I've been to a few ministerial lunches where the hand picked guests make their case on a given topic for the benefit of the politician present. Our little lunch, with private, public and social enterprise leaders upping the anti on buying from social enterprise, this Thursday, was different. For a start Angela Smith, our Minister, was totally on the money, she didn't stand on ceremony and she really got stuck in sharing her views and asking loads of questions. Secondly everyone present was equally animated, leading to the most exciting conversation on procurement you can imagine. Thanks to the LDA for supporting us in making it happen.
Angela was shadowing Sophi Tranchell from Divine Chocolate for the day, as part of a social enterprise Ambassadors Programme initative. She told me she was learning all about the chocolate world and found it really interesting. Not unsurprisingly, I suppose.
At the lunch, held at the Baltic in Southwark, we did talk about Government being a bad shopper, but much more engaging than that we heard from Ray Mills, Partner of PricewaterhouseCoopers who told us about his clients that want to spend millions with social enterprise. Our old friend Colin Crooks, CEO at Green Works confirmed that in the early days their first contract with HSBC came in at 28 times their turnover. That's unthinkable in the public sector where contracts are often a maximum of no more than 25% of turnover. So maybe if social enterprises are to grow quickly, as Green Works did, the private sector as purchaser, is the place to start.
In any event no one was talking about CSR. For the big business in the room, social enterprise was a provider, not a post divided investment in PR. That has to be good news.
I'm looking forward to a day at the allotment. Because I have had so much on I have only been able to stay on top of the garden. I sorted out my 2010 seeds last night and put my seed potatoes out to chit (technical term for sprouting shoots) and tomorrow I'll be pruning my apple trees and soft fruits. I will no doubt end the day looking like I've had a fight with a mad cat, covered in scratches, but frankly, I can't wait. My idea of fun.
Saturday, 30 January 2010
Wednesday, 27 January 2010
Playing with the big boys and girls
If you weren't there last night, you missed a fun one. In partnership with PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) and our very own LDA we put on quite an event for social enterprise leaders. Entitled 'Question Time for Leaders in Social Enterprise' we had some fantastic speakers who told us what we needed to know to face the tough times ahead. I am always delighted when I hear new stuff. Stephen Dawson of Impetus Trust told us how to address the elephant in the room, (which elephant, you ask? All the presentations were filmed beforehand and are on our website) Philip Wright of PwC gave us the means to weather the 'cold winds of the recession' and Rod Schwartz of ClearlySo, told us that we needed to stop being cute, grow up and look for investors.
Rod's stuff on investment capital was challenging and exciting. In my humble opinion he is one of the best commentators in the social investment world and although he and I have disagreed in the past, most notably on the social stock exchange, I think he is always worth listening to and has probably as much experience as anyone at the coal face of financing social transformation.
What struck me whilst watching PwC's opening (excellent) film is that if the assertions it makes about the impact of social enterprise are genuinely held by the organisation (as the presence as chair for the evening of the impressive Keith Mansfield, London Chairman of PwC testified to), then we have come a long way. Don't get me wrong, its not that I don't take social enterprise seriously until Government or in this instance the mutinational world does; it's that looking at us through their eyes as we did last night makes you realise just how interesting we are.
Philip's assertion that insolvency is not always a bad thing was a shocker, but so was his rationale, which proved pretty compelling. He talked about the need to close streams of activity down before they bring the whole structure to its knees and mothballing organisations before they lose their intellectual property as well as their assets. Food for thought.
We also heard from Anne Humphries, former board member of John Lewis and current board member of the London Development Agency. I was delighted that she voiced pride in her association with the UK's leading social enterprise, John Lewis. I know there are those in our movement who think JL isn't a social enterprise, but I'm not one of them. I think the way they have thoughtfully constructed a business model around profit distribution, staff ownership, ethical behaviour and customer satisfaction is a thing of beauty and their recent success is something we should be proud of.
I woke up this morning to lots of lovely texts and emails from those who had come last night saying how much they enjoyed it. The use of the word 'superb' more than once helped my early morning tea go down very nicely. Thank you to all who took the time to come and especially those who fed back afterwards. I forwarded all your comments on to the SEL team, who of course worked their socks off.
