Gower school islington

[BeenieBaby]

Anyone have any experience of this school? We're keen on a Montessori education, but this school seems to have a bad rep, we weren't sure why... Anyone know firsthand what it's like?

And perhaps you haven't noticed, but there aren't any parents responding to your posts.

Where do you get that from, Truthseeker? You can't have read the thread if that's what you think.

I for one is an ex parent, and it is clear from the posts above that many are parents, mainly ex parents.
I agree I think this is Emma Gowers Husband, but I guess he wants to help her out. Unfortunately he does not see the full picture.

Truthseeker2014: Just helping you with the truth. The following posts are from past AND present parents at the Gower School: Molella, EcoRI, STD85, NorthLondondad, 3ToldbyanIidiot9, Mercymee and silverandgold. Additionally a waste amount of posts from parents were removed by Mumsnet, because "someone" complained. I wonder if that may have been your wife or someone else you know well. Your comments are very transparent, and I understand you want to support your wife in this time of turmoil. But the best way you could do this and help her turn things around, would be to eat a bit of humble pie together and take on board the critic and try and rectify some of your shortcomings

I can assure you I'm not Emma Gower's husband.

And if you really are a parent, you should be asking the questions that I posted above. Use your brain here for goodness sake. If a teacher had a genuine grievance, he or she would take it through the proper channels. Unions are there to help teachers take schools to tribunal - it's what they do. Obviously Emma Gower has no real case to answer or her ex-staff wouldn't be posting on here: they would be working out how much money they would get in compensation for being 'bullied' or 'unfairly dismissed' or whatever.

Parents always blame the school. But whenever you get trouble like this in independent schools, the teachers are nearly always behind it. If you really are a parent at The Gower School, you should be glad that Emma Gower evidently stands up to teachers in her school who are guilty of misconduct, instead of allowing them to act with impunity (as most independent schools do), so as to avoid being blackmailed. It could only happen in the independent sector where schools are dependent upon fees for survival. But it does happen - and frequently.

Truth seeker, I don't believe you to be the husband of EG but I do believe you are someone close to management. What makes you think EG has not paid out compensation? How will I find out this information, I'm sure it's something EG will keep quiet?
There are valid answers to all your questions, but the questions you ask are of a personal matter.
You mention 'the management are held ransom' is this not a poor reflection on the management team. You are here defending TGS but you have just made it clear that the management are unable to do their job.
Why don't you ask EG how many of her staff are part of a union? The answer is at most 1. This is due to TGS frowning upon staff being part of a union.
Also how are these posts libellous if they are true?
The staff and parents are voicing their views on mumsnet as they feel they are not getting the right support from EG.
Truth seeker I'm sorry you feel so angry about these 'accusations' but remember 300+ posts can't be put down to spite.

Also you seem to go on about unions. Well you're probably not aware that in government schools one if the first thing they ask is 'would you like to join the union'. This was not the case in TGS. A union will not accept anyone who has an existing issue. Due to the low pay in TGS, the last thing someone wants to do is add an extra bill at the end of the month.
Also ask your self how many members of staff at TGS have previous experience in education? This is not a reflection on their practice but to highlight that many aren't aware of unions. Throughout my time at TGS I was under the impression unions didn't support staff who work in private schools.

Lies, lies, lies.

Every teacher in the world is a member of a union. And no school organises that or has anything to do with it.

As for 'might have been paid compensation', not without going to tribunal, you haven't. And that would have been reported in the press.

Do you really think people are this stupid?

Anyway, I've said my piece now. I hope Emma Gower takes you to court for libel and wins. She'd have a very strong case.

Not every teacher is a member of a union, if that were true then the staff in TGS would be.
As you say schools do not organise it but they do advise you, clearly this is not the case for TGS.
The press are not informed every time staff take their employer to a tribunal court. If they are informed it's down to their discretion to print it or not, depending on the severity of the case. How do we know something hasn't been printed?
You complain about the staff not taking the proper channels, having a low level of corruption and discrediting the school. Your comments are slightly hypocritical. Remember you have done the same thing.
Like I said parents and staff have not been listened to by EG. This is something you can't ignore. We're not all on here to discredit EG. If you read through the thread you will understand that we just want the school to improve. I don't want future staff to experience what I have and I don't want future parents to experience what others have.
I can see your judgement is clouded as you are obviously close to someone in management, but please respect our views. If you question us, you are free too, but please do it with a little less hate and aggression.

