts on the facebook 'save our students' site for sure. The reason, as one bad speller pointed out, is that a significant proportion were born and raised in Bicester and went to this school themselves - so maybe there is a history of poor education deep-rooted in the culture of BCC. Every one on that facebook page is coming across as genuinely concerned parents who share the universal aspiration - that is, to have your children do better in life than you did yourself.
Now is not time to move on - it is time to fight - hard for what we know is right.

Sorry Anon68, I didn't intend to quote you. I pressed the wrong button! It was meant as a stand-alone post.

Parent12 wrote:

notoobullying wrote:
You said you taught for a term looking at an earlier post, seeing as you also mentioned that you didn't get the chance to apply for a full time position which you also stated above. So by that I am guessing you were some form of cover teacher, and i suspect that seeing as you were a cover you didn't need too as it was known you were leaving due to having a short term contract.

A lot of staff on short term contracts seek permanent positions in the place that they are in at first on a temporary basis. It means nothing other than the point this teacher originally made which is that the school denied him/her the chance of a permanent post - this implies a culture of short term-ism which is not a good leadership style - trust me - I know. You might have missed the implicit message in this one.

I understand perfectly, but i think you missed my point, he seems to think that there was some reason he was not asked for an exit interview, and i quote.....

"Neither the LEA nor BCC gave me an exit questionnaire to fill in. Read into that what you will!"

The reason being he was on a short term contract and hence his leaving was not a surprise. So why try and make it out that it is something it is not.

So in fact please read thoroughly, as i was actually specifically commenting on why he probably didn't get an exit interview and NOT why he didn't get an interview. Nor had i been commenting on whether short term contracts were good or bad. So trust me - While you think you know, you need to read it properly first.

That'll teach me not to read the whole thread!
Sorry about that.
I would have thought exit questionnaires were always a good idea even if the reason for leaving is perfeclty clear and unrelated to anything good or bad about the school.
Seriously, though, why are we having staff on short term contracts in a school that has staff leaving in droves? Are the teachers being silenced by a lack of stability in their lives?

notobullying - you are spot on about the exit interview. My original comment did contain an error which unfortunately was repeated by another person and has led to the wrong end of the stick!

Parent12 wrote:
That'll teach me not to read the whole thread!
Sorry about that.
I would have thought exit questionnaires were always a good idea even if the reason for leaving is perfeclty clear and unrelated to anything good or bad about the school.
Seriously, though, why are we having staff on short term contracts in a school that has staff leaving in droves? Are the teachers being silenced by a lack of stability in their lives?

Anyone who has ever left a job and had an exit interview/questionna
ire will know better than to say what they actually think - particularly to an overarching employer like OCC which might have a say in your next employment. There's an old adage that you should never burn your bridges, and this is just as true in teaching as any other job.

BCC has serious shortcomings and the SLT has a lot to answer for. They are responsible for some really questionable decisions!
I am at a complete loss why they focus so much on the clothing a child wears. Why do they consider it acceptable to remove a child from their lessons and education because their school bag is the incorrect colour ? Why do they allow gap year students from a US evangelical group (called Reign Ministries) interested in 'disciple-making youth work' to walk around the school at break times and provide 'support and friendship' ? Why did my child have some weeks where 20 - 40% of the school day was spent in the ILA ? Why are parental concerns not dealt with promptly ? Respect is something that has to be earned and the way pupils are treated at the school gate is disrespectful, to say the least. The staff should set a better example.
The best bit about the OFSTED report is that the 'students are polite and welcoming to visitors', such a shame that the same cannot be said of the Head !!

Severian: I do not think that the staff who left in the last year will have been too bothered by being honest in their answers to questions in the exit questionnaire. They were, in the main, more established, well regarded members of staff, and their teaching records up to their point of leaving will speak volumes for them. Thy have all moved on to other posts, some in County, and some out.

These exit questionnaires are also supposed to be confidential. If something is written in confidence, it should not be used against you in the future, because it then assumes that anonymity has been broken and this does no-one any favours.

of course the LEA and OCC knew what was going on, I was very clear of my reasons for withdrawing my daughter from the school and moving her to another, they will have seen all the applications of people leaving
this was my reason
Due to bullying XXXXXX is now on a TAC, working with a councillor, SAFE and the Bicester Hub. As it has been going on for so long and is a group of girls XXXXXX has lost the coping mechanism when these girls interact with her or are partnered with her in class and breaks down. Despite getting the police involved it still continues. XXXXXX has had to put up with it for so long that it has just become a hostile environment for her if these girls are near her, as they seek her out and certain teachers insist on trying to partner XXXXXXX with one of the girls she is constantly get put in ILA due to being so upset, it is now having an impact on her education. The School Welfare team at the last TAC agreed that moving schools would be the best solution as there is nothing they can do.

50% of staff have left in two years - including the schools best teachers and with much experience. Many of those were responsible for BCC achieving its best ever results in its history in 2010.

At this point a new head and deputy head arrived. Just over two years later the school has gone from its best ever results to failing in all areas.

Leadership must be ACCOUNTABLE for failing the children of our town.

I am gobsmacked at how many parents have found themselves in a similar situation to ourselves. I felt alone and lost but now I feel angry to hear how so many more children have been bullied.

We have had three children go through BCC and a daughter currently studying there. Our daughter who has since left was subjected to many years of vile abuse with the school doing sweet FA about it. One time in particular a fellow student smashed our daughters head into a car bonnet but they both found themselves suspended. But to make matters worse upon our daughters return she was placed in ILA to protect her ? I ask you why should the bullied child be put in ILA ?