Tomorrow we host a lunch to discuss procurement. The purpose of the event, which is being run again in partnership with the LDA, is to bring a handful of folk together (from government, social enterprise and the private sector) who know a thing or two about it, and to discuss how we can empower social enterprises to win more business. I think it should be gripping and I am especially pleased that my co-chair Sophi Tranchell of Divine Chocolate is bringing along Angela Smith MP, Minister for the Third Sector, who, wonderfully is shadowing Sophi for the day under the Coalition's tremendous Social Enterprise Ambassadors' Programme.
Our Sabina, who is organising the event tells me she wants it in the style of me 'hosting it in my own home'. That was a stretch for me since there will be no children suddenly deciding to practice the trumpet/piano/guitar as soon as the guests arrive and no rabbits and hampsters hopping and wheeling about to the dulcet tones of the ever rotating washing machine. In fact it won't be like being at home at all. I shall have to improvise.
Last Thursday I met Angela's new Director General at the OTS, Rolande Anderson who kindly gave me an hour of her time to chew her ear about social enterprise. I hope she found it helpful, she seemed really engaged. I often come away from meetings like that feeling sorry for folk who are continually subjected to lobbyists like me, but hey that's the job. Mine to put our case and theirs to hear it.
I have also met up with loads of social enterprises this week, all at different stages of development, all with different needs and all absolutely inspiring. I am currently trying to make sure I have done everything for them that I said I would, again that's the job: to give (hopefully) good advice and to open doors. One person who doesn't need me to open any doors is the lovely Ed Mayo who I had a chat with on Monday. Ed is the new CEO at Coops UK and quite the nicest, most considered man I have met in a long time. We really put the world to rights and I'm excited (as the Americans say) about working closely with Coops UK as we did when my mate Pauline was at the helm.
Finally, and thank you so much to all of you who have enquired, after a lot of huffing (her) and puffing (me and my super sis Sue) my Mother's move is complete. I did manage to end last week with a rather unattractive nervous twitch in the left eye, but after a weekend with the family, gardening and watching Miss Marple re runs I can now hold a steady gaze. My Mother is adjusting rather well to her lovely cottage and has only locked herself out once, although Monday's revelation that she had managed to leave her passport at the old house did, I have to admit, feel like a step in the wrong direction.
I'm off now to fleece my bulbs, which bravely sprouted in last weekends clement weather and will now get scorched in the latest of what seems like an endless line of cold snaps. Life's so like that isn't it?
Rod's stuff on investment capital was challenging and exciting. In my humble opinion he is one of the best commentators in the social investment world and although he and I have disagreed in the past, most notably on the social stock exchange, I think he is always worth listening to and has probably as much experience as anyone at the coal face of financing social transformation.
What struck me whilst watching PwC's opening (excellent) film is that if the assertions it makes about the impact of social enterprise are genuinely held by the organisation (as the presence as chair for the evening of the impressive Keith Mansfield, London Chairman of PwC testified to), then we have come a long way. Don't get me wrong, its not that I don't take social enterprise seriously until Government or in this instance the mutinational world does; it's that looking at us through their eyes as we did last night makes you realise just how interesting we are.
Philip's assertion that insolvency is not always a bad thing was a shocker, but so was his rationale, which proved pretty compelling. He talked about the need to close streams of activity down before they bring the whole structure to its knees and mothballing organisations before they lose their intellectual property as well as their assets. Food for thought.
We also heard from Anne Humphries, former board member of John Lewis and current board member of the London Development Agency. I was delighted that she voiced pride in her association with the UK's leading social enterprise, John Lewis. I know there are those in our movement who think JL isn't a social enterprise, but I'm not one of them. I think the way they have thoughtfully constructed a business model around profit distribution, staff ownership, ethical behaviour and customer satisfaction is a thing of beauty and their recent success is something we should be proud of.
