Another Headteacher gone from West London Free School?

[orangecurd]

According to the Good Schools Guide, Mr Naismith 'left abruptly in May 2014'. This must obviously have been in the last few days. Do any current parents (or anyone else) know more?

Blimey ! Staff are going to keep fit. Today I taught Year 7 then 10, back to 7 followed by 9. Finally 12. So I would be running around all over the place at this school. Who needs a gym (or prep time !!).

Ha! So they are being greedy! And amazingly badly-planned.

This makes interesting reading:

Boris Watch

This all makes me so bloody cross.

EMA was hacked almost the moment the coalition got their feet over No 10 and since then public money has been pissed up the wall for a favoured few vanity projects.

Absolute abuse of power.

That BorisWatch page is shocking. It's not only the money and resources that are being thrown at this school, it's that they are being taken from other groups. Charities being kicked out of their premises!

And even with all the time, effort, money and expertise that has gone into it, Ofsted only rated it good.

Honestly ladies, you remind me of those housewives who gather around to gossip about the neighbourhood when their husbands go to work.

WLFS has given hundreds of children the opportunity to have an education that is the equal to the public schools education.

I am a satisfied parent and I know what I am talking about.

Ladies? There are members of the aristocracy on this thread, wow

Skepticism about public funds being used for vanity projects by Tory donors and media shills = gossiping housewives. Righto, I'll get back to the dusting and not worrying my pretty little head about it.

Thanks for putting me in my place Zana and welcome to Mumsnet.

Oh Zana, Zana , Zana.

Do you really think that's what you're getting? (Headtilt...)

Fanny! You forgot to curtsey, don't you know there are Ladies on this thread.

Zana1 - you are seriously deluded if you believe that. Why, because they do Latin? Holland Park does Latin. There are "outstanding" schools in west London but not WLFS. Only an Ofsted "good" wasn't it, same as Acton High which Toby Young thought not good enough for his kids?

Psst, ladies, gather round I'll just pass on this piece of gossip before my lord and master arrives back from work.

Dame Sally Coates has agreed to step in and "keep an eye on" WLFS including assisting with the recruitment of a new head. I wonder if this was Toby's idea or if the DfE have stepped in?

I guess that knocking out click-bait for the Telegraph isn't ideal preparation for running 3 schools, you live and learn eh?

Oh, Zana, it'll take a lot more than your rather patronising (and sexist) post to rescue the WLFS reputation. Do you really think none of us know WLFS parents, too?

I'm guessing the only really satisfied parent in all this farce is Toby Young.

Who may be called Zana1 from time to time!

at christinarosetti

WLFS has given hundreds of children the opportunity to have an education that is the equal to the public schools education.

Really? Can we take it therefore that class sizes are no more than 20 and that they are guaranteeing predominantly As and A*s at GCSE? And how come it only got a grade 2 on its Ofsted inspection?

My dd went to another outstanding school in West London for a while - we removed her due to poor leadership. All I have to say is that if head teachers aren't cutting it then the faster they are replaced the better. DD's old school might be doing better if the lack lustre, weak excuse for a head had been quickly dispatched. Everyone knew the appointment was wrong and still knows it. The school is deteriorating, the governors acknowledge the weak leadership but "it's hard to deal with it". Not nearly as hard as during the first year or two of the appointment.

But wouldn't you be very concerned if a school has made two bad appointments within three years?

And by all accounts the staff turnover at WLFS is at worrying levels.

Yes I would but that can happen - one poor appointment followed by an appointee who is taken ill for example.

I don't know too much about WLFS - my DC are older and it was never an option for us but taking into account the lack of good schools and the general poor standards in this part of London where far too many schools in my opinion operate as secondary moderns rather than as true comprehensives there is much concern. WLFS was a lifeline for many parents for whom the independent sector was out of reach. Education in London is very different from elsewhere with far greater extremes of achievement and deprivation. Something needs to be done to provide high quality education for children whose parents provide essential services: nursing, firefighters, teachers, civil servants, social workers, etc., many of whom leave London before their eldest reaches 11. This has a massive impact of quality of life for everyone in the capital and supports the widening divide between the haves and have nots to a massive extent.

Too many of the better London schools exist with a sort of environment of apartheid between the haves and have nots where ne'r the twain shall meet.

Funny that in London with its extremes of deprivation, the WLFS, according to to the Ofsted report, has an intake with fewer SEN and disabled pupils than average, and pupil premium pupils in line with the national average. Also, in London, with its extremes of achievement, WLFS's intake start Y7 with higher standards of achievement than average.

Saviour of the poor and downtrodden it isn't.

Zana1...as a current parent can you shed some light on the reason why both heads have left?

noble I don't know if you are based in London or not but the extremes are far more pronounced than elsewhere and there is a huge difference between a county based large comprehensive and levels of relative homogeneity than there is in London. The difference between the top and bottom quartiles here is vastly different from that outside London. It would have most kindly Liberals running for the hills - in fact most of them run for the counties long before their children hit age 11 to avoid having to face up to what their children might encounter. If they didn't then the difference might not be so great but for huge numbers of people the experience of their individual children takes priority over the rest.

Windymill, the intake at WLFS is not reflective of the population around it, and in that area there are not the extremes to which you refer.

If you look beyond the £1 million terraces Icimoi I think you will find the extremes quite quickly - there is oodles of local authority housing in W6 and it isn't pretty notwithstanding White City just over the border in W12.

The planning documents that I linked to up thread have a map showing where the pupils live and some seem to travel a long way, I imagine these are the pupils selected by musical aptitude though.