The school is a joke and as long as the two drips at the top stay there it will continue to be a joke.

Mr Clarke and Mr Hollis need to remove themselves from the school with immediate effect if there is ever to be any significant improvement. The news letter sent home is disgusting, bullet points of positivity after a damming report like that are futile and disrespectful to both parents and students. YOU HAVE FAILED AND ARE CONTINUE TO FAIL.

I would urge as many parents as possible to attend this meeting on Thursday to voice there options and ask for the leadership to stand down and let a new team return BCC to its former glory. I think also it would be prominent to have a reporter from the papers there. We all know the drill the meeting will be full of good ideas and suggestions but end up being empty promises and more failure, which is why it's time for change.

They won't allow a reporter in there...... He will b hiding out the back letting his lackies take the flack....... Governors and SLT will be in groups trying to avoid giving true answers. The place is run like a youth offenders prison except prisoners have better rights!

standingupforwhatsri
ght wrote:
How anyone can even begin to defend what has just happened at this school is beyond me. I personally have had to move my daughter to a school in another town because of the complete lack of decency &amp; respect shown by thethe school. I am currently a member of a group on facebook called 'save our students (BCC)' as are more than 550 others, the vast majority of the group have had experiences just like the one of A.Childs.Dad, written complaints to governors get completely ignored, kids are repeatedly excluded for the most ridiculous reasons and not even let through the gates in the morning if they dare to do much more than just breathe. As for the head teacher who refuses to see parents? That's not leadership! How the head and deputy head can bring themselves to even get out of bed in the morning knowing that they have destroyed a local school and a whole community's faith in the education system is beyond me. The whole thing shows a complete lack of decency &amp; respect. The teachers, pupils and parents deserve better and i hope this is the beginning of getting it fixed.

Here you go again, You ban people on your fb group with children at bcc, for voicing my opinion .your daughter no longer goes there and yet you continue to kick up a fuss, when it actually NOW as nothing AT ALL to do with you. Such a shame you won't be able to attend on Thursday . I know I'll have my say , of that you can be certain, freedom of speech and all that !!!!

Want justice for our kids wrote:
If a reporter or the editor of the oxford times would like to read any more horror stories about BCC please feel free to join save our students(bcc) on face book........what's written above is just a brief account of what's gone on x

But be careful, even parents with a child in the school get banned for speaking my mind, daft really as this person's son is also no longer at the school, plus they delete any comments they don't agree with, so it's a very strange group, run by 2 extremely rude/ignorant people whose's children no longer attend bcc . I'm as disgusted as the next person, the poor excuse for a school wasn't even a contender when we were choosing a secondary school for my son. After school appeals, taking my case to the ombudsman , mp etc etc, he still got dumped here. BUT I attend meetings with the so called head and governors , rather than just hiding behind a odd one sided opinionated fb group, who no longer have children in said school .

Thetruthwillcome wrote:
I am an ex tenant of that prison, although when i was there it was no where near as bad as it is now i fully support the group on facebook as i have family in the school and i am appalled that the arrogance and blatent ignorence of the head teacher and his man bi*ch sidekick by not stepping down shows complete disregard for the education of the pupils and shows the self centred nature by only caring about blaming everyone but themselves, if a teacher didnt do their job properly and behaved the way the top branch monkeys do they would be sacked so why is it they remain in charge there. there needs to be major changes quickly, and while they remain there intent on sweeping the mess under the chewing gum covered carpets the students are being let down. Please i emplore all parents to join the facebook group just to be able to read and share stories, good or bad we want good news just as much as the bad, the public deserves to know exactly what goes on there.

Why would any parent want to join such a one sided fb group, when the 2 main ringleaders( Kizzy n her sidekick) ban anyone with a pulse and an opinion of their own , deleting any posts/comments they don't like, especially when both of their children now attend Gosford . Any positive comments were ALWAYS deleted, it got beyond a joke and I love how people hide behind the group, not me I might add and that's the reason they banned me, how very mature of them NOT !!!!!

The facebook group, made up of 560 people is one-sided in that everyone who posts messages on there wants just one thing and that is a decent education for the pupils of BCC. It is a shame to see divisions among people with the same aims and concerns (Aly - you may have fallen out with these people but surely you share common values when it comes to wanting the best for your children?).
Those fortunate enough to have moved their children out of BCC have a right to comment too - after all they are the ones who have gone through the upheaval and expense in order to make the most powerful statement a parent can make - that of voting with their son's or their daughter's feet.

For anyone who hasn't got a copy the Ofsted report is now available on their website:

http://www.ofsted.go
v.uk/inspection-repo
rts/find-inspection-
report/provider/ELS/
123233/

clearly I must have missed something as I belong to that facebook group and I've not seen good comments removed I have actually posted some myself, only comment I have seen removed is by the person monitoring it for the school, and he removed them himself, I don't see how you say we hide behind the group when real names are used, I have not said anything in that group that I haven't posted to the school or OCC. If it wasn't for those two girls then BCC would still be operating as it was, and so what if they have moved their children they still went ahead and tried to get things changed, instead of it being lots of single parents feeling very isolated and at the end of their wicks with what was happening at that school it became a group just knowing you weren't alone was a great help to me.
I have two children one I have removed from that hell hole and the other sadly too far along in his education to move, but thankfully he will be out of there come June.