I woke up this morning to lots of lovely texts and emails from those who had come last night saying how much they enjoyed it. The use of the word 'superb' more than once helped my early morning tea go down very nicely. Thank you to all who took the time to come and especially those who fed back afterwards. I forwarded all your comments on to the SEL team, who of course worked their socks off.
Tomorrow we host a lunch to discuss procurement. The purpose of the event, which is being run again in partnership with the LDA, is to bring a handful of folk together (from government, social enterprise and the private sector) who know a thing or two about it, and to discuss how we can empower social enterprises to win more business. I think it should be gripping and I am especially pleased that my co-chair Sophi Tranchell of Divine Chocolate is bringing along Angela Smith MP, Minister for the Third Sector, who, wonderfully is shadowing Sophi for the day under the Coalition's tremendous Social Enterprise Ambassadors' Programme.
Our Sabina, who is organising the event tells me she wants it in the style of me 'hosting it in my own home'. That was a stretch for me since there will be no children suddenly deciding to practice the trumpet/piano/guitar as soon as the guests arrive and no rabbits and hampsters hopping and wheeling about to the dulcet tones of the ever rotating washing machine. In fact it won't be like being at home at all. I shall have to improvise.
Last Thursday I met Angela's new Director General at the OTS, Rolande Anderson who kindly gave me an hour of her time to chew her ear about social enterprise. I hope she found it helpful, she seemed really engaged. I often come away from meetings like that feeling sorry for folk who are continually subjected to lobbyists like me, but hey that's the job. Mine to put our case and theirs to hear it.
I have also met up with loads of social enterprises this week, all at different stages of development, all with different needs and all absolutely inspiring. I am currently trying to make sure I have done everything for them that I said I would, again that's the job: to give (hopefully) good advice and to open doors. One person who doesn't need me to open any doors is the lovely Ed Mayo who I had a chat with on Monday. Ed is the new CEO at Coops UK and quite the nicest, most considered man I have met in a long time. We really put the world to rights and I'm excited (as the Americans say) about working closely with Coops UK as we did when my mate Pauline was at the helm.
Finally, and thank you so much to all of you who have enquired, after a lot of huffing (her) and puffing (me and my super sis Sue) my Mother's move is complete. I did manage to end last week with a rather unattractive nervous twitch in the left eye, but after a weekend with the family, gardening and watching Miss Marple re runs I can now hold a steady gaze. My Mother is adjusting rather well to her lovely cottage and has only locked herself out once, although Monday's revelation that she had managed to leave her passport at the old house did, I have to admit, feel like a step in the wrong direction.
I'm off now to fleece my bulbs, which bravely sprouted in last weekends clement weather and will now get scorched in the latest of what seems like an endless line of cold snaps. Life's so like that isn't it?
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Change is as good as a rest?
Change is not always a good thing, but the ability to adapt to it is.
I can feel the economy stiffen as we brace ourselves for a bumpy election and the subsequent cuts. 2010 is going to be tricky, but it seems that regardless of who wins, social enterprise is on the up and up. Whether it's David Cameron talking about early years and the need for more social enterprise, or Doug Richard calling for more targeted business support for social enterpreneurs in yesterday's Telegraph, we seem to be on everyone's lips.
Banks such as RBS, senior directors from which I met last week, want to take their relationship with social enterprise to the next level. One of the key changes since the recession is the move social enterprise has made from the CSR agenda in corporate institutions such as banks, to the commercial one. SEL, with nearly 2000 members, has become quite an attractive place to potentially access the new, growing market. Our job is to make sure that the financial, political and practical help out there is really what social enterprise needs, an ability that is sorely tested when social enterprises are driven to the brink when they lose key local authority contracts or customers in their supply chains have gone to the wall. SEL is heavily engaged in the firefighting that follows such set backs and I have to say, financial support for those in vulnerable situations is limited. Everyone wants to back a winner, and it's easy to talk about survival of the fittest, but as a historian, I know that if you want to change your economy as the Japanese did at the turn of the century, from rural to industrial, you have to support, invest and nurture your new markets. If we want to see social entrepreneurs deliver services that are currently delivered exclusively through the public domaine, a sink or swim strategy simply won't work.