Truthseeker: I'm afraid you are rather uninformed. You obviously have had a bad experience as part of management at another independent school and now feel the need to find allies. There is not one profession where everyone is part of a union; that's a ridiculous assertion. Anyway, I think perhaps not commenting on things you know nothing about would be good advice in your case.

Of Course not everyone is a member Of a Union, and clearly not everyone wants to be, and as someone says, they will not deal with ongoing issues if you join after you have a problem. I do not understand why truth seeker was talking about liability either. The number of teachers leaving is too high and that is a fact. People are leaving the school to move there kids to other local schools, not just because they are leaving london and there are no PTA, how can that be considered untrue?

You can pay out without going to a tribunal - espcially if you want to keep it quiet. So, unless you are very close the EG or TGS then you simply have no way of knowing whether any money has been paid out or not. If it had then no doubt EG would want it kept confidential.

Frankly, that would reflect even worse on the teachers, wouldn't it?

Having witnessed all this mistreatment of children (food being withheld, etc), they have ignored safeguarding protocol, failed to alert the proper authorities (or even the parents) BUT accepted money from Emma Gower?

Well, as an ex-employee of The Gower School, you would know better than me. However, I wouldn't advise you to go shouting that one from the rooftops.

What would reflect even worse on the teachers? Accepting a settlement before going to tribunal? I'm not quite sure what you're talking about. I am not an ex-employee at the GS.

You said that if a teacher were paid compensation we would know about it as it would be in tribunal.

I am saying that is not necessarily the case. For whatever reasons there might be, cases are usually settled well before they reach arbitration stage. That fact is entirely separate from any issue to do with the GS and yes I am more than happy to shout that from the rooftops - why wouldn't I? It's entirely correct!!!!

Not every employee that has been bullied has the strength to fight and they should not be judged for that. I can imagine that employers are more than willing to pay for a settlement BEFORE it reaches a public arena to avoid scrutiny.

Look, these ex-employees of The Gower School say they witnessed children being mistreated. Why didn't they tell anyone at the time? Why are they saying this now on an internet message forum?

I highly doubt that any of them were paid any money. And if they were and they accepted that money but still didn't alert the authorities, that makes them doubly complicit. And probably criminally so.

Teachers have a duty to protect children, you know. And there are ways in which they can do that anonymously.

They are not the innocent party here.

Ok, well that's a different point to what you're saying above (that if anyone had been paid any money then we would know about it).

Truthseeker, your beef is just with ex-teachers who have written posts on mumsnet or current teachers also? Just GS teachers or all teachers?

I see you have written on another thread about a very serious topic. There are no such accusations at GS.

My point is that corruption is rife among teachers in independent schools in London. This is fact, not opinion.

For example, it is commonplace for parents to have the personal email addresses and phone numbers of teachers, and for teachers and parents to communicate outside of school and without the school's knowledge. It is not unusual for teachers to be invited to children's birthday parties and to accept. Or to tutor the children that they teach outside of school. All of these things are serious breaches of safeguarding protocol (as well as breaches of contract) that teachers are explicitly told not to do in safeguarding training, but they do it anyway. Parents, who ingratiate themselves with teachers in this way, buying them extravagant presents at Christmas, etc, in an attempt to curry favour, do not understand that:

1. They are putting their children in situations that make them vulnerable to abuse (people who groom children generally do so by 'befriending' parents and gaining their trust, and this is why teachers are not supposed to give out personal contact details and attend birthday parties, etc);

2. They are putting teachers in positions of power, particularly in independent schools, which are reliant upon fee paying parents for survival. Teachers like this are unmanageable: they do what they like, and any attempt to stop them results in lies being told to gullible parents, who then blame the school.

This goes on in most independent schools in London, where there is an unspoken rule among teachers that they are in charge. For the most part, management teams allow it to happen, because any attempt to stop it would result in - well, this. Now you might say that these are examples of low level misconduct (they're not really, but relative to the really awful things that can happen in schools, you could make that case). But where low level misconduct goes unchallenged because managers dare not challenge it, teachers dare to do worse things. The fact that there are "no such accusations at GS" doesn't surprise me, because here you have a management team that has stood up to misconduct, despite knowingly damaging the school's reputation among parents. That's a good thing, by the way. It means they put the children first. The same can't be said of most independent schools.

Truthseeker, Many thanks for your input. To help clarify things for parents on this thread please let us know if you are
A parent or former parent, teacher or former teacher, related to Gower school management, legal counsel??
Thank you.