I will make it very clear...... Some people were removed from the group for the use of vile disgusting language....... Regardless whether the kids have left now or not is irrelevant......Many parents and kids are still suffering at the hands of the SLT....... Some parents believed they were getting what they wanted from there meetings, now because they haven't they feel the need to have a go at the parents still trying to get what's right for the kids ......... Have your say freedom of speech and all that.

....and this is why the leadership at the College will continue to be poor, because they are very adept at using divide and rule! If all the parents who believe that they are the root cause of the BCC problem then a united front is what is called for. After all it is having the choice of a better education for all of the children of Bicester IN Bicester....not putting them on a bus to go elsewhere, because the facility does not exist for them!
The meeting on Thursday will be key, but it will be stage managed. If you replied on the slip you will have opted for a 'session'. So will the parents have the opportunity to raise their joint concerns in a full forum, or is it to be small groups who are to be indoctrinated into the way forward under the current leadership?
It will certainly be an interesting occasion, and one which shouldn't be missed by any parent with or without concerns, if only to ensure that the full depth of feeling amongst the parents is fully represented.
I would question whether a member of the media would be allowed to attend, unless they sneak in as someone's partner, perhaps a scribe from each group could give a brief outline to them, rather like the leaked report which started all this in the first place!

Parent12 wrote:
The facebook group, made up of 560 people is one-sided in that everyone who posts messages on there wants just one thing and that is a decent education for the pupils of BCC. It is a shame to see divisions among people with the same aims and concerns (Aly - you may have fallen out with these people but surely you share common values when it comes to wanting the best for your children?).
Those fortunate enough to have moved their children out of BCC have a right to comment too - after all they are the ones who have gone through the upheaval and expense in order to make the most powerful statement a parent can make - that of voting with their son's or their daughter's feet.

Yes I do agree that we all want the same thing BUT I didnt fall out with anyone, I only met Kizzy n the others the day the photographer met to take the photo .
Admittedly I do have my own opinion and aired it freely on the group BUT obviously Angie didn't like that n removed me from it, extremely childish n unjust I felt, but I knew one day I would have my say n that day was last night. I had no choice as to where my son started his secondary educations, it wasn't my 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice, unlike many that chose this poor excuse of a school for their child/children's education, I taught tooth n nail , going to the school admissions appeal, where I have it in writing that we were treated unlawfully, so I went to the ombudsman and they thought we had an extremely good case , but unfortunately that wasn't to be either. I even thought about home schooling but felt that I couldn't give up working to support my children and rely on hand outs from the government . Lots of my comments/posts were removed from the group, which i felt was completely wrong, others comments and posts were also removed, I know of about 4 others with children at bcc have also been removed .
Obviously a power trip to some, but luckily I'm made of stronger stuff and have still had my say BUT direct to the school !!!

Want justice for our kids wrote:
I will make it very clear...... Some people were removed from the group for the use of vile disgusting language....... Regardless whether the kids have left now or not is irrelevant......Many parents and kids are still suffering at the hands of the SLT....... Some parents believed they were getting what they wanted from there meetings, now because they haven't they feel the need to have a go at the parents still trying to get what's right for the kids ......... Have your say freedom of speech and all that.

I do hope that slanderous comment is not aimed at me Angie , and everything I asked for at my meeting has materialised , thank you very much . God you are defo on a power trip twinkle . You must lead a very boring life !

concernedtat wrote:
clearly I must have missed something as I belong to that facebook group and I've not seen good comments removed I have actually posted some myself, only comment I have seen removed is by the person monitoring it for the school, and he removed them himself, I don't see how you say we hide behind the group when real names are used, I have not said anything in that group that I haven't posted to the school or OCC. If it wasn't for those two girls then BCC would still be operating as it was, and so what if they have moved their children they still went ahead and tried to get things changed, instead of it being lots of single parents feeling very isolated and at the end of their wicks with what was happening at that school it became a group just knowing you weren't alone was a great help to me.
I have two children one I have removed from that hell hole and the other sadly too far along in his education to move, but thankfully he will be out of there come June.

Without sounding like a polly parrot, please see my other post , I've explained it all in there .

citizensunite wrote:
....and this is why the leadership at the College will continue to be poor, because they are very adept at using divide and rule! If all the parents who believe that they are the root cause of the BCC problem then a united front is what is called for. After all it is having the choice of a better education for all of the children of Bicester IN Bicester....not putting them on a bus to go elsewhere, because the facility does not exist for them!
The meeting on Thursday will be key, but it will be stage managed. If you replied on the slip you will have opted for a 'session'. So will the parents have the opportunity to raise their joint concerns in a full forum, or is it to be small groups who are to be indoctrinated into the way forward under the current leadership?
It will certainly be an interesting occasion, and one which shouldn't be missed by any parent with or without concerns, if only to ensure that the full depth of feeling amongst the parents is fully represented.
I would question whether a member of the media would be allowed to attend, unless they sneak in as someone's partner, perhaps a scribe from each group could give a brief outline to them, rather like the leaked report which started all this in the first place!