As I write this the removal men are packing up my Mother's house around me. It's hard for her to let go of all those memories, but fear not, she has taken a mountain of them with her, in the shape of such things as family potraits, boxes of photos, and a bag of my late father's socks?! Tonight I am taking her out to dinner and tomorrow we make the final shove to the summit.
The old house seems so empty. It makes you think about the speed of life. All too quickly children grow up and move away. One moment the family are falling over one another and the next you're rattling around empty rooms. Note to self, enjoy my lot while they are still building their lives under our roof.
I shall be dining in my slippers tonight as it appears that they have packed my only shoes and locked them in the van. C'est la vie.
I can feel the economy stiffen as we brace ourselves for a bumpy election and the subsequent cuts. 2010 is going to be tricky, but it seems that regardless of who wins, social enterprise is on the up and up. Whether it's David Cameron talking about early years and the need for more social enterprise, or Doug Richard calling for more targeted business support for social enterpreneurs in yesterday's Telegraph, we seem to be on everyone's lips.
Banks such as RBS, senior directors from which I met last week, want to take their relationship with social enterprise to the next level. One of the key changes since the recession is the move social enterprise has made from the CSR agenda in corporate institutions such as banks, to the commercial one. SEL, with nearly 2000 members, has become quite an attractive place to potentially access the new, growing market. Our job is to make sure that the financial, political and practical help out there is really what social enterprise needs, an ability that is sorely tested when social enterprises are driven to the brink when they lose key local authority contracts or customers in their supply chains have gone to the wall. SEL is heavily engaged in the firefighting that follows such set backs and I have to say, financial support for those in vulnerable situations is limited. Everyone wants to back a winner, and it's easy to talk about survival of the fittest, but as a historian, I know that if you want to change your economy as the Japanese did at the turn of the century, from rural to industrial, you have to support, invest and nurture your new markets. If we want to see social entrepreneurs deliver services that are currently delivered exclusively through the public domaine, a sink or swim strategy simply won't work.
As I write this the removal men are packing up my Mother's house around me. It's hard for her to let go of all those memories, but fear not, she has taken a mountain of them with her, in the shape of such things as family potraits, boxes of photos, and a bag of my late father's socks?! Tonight I am taking her out to dinner and tomorrow we make the final shove to the summit.
The old house seems so empty. It makes you think about the speed of life. All too quickly children grow up and move away. One moment the family are falling over one another and the next you're rattling around empty rooms. Note to self, enjoy my lot while they are still building their lives under our roof.
I shall be dining in my slippers tonight as it appears that they have packed my only shoes and locked them in the van. C'est la vie.
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Have we moved yet?
January 20th is D day. The moment when my Mother leaves the house she has lived in with Dad, for 40 years and where my brother, sister and I grew up. I have taken this week off, partly because I have no childcare but primarily to help Mum pack. It has been a tough week, marked by gruelling sorting and to cap it off my new au pair, due to move in on Friday, pulled out at the last, due to some sort of University clearing cock up or something.
I can only imagine what Mum feels, and judging from her detachment, it must be very difficult indeed. For my part I have enjoyed the trip down memory lane, going through my old bedroom, school books and photographs. My sister has joined me for most of the fun and games. Together we have filled 2 skips and countless boxes and collapsed at pictures of David's Cassidy and Soul. In the meantime Mum managed to lock herself inside her own car!? Letting go is tough but I'm still not sure she needs to take a book about the history of the Papal seal and legate, or for that matter another one on marzipan fruit. But there you go, one person's essentials and another's useless tat.
Yesterday I took Mum to her new cottage to point out that putting 3 sofas, three arm chairs, a dining room table, 8 dining chairs, 4 occasional tables including a Pembroke, 2 bookcases and a TV in her new sitting room was a little ambitious. She agreed, so she's going to put a couple of the chairs upstairs. This is going to be tough.
I have a full week, starting with a meeting with RBS to look at how they can support social enterprise development through SEL, and continuing with as much Mother moving madness as I can handle and no childcare, save what our former au pair the lovely Kirby can fit in around her teaching career. It all should be a piece of cake. I hope we have enough wine to get me through. I might get online before going to bed, just to make sure, after all, every little bit helps.