I'm not connected with The Gower School, I'm just offering some insight.

Truthseeker I understand what you are trying to say but I can guarantee you TGS is not like that. I have quite a bit of experience when it comes to private schools. Are you aware TGS is a nursery and primary? Your comments seem to fit secondary schools more. The average wage in TGS is £14,000-£17,000, some even less, and also in the majority of private nurseries. At that wage they are easily replaced and disposed of. Like mentioned before the staff turnover rate is huge, therefore why would unhappy staff be leaving? Why wouldn't they just use the 'power' they have to 'control' the management to get what they want, but they don't, they leave.
If you aren't someone close to management you have clearly had a bad experience and I'm sorry for that but I'm afraid you have it seriously seriously wrong when it comes to TGS. All the points you make are invalid as no one will ever know the truth when it comes to certain incidents. What I do know is that everyone has come on here, parents and staff to voice their concerns on incidents they have witnessed or to share their experience of TGS.
Also if this is all a personal vendetta why hasn't EG given parents the chance to voice their concerns with her? Instead people felt they had to come on here to get their voice heard. If EG had followed the correct protocol then this thread would never have escalated the way it did.

I think you're being a bit disingenuous there, Daisycake. Well, either that or you're a parent who has been misinformed.

No qualified teacher in London (or anywhere for that matter) would work for £14000 - £17000, so we are talking here about nursery teachers. I think (though I am inferring somewhat) that you are talking specifically about Montessori 'teachers'. To be clear: Montessori 'teachers' are nursery nurses. A Montessori qualification is usually equivalent to NVQ Level 3 (depending on the awarding body, of which there are several), but it is not as highly regarded by Ofsted. Now, a salary of £14000 - £17000 is very good for a nursery nurse, particularly when that nursery nurse is only required to work term time only. Most nursery staff working in day care centres earn a fraction of that, and they are required to work year round. Like it or not, that is market reality.

The issue as to whether you or anyone else has the right to comment on what Emma Gower pays her staff (who obviously agreed to work for those salaries in the first place), much less comment on them on an internet message forum, is another matter. Personally, I think you are on very shaky ground, both morally and legally.

As for why the staff turnover rate is 'huge' at The Gower School, I would hazard a guess that staff leave before disciplinary procedures are instigated against them. That's what normally happens in these schools, and I have seen it happen many times. These rotten apples come in, create havoc with other staff members and parents, then leave before they are sacked. And the reason why Emma Gower 'hasn't given parents the chance to voice their concerns with her' is obvious. Well, it is to me, anyway. Would you want to face an angry lynch mob?

My experience is with independent primary schools, by the way, not secondaries. I notice that the teachers have all gone quiet. They know that what I am saying is true.

Wow. If you read the thread you'd know I'm an ex member of staff. I agree no qualified teacher would work for that salary that's why EG doesn't employ anyone with QTS.
The staff work at TGS all year round and work long days for that wage and like I mentioned before it's not just TGS it's all private nurseries. That doesn't make it right. The private sector are taking advantage of the current economical crisis, but that's a different arguement.
You speak of the montessori diploma not being highly regarded, well I agree but TGS is apparently a montessori school. So commenting on the qualifications of staff doesn't make TGS look great.
You may not like the fact I commented on the wages but I found it necessary to explain to you that someone who is on a wage of £14,000 or is hardly someone who will overpower the management. If they do overpower management wouldn't their first point of controlling them be a pay rise?
If TGS thought these wages were appropriate then why don't they state the pay in their job applications like any other job?
From my experience at TGS I don't believe I'm on shaky ground at all.
There seem to be a lot of 'rotten apples' at TGS then, which if this is the case, which I know it's not, then it doesn't look great on TGS screening program. I can guarantee you that the huge amount of staff that left TGS had nothing to do with misconduct. If there has been any misconduct which could lead to disciplinary action then legally EG has an obligation to report it. That's obviously not the case as we would have heard about it.
Regardless if you believe the parents to go in as a lynch mob they still have the right to be heard, this has been denied, and yet EG is still denying a PTA.
You need to realise there are so many unanswered questions on this thread. If there was no wrongdoing at TGS then why haven't the parents concerns been addressed?

The reason I question whether you know someone in management at TGS is because some of your comments make it clear you haven't read the thread. You seem to speak about it quite passionately even though you are apparently not personally involved.
Everyone on this thread is personally involved and you seem to disregard over 300 posts.