I can't wait until Thursday but no doubt it will be the school doing the talking and be fully prepared for it . I really hope ofsted and the lea are present because believe you me, I will find them and air my concerns in person, I have already sent off 27 emails pinpointing all mt new concerns with most aspects of the school .

standingupforwhatsri
ght wrote:
Your right, there are 2 sides. Admin emailed members a link to the parent view site of OFSTED but did not encourage comments either way. The concern for the school has swept the community and people have really pulled together, the success of a local school doesn't only concern the pupils, parents and staff of the moment but a much wider group who have offered support to the families who have &amp; are still suffering. Any comments which were removed by admin were removed as requested by a person 'monitoring' the group on behalf of the school. Posts such as cctv being placed in the girls toilets &amp; such like. Admin agreed and removed them. Each member of the group has the right to add and remove their own comments. Lots of people are understandably worried about being 'active' in the group as they worry about repercussions on their children if they do speak out. Just by being there they are showing support &amp; that in its self is a hugely brave and honourable thing to do.

Oooh Kizzy you don't half talk a load of rubbish , my comments were valid points about the school and I had loads of mine removed before Angie or you banned me, so stop chucking your toys out of the pram . I messaged you at least a dozen times to ask why I ad been removed and you didn't even have the decency to reply , that's just plain ignorant !!! BUT I so knew that one day I would have my say :)

Oops typo had not ad !!!!

Alyalyaly wrote:

Parent12 wrote:
The facebook group, made up of 560 people is one-sided in that everyone who posts messages on there wants just one thing and that is a decent education for the pupils of BCC. It is a shame to see divisions among people with the same aims and concerns (Aly - you may have fallen out with these people but surely you share common values when it comes to wanting the best for your children?).
Those fortunate enough to have moved their children out of BCC have a right to comment too - after all they are the ones who have gone through the upheaval and expense in order to make the most powerful statement a parent can make - that of voting with their son's or their daughter's feet.

Yes I do agree that we all want the same thing BUT I didnt fall out with anyone, I only met Kizzy n the others the day the photographer met to take the photo .
Admittedly I do have my own opinion and aired it freely on the group BUT obviously Angie didn't like that n removed me from it, extremely childish n unjust I felt, but I knew one day I would have my say n that day was last night. I had no choice as to where my son started his secondary educations, it wasn't my 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice, unlike many that chose this poor excuse of a school for their child/children's education, I taught tooth n nail , going to the school admissions appeal, where I have it in writing that we were treated unlawfully, so I went to the ombudsman and they thought we had an extremely good case , but unfortunately that wasn't to be either. I even thought about home schooling but felt that I couldn't give up working to support my children and rely on hand outs from the government . Lots of my comments/posts were removed from the group, which i felt was completely wrong, others comments and posts were also removed, I know of about 4 others with children at bcc have also been removed .
Obviously a power trip to some, but luckily I'm made of stronger stuff and have still had my say BUT direct to the school !!!

Pls ignore typo's , done whilst at work n via my phone

Alyalyaly wrote:

Parent12 wrote:
The facebook group, made up of 560 people is one-sided in that everyone who posts messages on there wants just one thing and that is a decent education for the pupils of BCC. It is a shame to see divisions among people with the same aims and concerns (Aly - you may have fallen out with these people but surely you share common values when it comes to wanting the best for your children?).
Those fortunate enough to have moved their children out of BCC have a right to comment too - after all they are the ones who have gone through the upheaval and expense in order to make the most powerful statement a parent can make - that of voting with their son's or their daughter's feet.

Yes I do agree that we all want the same thing BUT I didnt fall out with anyone, I only met Kizzy n the others the day the photographer met to take the photo .
Admittedly I do have my own opinion and aired it freely on the group BUT obviously Angie didn't like that n removed me from it, extremely childish n unjust I felt, but I knew one day I would have my say n that day was last night. I had no choice as to where my son started his secondary educations, it wasn't my 1st, 2nd or 3rd choice, unlike many that chose this poor excuse of a school for their child/children's education, I taught tooth n nail , going to the school admissions appeal, where I have it in writing that we were treated unlawfully, so I went to the ombudsman and they thought we had an extremely good case , but unfortunately that wasn't to be either. I even thought about home schooling but felt that I couldn't give up working to support my children and rely on hand outs from the government . Lots of my comments/posts were removed from the group, which i felt was completely wrong, others comments and posts were also removed, I know of about 4 others with children at bcc have also been removed .
Obviously a power trip to some, but luckily I'm made of stronger stuff and have still had my say BUT direct to the school !!!

Pls ignore typo's , done whilst at work n via my phone

It's sad that what started as a discussion on the problems of fair access to a decent education in Bicester has rapidly degenerated into a slanging match between parents.

Ofsted has already decided that there are many failings at the school. What we need to see now is an action plan to change things for the better.

Simply repeating what is wrong with the school isn't going to drive through the improvements needed.

What is needed now is for County and Ofsted to agree a course of action to get the school from special measures to at least "Good" in the next two years. Can't come soon enough for the kids of Bicester.

p.s. Why don't the people who are so vehemently opposed to the current arrangements stand as parent governors the next time there are vacancies (or if they aren't parents any more find supporters who are parents) and try to change the school from the top themselves?

I have been struck again by the wording at the start of the OFSTED report (preparation for Thursday!)…’the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school’. This is damning evidence of where OFSTED feel the problems exist with the College. The question is......why are measures not being taken now to put people in place who have the capacity to lead bcc to 'satisfactory' and then on to 'outstanding'.
The College needs more than a good orator. It needs excellent governors who don't back the SLT without question, and listen to the concerns expressed by other stakeholders. It needs leaders with a PROVEN track record of successful teaching, and leadership elsewhere. The teaching staff need more direction in what constitutesexcellent teaching, and not articles and books. This cannot come from an SLT, who, are divorced from the rest of the teaching staff (as I believe is currently the case).