I can only imagine what Mum feels, and judging from her detachment, it must be very difficult indeed. For my part I have enjoyed the trip down memory lane, going through my old bedroom, school books and photographs. My sister has joined me for most of the fun and games. Together we have filled 2 skips and countless boxes and collapsed at pictures of David's Cassidy and Soul. In the meantime Mum managed to lock herself inside her own car!? Letting go is tough but I'm still not sure she needs to take a book about the history of the Papal seal and legate, or for that matter another one on marzipan fruit. But there you go, one person's essentials and another's useless tat.
Yesterday I took Mum to her new cottage to point out that putting 3 sofas, three arm chairs, a dining room table, 8 dining chairs, 4 occasional tables including a Pembroke, 2 bookcases and a TV in her new sitting room was a little ambitious. She agreed, so she's going to put a couple of the chairs upstairs. This is going to be tough.
I have a full week, starting with a meeting with RBS to look at how they can support social enterprise development through SEL, and continuing with as much Mother moving madness as I can handle and no childcare, save what our former au pair the lovely Kirby can fit in around her teaching career. It all should be a piece of cake. I hope we have enough wine to get me through. I might get online before going to bed, just to make sure, after all, every little bit helps.
Friday, 8 January 2010
You don't always grit what you want...
...so said Boris Johnson at the Lord Mayor's Dinner for London Government tonight. As our keynote speaker the Mayor (not to be confused with our host, the Lord Mayor) did not disappoint. He commended the 300 or so of us who had made it there, a testimony, he said to London's local authorities keeping roads open, and sharing their limited grit supplies with one another.
He went on to bemoan political name calling, the national shortage of grit and the nay sayers to his bike scheme. All to the hilarity of the diners. Even Nicky Gavron, former Deputy Mayor broke the occassional smile. Nicky told me later that she was really interested in social enterprise and wanted us to begin an ongoing discussion on how to promote enviromentalism in particular. Reflecting on the speeches with Derek Myers, CEO at Kensington and Chelsea, James Cleverly at the GLA, John O'Brien at London Councils and Robert Gordon Clark, pundit extrodinaire and MD of the London Communications Agency, we all agreed it was a good address and impossible to follow as Merrick Cockell, Leader of K&C and Chair of London Councils, had to. Nonetheless Merrick's task was carried out with aplomb. To be honest I enjoy listening to people talking passionately and proudly about putting London first.
I thanked Boris, who seemed surprised that I enjoyed his address which he said he finished as he ate his meal, and my delightful dinner companions, William Hunt, a heraldic expert who has had at least four careers as far as I could tell, Nigel Challis from KPMG who was chuffed to hear that they are already working with SEL and Peter Thackway from GLE who I hope to work with this year. Such is the disparity between men and women at this dinner that I was flanked by six men!
All in all, worth the effort, which incidentally is so much greater than men have to make. Hours of hair, frock and bra stress (who knew there was such a thing as a bra stretcher/truss, that pulls the straps down to enable the wearing of a backless dress!?). I particularly enjoyed the furious post dinner speculation about the election. Too close to call according to most that I spoke too, even Robert Gordon Clark who knows more about London and the people who make it tick than anyone I know, said he had never looked at an election harder to call.
2010 is going to be tough but interesting. We will be awash with politics and I hope a raw demand for enviromental and social solutions that oustrip the rather hesitant toe-dipping we have seen so far. Certainly if the number of people who wanted to talk in greater depth with me about social enterprise at tonight's event is anything to go by, 2010 is going to be a New Year for new solutions.
I hope you had a good New Year. I certainly did, enjoyed a wonderful dinner at my oldest and dearest friend Clare's neighbour's home in Cambridge where 22 people sat down to a fabulous meal, great conversation and the most intensely organised review of the decade I have participated in to date. The collective view was hard to consolidate as the experience of an academic, psychiatrist or lawyer differ significantly, but I was impressed with the effort in not only putting a great meal in front of so many, but also the emphasis on the expression of views, entertainment and the ancient art of conversation. Thanks to Tina and Steve, our hosts, and here's to all of us who want to make 2010 the year things get better for the many and not just a few. I hope we all grit what we want!
