Telford & Wrekin Council Watch

TROUBLE HITS THE SUTHERLAND BUSINESS AND ENTERPRISE COLLEGE  -------- AGAIN !!!

The Sutherland Business and Enterprise College in Trench Telford was recently found to be providing an INADEQUATE standard of education for over 500 pupils in a recent OFSTED Inspection. The school was also issued with a notice to improve and OFSTED have confirmed that the school is classed as a CONCERN.

The Chair of Governors Councillor Keith Austin also decided to only issue parents with page 13 of a 14 page report which is a breach of their legal requirements.   

Students at the college are now starting a petition at the school because they are concerned at the standard of education being offered to them with a great concern being on the subject of English.

Approximately 12 months ago an English teacher left the school on compassionate grounds, but unfortunately, at least 30 pupils were then not adequately taught in this subject.

Over the last 12 months, students saw at least 10 different teachers drift in and out of the classroom and not one teacher carried on teaching where the other left off.

Over the course of this 12 months, students work went unmarked, coursework was not checked and a number of students coursework has now been lost at the school by one of the many teachers that drifted in and out of the classroom.

Students today said,

“The last year has been extremely unsettling for us. We never had a regular teacher, we were often left to our own devices and had to regularly go to the offices to find out if we had a teacher to teach us”

“Our final examinations in English start next week, now we have the additional burden of having to complete a years worth of coursework and get it marked before our examinations start”

“I am one of the fortunate few who have backed up all my coursework on a memory stick, but other students are not that lucky”

“We do not need this kind of pressure this close to our examinations. Some teachers have no problem in suspending children for minor issues, but teachers are allowed to get away with providing a poor level of education and get away with it”

A parent of pupils at the school said today,

“I have grave concerns about what is happening at this school, my concerns have  been expressed to the Head Teacher and the Deputy Head in writing but they refuse to sort out parents concerns adequately”

“I have a meeting with the Head Teacher next week, if my concerns are not addressed adequately, I will have no alternative but to go to the Local Authority and the issues raised could then be forwarded to the Government Ombudsman”

“I have spoken with pupils who are very concerned and would urge every parent who has a child at this school to raise concerns with the Head Teacher immediately.”

“It is not appropriate that children are not being taught to the required standards and it is not acceptable that children’s coursework is lost or at best unmarked this close to their final examinations”

“The school is playing Russian roulette with our children’s education, some of whom have special educational needs and someone must be held to account”

“I note that the Council and Chair of governors remained very quiet when the results of the OFSTED Inspection were released in the Shropshire Star, this is not acceptable and education in the borough has had no effective leadership since the departure of Christine Davies”

The school and the local Authority have a duty of care to our future generations, this is certainly not being implemented at the moment and the current year 11’s at this school are likely to produce the worst set of results this school has seen for sometime, yet the school is not bothered.

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Telford Council Watch