There are many things that need to be sorted,
- SLT need to communicate and listen better
- The Morale at BCC needs to be improved
- OCC need to stop "prefering" one school over abother, and i would go so far as Mr Waine needs to step down as he is too close to one scho in the area and has shown already he does not support the other.
- Parents need to support the school going forward no matter who is at the helm
- Students also need to take responsibility for their actions
- People also need to take their head of the sand if they think 55% for 5 A*-C is a good set of results, not one set of results in the oast 5 years is good enough.
-People need to stop saying about good teachers that have gone!! frankly i am I very upset how badly my son did in ICT, one teacher was never there for pretty much the entire time he did ICT and in A level well pretty much the entire year failed! Maybe new teachers (who need some morale) is what is needed to breathe life into a dying establishment.

And this is by no means an exhaustive list.

what a lot of reading.

I notice no reference to the BCC catchment area incorporating the poorest area of Bicester 'Kings End'. Always has problems with anti social behaviour and drugs.

It's well known poorer families have more kids because they are too stupid to budget for them.

Some advice for those at Thursday's meeting. It isn't just the SLT that should be held to account. Insist the Governors explain exactly what measures they put in place to raise standards months ago. Then ask the LEA representatives what steps they took to intervene and support when it was clear the school was on the slide. Don't put up with any waffle.

Caversfield.. How dare you! Kings end is not the poorest area and the problems you mention are just as rife in all the other "council estates" in Bicester! Where as there is a lot of "rough" element around here there is just as much in the Cooper area. Although I hate it, I live in Kings End. I was educated privately and we live quite comfortably thank you very much before you start to do what most ignorant people do and generalise!

Why can't some people just grow up and realise that by name calling and acting like school children themselves it is neither constructive or beneficial to ourselves or our children. To publicly name people on a public discussion forum (apart from the two head teachers names for obvious reasons) is absolute madness! I'm shocked and stunned at what I have read on here since last night. Some people should be as ashamed of themselves as the SLT!

Can we please all remain on topic!!!

Accountability is key here;

Why has the school gone from its best results ever 3 years ago to its worst?

Why has student numbers been dropping over the last two years. (The school even lost 20 odd children between September and Christmas)

Why has the quality of teaching and provision now rated as inadequate over time - in other words why are the children making no progress?

These are key problems all related to the leadership of the school, the following Must be accountable:

The head teacher and his deputy

The senior leadership team

The school governors

To take a school and turn it into a school that is failing its pupils is the worst type of failure.

Why then would it seem that not a single person is being held to account for this criminal failure?

In all schools placed in special measures to my knowledge have replaced either the head teacher, the senior leadership team or the schools governors - yet most strangely at bcc where they have failed in every single area not one person is held to account?

Am I the only person that finds this baffling?

I would suggest that oftsed do what is their duty and put in place a new team that gives bcc a chance to become what it was; a good school in what is a good town.

Disgusted Parent wrote:
Caversfield.. How dare you! Kings end is not the poorest area and the problems you mention are just as rife in all the other &quot;council estates" in Bicester! Where as there is a lot of "rough" element around here there is just as much in the Cooper area. Although I hate it, I live in Kings End. I was educated privately and we live quite comfortably thank you very much before you start to do what most ignorant people do and generalise!

Why can't some people just grow up and realise that by name calling and acting like school children themselves it is neither constructive or beneficial to ourselves or our children. To publicly name people on a public discussion forum (apart from the two head teachers names for obvious reasons) is absolute madness! I'm shocked and stunned at what I have read on here since last night. Some people should be as ashamed of themselves as the SLT!

Can we please all remain on topic!!!

Well said

The head (who has styled himself 'principal') says "Although special measures is an emotive label, it will increase the capacity of the college to implement more rapidly the steps required to improve". What does that mean? I'm not trying to be ironic, or scathing - I really don't know what that would look like as policy.

And the head talks of his bottom line - "The bottom line is that we share Ofsted’s view of what needs to be done" - is this in addition to his three other bottom lines - "we have explored our ‘Triple Bottom Line’ with students and staff" - that he talks of on the front page of the website?

And what does this mean - "We anticipate this engagement with our stakeholders will be a key aspect of realising our stated goal"?

And this - "We aim to provide an outstanding learning experience" - what on earth is a 'learning experience'? Does anyone just teach any more?

I consider myself educated, and yet I don't know what this language means. I do know that when a head says 'our understanding of quality provision is clear and often exceeds those expected by others', and then gets the lowest score possible across every area of his responsibility, then he probably hasn't a clue what he's talking about.

I think BCC needs a head who can give clear leadership in plain language. From what I've read, this isn't the man to do it.

From reading the latest statement from the school, it would appear that the 'principal' and his fellow SLT remain in place......For anyone interested in what an IEB might entail, follow the link : https://wakefield.it
slearning.com/.../IE
B_Role_Duties_Functi
on

If an England Manager did this badly he'd be sacked by the FA, a director general of the BBC, sacked by the board.......what does it take for someone in a place of trust in a school to be held accountable for its failings?

It seems like quite a few parents haven't even got a place at the meetings tomorrow night, I'm so glad I have !

standingupforwhatsri
ght wrote:

Disgusted Parent wrote:
Caversfield.. How dare you! Kings end is not the poorest area and the problems you mention are just as rife in all the other &quot;council estates" in Bicester! Where as there is a lot of "rough" element around here there is just as much in the Cooper area. Although I hate it, I live in Kings End. I was educated privately and we live quite comfortably thank you very much before you start to do what most ignorant people do and generalise!