He went on to bemoan political name calling, the national shortage of grit and the nay sayers to his bike scheme. All to the hilarity of the diners. Even Nicky Gavron, former Deputy Mayor broke the occassional smile. Nicky told me later that she was really interested in social enterprise and wanted us to begin an ongoing discussion on how to promote enviromentalism in particular. Reflecting on the speeches with Derek Myers, CEO at Kensington and Chelsea, James Cleverly at the GLA, John O'Brien at London Councils and Robert Gordon Clark, pundit extrodinaire and MD of the London Communications Agency, we all agreed it was a good address and impossible to follow as Merrick Cockell, Leader of K&C and Chair of London Councils, had to. Nonetheless Merrick's task was carried out with aplomb. To be honest I enjoy listening to people talking passionately and proudly about putting London first.
I thanked Boris, who seemed surprised that I enjoyed his address which he said he finished as he ate his meal, and my delightful dinner companions, William Hunt, a heraldic expert who has had at least four careers as far as I could tell, Nigel Challis from KPMG who was chuffed to hear that they are already working with SEL and Peter Thackway from GLE who I hope to work with this year. Such is the disparity between men and women at this dinner that I was flanked by six men!
Me in my frock
All in all, worth the effort, which incidentally is so much greater than men have to make. Hours of hair, frock and bra stress (who knew there was such a thing as a bra stretcher/truss, that pulls the straps down to enable the wearing of a backless dress!?). I particularly enjoyed the furious post dinner speculation about the election. Too close to call according to most that I spoke too, even Robert Gordon Clark who knows more about London and the people who make it tick than anyone I know, said he had never looked at an election harder to call.
2010 is going to be tough but interesting. We will be awash with politics and I hope a raw demand for enviromental and social solutions that oustrip the rather hesitant toe-dipping we have seen so far. Certainly if the number of people who wanted to talk in greater depth with me about social enterprise at tonight's event is anything to go by, 2010 is going to be a New Year for new solutions.
I hope you had a good New Year. I certainly did, enjoyed a wonderful dinner at my oldest and dearest friend Clare's neighbour's home in Cambridge where 22 people sat down to a fabulous meal, great conversation and the most intensely organised review of the decade I have participated in to date. The collective view was hard to consolidate as the experience of an academic, psychiatrist or lawyer differ significantly, but I was impressed with the effort in not only putting a great meal in front of so many, but also the emphasis on the expression of views, entertainment and the ancient art of conversation. Thanks to Tina and Steve, our hosts, and here's to all of us who want to make 2010 the year things get better for the many and not just a few. I hope we all grit what we want!
Sunday, 3 January 2010
Schools chief goes to the bottom of the class
I will try to do my best to convey the fury I feel at Professor David Woods staggering comments quoted in today's Guardian, about so-called 'prejudiced' middle class parents insisting on privately educating their children in the face of excellent state provided education, without expletives.
In the first instance secondary education in some parts of London is in a state of crisis. I am amazed parents haven't taken to the streets. As an example, our local comprehensive has GCSE results below National average, they have been threatened with special measures, there were two knife related instances in 2009 and they run through head teachers like 'Have I Got News for You' rotates Quizmasters.
Call me 'prejudiced', as indeed the Government's key education advisor David Woods just has, but I think my children deserve better. When we first looked over the school we went with friends whose son was also then in Year 6. We were equally disquietened by the lack of discipline, organisation and ambition for the children, but my friend, a Governor of a local primary school, felt that if local parents didn't make a commitment to the school it would never improve. Six weeks into his first term their studious and delightful son left that school for the last time in an ambulance, having been kicked in the head. He too is now being educated privately.
