(not satire – it’s the Tories!)
(UPDATE: The Cameron government has decided today to hand the school over to one of his party donors: Government defies campaign and forces Hewett School in Norwich to become an academy)
It’s a sad reflection of the all-pervading stench of corruption in the UK today that this is not a front-page scandal worthy of ministerial resignations.
Before the election stops them, the Tories have been rushing to hand over a state school – with substantial lucrative real estate and assets – to a private chain of schools owned by one of their donors despite protests from parents.
In fact just about everyone in the local community is against this so-called ‘forced academisation’ of Hewett School in Norfolk.
Even the local council has threatened the government with High Court action – all to no avail.
The story began when Hewett’s Ofsted score strangely plummeted in just 18 months from ‘good’ (May 2013) to ‘inadequate’ in all areas (October 2014). Governors who were ‘communicating well’ in 2013 were suddenly deemed to be failing in 2014.
That was when the DfE started talking about handing the school over to a private school chain – the Inspiration Trust – owned by Tory Party donor Sir Theodore Agnew.
The Inspiration Trust was in the news last year when emails showed that pro-privatisation Ofsted inspectors had been ‘cooperating’ with them over inspections:
Emails expose how superhead’s schools knew Ofsted inspectors were coming
As a result of Ofsted’s inspection, the governors of Hewett were sacked by the DfE and the local authority’s choice of governors was also rejected with no reason given; the DfE simply put in their own people instead.
Then the government cut over £400,000 in funding to the school and the DfE also refused Hewett money for essential refurbishment work.
And now the school is to be handed over to Inspiration despite protests from local residents, parents, pupils and even the local authority.
Hewett was formerly 3 schools joined into one, hence the site is enormous: a juicy chunk of prime real estate in the centre of Norwich.
Could the government’s determination to let Inspiration get their hands on it have anything to do with the fact that Inspiration Trust’s existing school in the area – Jane Austen College – is lacking in adequate grounds?
Or the fact that Inspiration is owned by an important Tory Party donor?
Of course not.
More information on the campaign to save Hewett school here:
And on Facebook:
.
Please feel free to comment. And share.
nearlydead said:
Reblogged this on nearlydead.
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Pingback: Tories rush to hand over lucrative school to party donor before election | Alternative News Network
gingerblokeblog said:
Reblogged this on gingerblokeblog.
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Neo-Pelagius said:
Apparently Co-operative Trust Schools, especially when they form clusters, are a good way of avoiding these vultures?
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Miles King said:
extraordinary as this story is Tom, you have missed a connection.
Theodore Thomas More Agnew is younger brother to UKIP farm spokesman, chicken farmer and decarbonophobe John Stuart Agnew MEP.
Small world eh?
Miles
>
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anemoneofpromise said:
Reblogged this on anemone of promise.
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jaypot2012 said:
Reblogged this on Jay's Journal.
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tunefultony said:
Some are saying that UKIP-pers are only the Tories in purple ties, but this is misleading…. The Tories are in fact UKIP-pers in blue ties!! 🙂
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aboriginalpress said:
Reblogged this on .
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beastrabban said:
Reblogged this on Beastrabban’s Weblog and commented:
I’ve heard similar stories like this from elsewhere in the country, where previously ‘good’ or ‘excellent’ schools have suddenly found their Ofsted scores dropping and the management of the school’s governors criticised. And years ago, Private Eye carried the story about how the construction of privately run academies and free schools was being pushed, despite the fact that the numbers simply weren’t there to support them.
This all looks very, very much like the Tories doing what the Tories do best: selling off state assets cheap to their little donors chums.
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sdbast said:
Reblogged this on sdbast.
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A6er said:
Reblogged this on Britain Isn't Eating.
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Billy Tail said:
DEATH PARTY http://glynismillward189.wordpress.com/2014/11/20/read-it-and-weep/
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Jo said:
billy tail that has brought me to tears…why are there so many sweeping what this hideous criminal syndicate has done and is doing (tip of the iceberg, I know this list is too large to read in one sitting if the truth were uncovered…my thoughts) but 1 person is 1 too many for them not to be took to trial…this list alone requires the law to intervene…yet nothing. A disgrace and I believe Hitler would raise a smile now for winning .
ps The school selling is a tyrant disgrace too
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maxwell1957 said:
Reblogged this on Maxwell's Mostly Irrelevant Musings.
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patricknelson750 said:
Reblogged this on patricknelson750.
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Pingback: Victorian Tory education policy: no disabled, no redheads and young children in forced isolation | Pride's Purge
Felicity BAUMFLOUGH (@Baumflough) said:
This doesn’t surprise me. My sister and I are waiting for the Golden Handshakes to Academy Heads if the Tories don’t get back in.
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