Why can't some people just grow up and realise that by name calling and acting like school children themselves it is neither constructive or beneficial to ourselves or our children. To publicly name people on a public discussion forum (apart from the two head teachers names for obvious reasons) is absolute madness! I'm shocked and stunned at what I have read on here since last night. Some people should be as ashamed of themselves as the SLT!

Can we please all remain on topic!!!

Well said

Oooooh , so it's ok for you to go off 'topic' but no-one else are allowed their opinion ! I'm just getting my own opinion in, FREEDOM OF SPEECH , I think you will find its called . Plus yet again I don't hide behind an alias, it's blatantly obvious who I am anyway BUT for the less educated ones I put it in such a way that they would easily know . Lets see who actually makes a stand tomorrow night.

Whilst there are obviously issues with the school and the way it is led, there are also community issues here.
For example, no-one seems to be picking up on the fact that, as stated in the report, there is an extraordinary number of absences.
Whose fault is this? The school's? No, the fault lies with parents here. Obviously not all parents, but there is a core who allow their children to miss school and this is a problem endemic to the school and the area. (eg. I know of several parents who let their children 'have the day off' because it is their birthdays. Completely irresponsible.)
Also, there appears to be a serious behavioural issue at the school. Whose fault is this? The school can only do so much, but behaviour IS the domain of the parent.

oxman wrote:
Whilst there are obviously issues with the school and the way it is led, there are also community issues here.
For example, no-one seems to be picking up on the fact that, as stated in the report, there is an extraordinary number of absences.
Whose fault is this? The school's? No, the fault lies with parents here. Obviously not all parents, but there is a core who allow their children to miss school and this is a problem endemic to the school and the area. (eg. I know of several parents who let their children 'have the day off' because it is their birthdays. Completely irresponsible.)
Also, there appears to be a serious behavioural issue at the school. Whose fault is this? The school can only do so much, but behaviour IS the domain of the parent.

This kind of comment got mentioned on this facebook group, the poor woman who said it got berated and ganged upon for even suggesting that the kids could be part of the problem.
Then again there are students posting in the same group.

There are all sorts of side issues which a strong leadership, and a committed staff with good morale should be able to sort out.
Unfortunately what we seem to be looking at is a dysfunctional school....leaders who do not command the respect of the parents.
Parents who do not feel sufficiently involved in their childs school that they do not see the value in 100% attendance.
Teachers who feel the need to move schools, even if they are moving to non-promoted posts (this continues with the RS teacher who joined the Royal Latin at Christmas).
A governing body who do not seem to be discharging their duties as they should.
An outstanding leadership team would not only have vision and good ideas for the school, they would be capable of making sure that everyone understands what they are doing and why. Do you understand what they want, beyond the 'school of choice for Bicester'? The OFSTED inspection has thrown a huge spotlight on what is not happening at the school. It also pinpointed that initiatives had started too recently to judge their impact...why? Surely the time for action was following the 2010 inspection.......why has it taken two years, and the threat of another inspection to stir the school leadership team into decisive action.
I hope that answers are forthcoming tomorrow evening, but I fear that it will be stage managed and that no such answers will be forthcoming!

That's a very intelligent and coherent post, although don't be fooled by OFSTED. Their criteria is ambiguous, often applied poorly and they often enter a school with a preconceived agenda and are willing to intimidate and bully to achieve said agenda. That said, those outside of education have very little knowledge of how flawed the process is.
I also have a contention with your argument that "parents who do not feel sufficiently involved in their childs school that they do not see the value in 100% attendance."
That is a cop out on the parents part. If they cannot see the value or fight for the value, then, frankly, it is a shame they are parents in the first place.

Read todays Oxford Mail, it says it all, heads, governors and SLT should hang their heads in shame and leave the running of the school to those who are competent enough to do the job.

oxman wrote:
That's a very intelligent and coherent post, although don't be fooled by OFSTED. Their criteria is ambiguous, often applied poorly and they often enter a school with a preconceived agenda and are willing to intimidate and bully to achieve said agenda. That said, those outside of education have very little knowledge of how flawed the process is.
I also have a contention with your argument that &quot;parents who do not feel sufficiently involved in their childs school that they do not see the value in 100% attendance."
That is a cop out on the parents part. If they cannot see the value or fight for the value, then, frankly, it is a shame they are parents in the first place.

Thank you for the nod at intelligence! I am also an educational professional, and so fully understand that the criteria can be seen to be ambiguous. However, they are applied consistently, and the judgement can be reviewed if the school feels that they have been applied unfairly. I assume that this is not the case in this instance.
As to the 'preconcieved agenda', this can come from a variety of sources, not least, any parent or former member of staff, who may send their concerns via the website. It is only right and fair that these should be used because OFSTED only have time for a snapshot, and a carefully stage managed visit might be enough to satisfy them that things really are moving in the right direction. Let's face facts.....we are not talking here about a judgement of underperformance in just one area, we are talking about across the piece. In the final analysis someone has to be accountable for the failure of this school to apply the basic criteria for being a successful school. They are the same criteria used to judge schools up and down the land, and the point I was trying to make in the last posting was that: since the last inspection (2 years ago), when the school had successfully managed to match those criteria for satisfactory, there has been insufficient progress to achieve the status again, despite having a new 'principal, with a new SLT, and new ideas.
I find it hard, therefore to be side-tracked by other issues. Kings End has always been within the catchment, some parents have always made excuses for their children to 'skip' school (the fact that this has increased in the last 2 years speaks volumes in itself about the turmoil which has happened at the school over this period). The website for the College has a very strong statement of intent from the 'principal', but since he has now been in post for nearly 3 years, I would be seriously asking if this can be delivered?

