Comments on: Gove’s Folly? The mystery of Durand and Saint Cuthman’s

By: No amount of PR and lobbying can change the basic laws of arithmetic… | Richard Wilson's blog

Tue, 23 Apr 2013 21:03:28 +0000

[...] year I highlighted some of the questions surrounding the government’s decision to approve a controversial state-f… run by an Academy school notorious for spending large sums of money on PR, lobbying, and libel [...]

By: Maureen O'Donoghue

Maureen O'Donoghue — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 13:55:20 +0000

As an ex-pupil of Wispers School, owned and run by Helen Brown, I must comment that, if you are so concerned about this building, I am surprised that you do not know its correct name, which is Wispers – not Whispers. I am also surprised that this very large house is only to be used for staff accommodation and administration. Why on earth should they need so much room? All staff when this was Wispers School and later St. Cuthmans School had to have cars, so why would this be a problem now? To describe this as a ‘very limited site’ is complete nonsense and Stedham village is a lot more than 15 minutes walk away. If the house is to be protected by this scheme and inner city children given a marvellous chance to benefit in lovely and natural surroundings, what are the people of Stedham complaining about? Would you rather the house was simply allowed to disintegrate beyond repair?

By: penny caulfeild

penny caulfeild — Sat, 21 Jul 2012 23:56:02 +0000

we live within l5 minutes walk of the new proposed Durand Academy School in the parish of Stedham- West sussex. as residents we have many concerns, financial and otherwise. St Cuthmans once Whispers House a Grade 2 Norman Shaw house owned by the Duchess of Bedford was originally used as a council run school for approximately 150 pupils, with learning difficulties. On Wednesday 26th July at 4 p.m. – 7.30 p.m. in Stedham Village, the Durand Academy together with their architects are showing the local residents the final plans for the school, before submitting them next month for planning application. The plans are for the building of a new boarding school together with a sports area etc. Whispers house is to be used only for accomodation for teaching staff and adminstration. There a bus service once a day to Petersfield, which indicates how remote it is. All staff will need a car. Our concerns are:- a) the sheer volume of children on a very limited site b) very difficult access, (most of our local roads are single track) c) increased volume of traffic d) light pollution in an area of outstanding national beauty. e) transport of the children to and from London f) more demand on our underground water supply.

The overall feeling of the local residents is that site is unsuitable for a school for 680 pupils.

By: Primary School Pays PR Firm £351,000 To Get Mentions In Parliament | thenewsfinder.com

Sat, 21 Apr 2012 09:15:16 +0000

[...] The school recently secured £17.34m to fund the new building but questions have been raised over the figures, with claims the Durand Education Trust has incurred… [...]

By: Primary School Pays PR Firm £351,000 To Get Mentions In Parliament | The Public Relations Site

Fri, 20 Apr 2012 15:10:15 +0000

[...] The school recently secured £17.34m to fund the new building but questions have been raised over the figures, with claims the Durand Education Trust has incurred… [...]

By: Ringarg

Ringarg — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 11:42:12 +0000

Just to offer some balance to this comment…

I have been an NQT at Durand Academy and spent the worst year of my life there. There was a bullying culture which I couldn’t believe happens at schools (and, thankfully, through experience afterwards, in the majority of schools this is not the case). I also personally know 3 other teachers who left before even a year was finished at the school because they were so unhappy (again, not something that I have seen at other schools).

Bazza, I am pleased that your girlfriend loved the place (would be nice if she could speak for herself in comments though!), and there is no doubt that the school gets great results for children in a very deprived area of London. I also agree that the other local schools aren’t great either. But the issue here is about accountability and freedom of information. Perhaps the government should fund the whole project, but surely you also agree that all the information should be made clear for the taxpayer?

Also, despite my terrible experiences at Durand, I am surprised at how poorly and aggressively they respond to FOI requests! I can’t believe how reactionary their replies seem to be (especially after taking so long to do so). Maybe if they changed tact and were a little more friendly and open then people would not be so suspicious (again, my experience is that the senior management are incapable of this though!).

**Sits back and awaits the inevitable injunction from Carter *uck…**

By: Bazza

Bazza — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 05:56:07 +0000

I guess the main reason they’re building a new school rather than spending the money on existing ones is because they need more schools to cope with the increasing population.

On their website, Durand Academy says “The taxpayer will be getting a new secondary school for much less than it would normally cost to establish one. Typically, a new secondary academy serving inner London would cost between £25 million and £33 million. Some secondary schools have cost up to £38 million.” Probably why they’re taking the out-of-town route.

By: Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 23:18:16 +0000

Interesting… Also, I *think* it’s the case that education-linked charities are exempt from having to submit their accounts to the Charity Commission…

By: Richard Wilson

Richard Wilson — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:46:23 +0000

Cheers Barry – glad to hear that your girlfriend had such a positive NQT there, and that the other schools in the area seem to be doing so well. I guess my point is that the national education budget, as with the rest of our public finances, is under a lot of pressure and increasing the bill in one place is likely to mean cuts are needed elsewhere. My understanding is that other secondary schools in Lambeth are struggling to perform well, so one of the questions in my mind was whether it might not be better to invest more resources in lifting the performance of those schools than building a whole new one 50 miles out of town.

By: Tim Turner (@tim2040)

Tim Turner (@tim2040) — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:40:53 +0000

A lot of charitable trusts are – either by accident or design – outside the FOI Act because the generic categories at the back of the Act are geared towards statutory bodies of one sort or another. It will be a good test of the Coalition’s commitment to FOI if they sort out this kind of loophole, but probably not something to hold one’s breath over.

By: Bazza

Bazza — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:29:38 +0000

My girlfriend did her NQT at Durand and loved the place. While she’s cooling off, she wants me to set you straight on a couple of points: I take it you have never been to Stockwell, otherwise you wouldn’t say other local schools are having to ‘cut back’ or are less favoured. Stockwell Park has just spent nearly £25 million on refurbishing itself and now looks like something out of Super-Cannes. Short of putting platinum taps in the dunnies, I can’t see what they’d do with any more money. The Evelyn Grace down the road looks like an investment bank too. The big mystery to me is why Durand is having to pay anything towards land purchase at all. Isn’t the government supposed to put up the money for land and buildings for academies?