So who is to blame? The parents who have re-mortaged their houses to enable their children to be educated in schools where fear is replaced by learning? Or the Goverment, who seem unable to offer us decent education? According to Woods the disproportionate number of parents in London who choose private education do so because they have, and I quote 'innate and uninformed' prejudices enflamed by attendance at 'dinner parties in Islington'. If this is the informed view of Government advisors no wonder education is in such a mess.
The infuriating truth is that we are not pretentious elitists wanting to buy our children advantage, indeed the majority of us are not even dinner party goers; we just want a good local state education and for many of us that is simply not an option without moving to the right postcode. Woods also dismisses as 'prejudiced' the higher level of parents who send their children to state primary schools and then turn to private schools post year 6. What about the poor woman the Goverment tried to pillory in October because she claimed a bogus postcode to get her child into a decent school? Or the ludicrous number of parents applying to top state schools like Tiffin? Or the growing number of parents driven to educate their children at home rather than send them into schools where results are poor and bulllying rife?
The bald truth is the system is a mess and people are so worried about it they are willing to sacrifice a great deal to give their children hope.
Our children are endlesssly appreciative of the opportunity to go to a good school. At the end of last term Joe got the highest effort grade in his senior school, repaying our decision as best he can.
This is all very serious. A Government that thinks it can dismiss the agonising decisions parents have to make, with ill considered remarks, is in danger of being out of touch. In the light of Woods comments you would think that local parents like those who are working with the newly formed social enterprise, the Parent Promoted Foundation, that aims to set up parent run schools. would be welcomed with open arms. Yet their extraordinary commitment is currently being met by a wall of beaurocracy. It is a shambles that needs sorting out. Calling concerned parents names seems a hopeless place to start.
In the first instance secondary education in some parts of London is in a state of crisis. I am amazed parents haven't taken to the streets. As an example, our local comprehensive has GCSE results below National average, they have been threatened with special measures, there were two knife related instances in 2009 and they run through head teachers like 'Have I Got News for You' rotates Quizmasters.
Call me 'prejudiced', as indeed the Government's key education advisor David Woods just has, but I think my children deserve better. When we first looked over the school we went with friends whose son was also then in Year 6. We were equally disquietened by the lack of discipline, organisation and ambition for the children, but my friend, a Governor of a local primary school, felt that if local parents didn't make a commitment to the school it would never improve. Six weeks into his first term their studious and delightful son left that school for the last time in an ambulance, having been kicked in the head. He too is now being educated privately.
So who is to blame? The parents who have re-mortaged their houses to enable their children to be educated in schools where fear is replaced by learning? Or the Goverment, who seem unable to offer us decent education? According to Woods the disproportionate number of parents in London who choose private education do so because they have, and I quote 'innate and uninformed' prejudices enflamed by attendance at 'dinner parties in Islington'. If this is the informed view of Government advisors no wonder education is in such a mess.
The infuriating truth is that we are not pretentious elitists wanting to buy our children advantage, indeed the majority of us are not even dinner party goers; we just want a good local state education and for many of us that is simply not an option without moving to the right postcode. Woods also dismisses as 'prejudiced' the higher level of parents who send their children to state primary schools and then turn to private schools post year 6. What about the poor woman the Goverment tried to pillory in October because she claimed a bogus postcode to get her child into a decent school? Or the ludicrous number of parents applying to top state schools like Tiffin? Or the growing number of parents driven to educate their children at home rather than send them into schools where results are poor and bulllying rife?
The bald truth is the system is a mess and people are so worried about it they are willing to sacrifice a great deal to give their children hope.
Our children are endlesssly appreciative of the opportunity to go to a good school. At the end of last term Joe got the highest effort grade in his senior school, repaying our decision as best he can.
This is all very serious. A Government that thinks it can dismiss the agonising decisions parents have to make, with ill considered remarks, is in danger of being out of touch. In the light of Woods comments you would think that local parents like those who are working with the newly formed social enterprise, the Parent Promoted Foundation, that aims to set up parent run schools. would be welcomed with open arms. Yet their extraordinary commitment is currently being met by a wall of beaurocracy. It is a shambles that needs sorting out. Calling concerned parents names seems a hopeless place to start.
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