@citizensunite

I suspect that as an educational professional, you have have had something to do with BCC...or were even a teacher there and left?

It also amazes me that everyone says "new" SLT, are there not 4 current members that were also part of the SLT under the previous head....Who still had bad results,a detieorating school and a huge debt!

notoobullying wrote:
@citizensunite

I suspect that as an educational professional, you have have had something to do with BCC...or were even a teacher there and left?

It also amazes me that everyone says &quot;new" SLT, are there not 4 current members that were also part of the SLT under the previous head....Who still had bad results,a detieorating school and a huge debt!

I am glad to say that my being an educational professional has nothing to do with a BCC association! I do however, take an interest in the local school, since I am a citizen with a conscience, and friends in high places!
I am fully aware that the new 'principal' did wonders with the College debt. I wasn't sure that was common knowledge?! The cuts in both Learning Support, when that was restructured, and to the cleaning staff were swift and deep, as was the redundancy of teaching staff, and I do not doubt that they were needed.
The current core SLT consists of only one real former member, and she held the helm for the interim until a suitable candidate could be chosen by the governing body. As I think it has been pointed out previously ...the results produce in the summer following the appointment of the incumbent 'principal' the reults were the best ever. You surely cannot be claiming that this constitues a 'deterioration' (note spelling!), nor that the current 'principal' can take credit for them? The SLT before restructuring consisted of a core of a Headteacher and 2 deputy Headteachers, and then the others were peripheral, since they had substantive teaching loads.
I am sorry that I seem to have touched a raw nerve. We very much agree that the College needed to undertake change to make it 'fit for purpose', but I am afraid that looking at it, from the outside, and in the words of the OFSTED report, ’the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school’.

You have touched no such raw nerve, I unlike some however like to keep an open view. There are issues here for sure, but i have also stated these issues have been going on for longer than everyone is saying. If you seriously think that the 55% 5 A*-C a "best ever result" is something to crow about you are deluded....that is still not good enough in todays education when looking at it from the outside! (in case you had implication behind your comment)

yes I too have friends in high places, although I am pleased to say one of mine is not Mr Waine.

notoobullying: You and I have something in common then....neither of us has Mr. Waine on speed dial!
I agree wholeheartedly with you that the results you quote are not good when viewed against the National statistics, but they WERE the best ever, and should be viewed as part of an improving picture at the time. This is simply a statement of fact.
I certainly don't think that we need to have an argument about syntax, and nuts and bolts when it is the wagon that has ground to a very spectacular halt!

oxman wrote:
Whilst there are obviously issues with the school and the way it is led, there are also community issues here.
For example, no-one seems to be picking up on the fact that, as stated in the report, there is an extraordinary number of absences.
Whose fault is this? The school's? No, the fault lies with parents here. Obviously not all parents, but there is a core who allow their children to miss school and this is a problem endemic to the school and the area. (eg. I know of several parents who let their children 'have the day off' because it is their birthdays. Completely irresponsible.)
Also, there appears to be a serious behavioural issue at the school. Whose fault is this? The school can only do so much, but behaviour IS the domain of the parent.

I NEVER wanted my child to go to thisvAWFUL excuse for a school and am please to report since starting his attendance has been 100% . I think this is Mr Hollis and if so I think you would be better off rehearsing for tonight's meeting, don't you ?

Also I'm pleased to report my son has no behavioural issues BUT I will add since attending this school his personality has changed , so how do you explain that Mr Hollis ????

oxman wrote:
That's a very intelligent and coherent post, although don't be fooled by OFSTED. Their criteria is ambiguous, often applied poorly and they often enter a school with a preconceived agenda and are willing to intimidate and bully to achieve said agenda. That said, those outside of education have very little knowledge of how flawed the process is.
I also have a contention with your argument that &quot;parents who do not feel sufficiently involved in their childs school that they do not see the value in 100% attendance."
That is a cop out on the parents part. If they cannot see the value or fight for the value, then, frankly, it is a shame they are parents in the first place.

OFSTED's process maybe flawed but clearly not as flawed as the process' in place at the moment. A cop-out you say? We did see the value of our childrens education and fight for that value is exactly what we have done. It payed off too didn't it.

OMG !!!! I have just heard the BEST NEWS ever , from SOMEONE OFFICIAL ' please don't listen to any of the promises made tonight at the meeting and within a month the Head along with a few others from the SLT will be no longer!!!!!! YIPPPPPPEEEE

I 'used' to teach at BCC and can confidently say that it was the leadership at the school which led to my resignation.
I feel extremely sorry for the teachers that remain at the school, being piggy in the middle between the concerned parents and the diabolical leadership. I had, on several occasions received and delivered numerous letters to ROGER DYSON (Chair of governors) and not once did any of the parents/carers receive anything close to an adequate response. Jason Clarke and his side-kick Tom Hollis never took responsibility and would be happy enough to pass-the-buck to teaching staff who already were coping with unbelievable work loads leading to numerous cases of stress related sickness. At one point I even recall SLT being appointed no timetabled lessons but a permanent role of 'leadership'. With regards to inadequate results, if staff are being instructed and observed by the likes of the deputy Tom Hollis; who apparently received a 'relieved cheer' from staff upon his announcement of resignation at GHS &amp; with all his A-Level students gaining 'U' grades, then this could be a contribution to the problem. I even recall him directly criticising a History teachers lesson in front of students; she was in my eyes &amp; many others, a superb teacher.
In the previous OFSTED report one of the two departments which got an outstanding result was the SEN department. Since the appointment of Jason Clarke, this department has practically disappeared. Students no longer have the security or vital support of TA's in the classroom or designated areas to spend their lunchtimes. The lead of the department resigned due to SLT and was replaced by a member of staff far too weak for the important role.
I could, quite easily continue with the many mistakes made by the current SLT.
I taught at the school for many years and I understood the need for further moves forward once Cynthia Bartlett left but in my opinion the governing body made a diabolical mistake in not agreeing to the teachers vote of DAVID HUDSON as head teacher so therefore should, along with current SLT be held accountable.

As a parent of a year 7 child, we were 'choosing' schools for her last year. I put 'choosing' in inverted comma's as its not really a choice. We went to presentations at both Bicester schools with an open mind.
Cooper felt very professional but managed to balance that with warmth and enthusiasm. BCC could not have been more different if it had tried. The level of arrogance exuded from Jason Clark in spades. I saw him as dictatorial, arrogant and egotistical in that short snapshot I had.
I vowed that my daughter wouldn't go to that school as long as I had a pulse.
Consequently, we didn't even include it in our 3 choices.
We were unfortunate to have missed the distance criteria for Cooper by a few feet - harsh but, the line has to be drawn somewhere.
We fought as hard as we could via the appeals process but this, let me tell you, is all smoke and daggers and is pretty much a closed shop. It's dressed up as a democratic process but is most definitely not. It became apparent that the LEA are protecting Mr Baxter at Cooper. During the appeals process, we found that the administration on intake carried a flaw that was deemed 'unlawful' (actual appeal panels words). But still, we weren't able to get in. Despite mr Neil Darlington (admissions boss at occ) confirming that, had the administration not been unlawful, then our child would most certainly have got a place.
We then took the case to the ombudsman who was very interested in the documents I emailed. In fact, our case manager called me to say that most applications to the ombudsman were just a last hopeful throw of the dice but "I've never seen a case like this where it has been unlawful". After lots of tooing and froing, guess what. The ombudsman ruled in favour of the lea. I'm telling you, they're all in it together.
We were fortunate to get offered our 2nd choice school just as the appeal started but this school is out of catchment and we need to pay upwards of £100 per month for the coach. It's a small price to pay for a fantastic school education I agree but, as a tax paying person in Bicester, surely I'm entitled to a fantastic level of education without having to pay for the transport? Everybody else who pay for transport is in the same boat however, there's another cost too. The cost of time : - my child has to be up at 6:10am to be out of the house for 7:15am. That's an hour earlier than her friends at Cooper. Also, she gets home at 4:00pm, another 30 minutes lost. That's 7 1/2 hours a week lost!!! Also, there's the social loss. Our daughter doesn't really see or speak to the friends that, during her 6 years at Primary school, had built some very strong bonds with.
It's a dreadful shame that this school has been let down by all parties involved (The LEA, OCC, the governors and most of all Jason Clarke).
In all businesses, organisations, groups or clubs, there's somebody at the top that carries the can - ultimately responsible for events, results, image or whatever it may be.
Mr Clark - you are that person. Do the honourable thing and resign your position. You'll gain nothing with your pig headed, egotistical attitude that you remain the best person to steer the school through this mess. After all, in the last 2 1/2 years, OFSTED have deemed you to have dropped standards ON ALL LEVELS.

Get It Sorted - it is a great shame that you couldn't get your child into Cooper, but when there are 300 applicants for 220 places there are bound to be a lot of very disappointed and upset parents.

Bicester though should never have been put in this position. What we need as soon as possible is BCC to be turned round so that parents can be happy and pleased with whatever school their child goes to.

Severian wrote:
Get It Sorted - it is a great shame that you couldn't get your child into Cooper, but when there are 300 applicants for 220 places there are bound to be a lot of very disappointed and upset parents.

Bicester though should never have been put in this position. What we need as soon as possible is BCC to be turned round so that parents can be happy and pleased with whatever school their child goes to.

I couldn't agree more with you. But there was a declared intake of 225 and they changed that to 220. This was done unlawfully. We happened to be 225. As I said, I understand that the line has to be drawn somewhere but, we would have been entitled to a place had they not acted unlawfully. Bear in mind that this was the finding of the appeal panel and agreed by Neil Darlington. That was a bitter pill to swallow - especially when, until our offer if a place at The Marlborough, BCC was the only option!
I realise how fortunate we were as The Marlborough is FANTASTIC. Just a shame that Bicester has such a division n it's educational standards. For the record, we live 1.042 miles from Cooper and around 1.25 miles from BCC. That made it tougher to accept. We also had several other things in our favour, not least of all that our daughter was bullied for 3 years through primary by a child whom we knew was going to BCC. This was documented and supported by the primary school head.
BCC needs some solid leadership and I'm afraid the team there at the moment have proved themselves incapable of this. It's time they stood aside and allowed the people's of this town to educate their children to a decent standard.