I sent the response below to the consultation on the future of the sixth form. As well as arguing for the retention of the sixth form, and pointing out the serious flaws in the way the issue has been handled, I call for a fundamental change in the school’s direction and leadership.
Response to the consultation on the closure of Seaford Head Community College
Tom Roper, parent of students in Year 11 and Year 9 and convenor of Keep Seaford Head’s Sixth Form http://keepseafordheadssixthform.wordpress.com
The history of public concern
1. This consultation comes too late. It should have taken place before the governors unilaterally decided to suspend the sixth form last year. As a result, students feel betrayed and parents feel disenfranchised and alienated.
2. Large numbers of parents, students and local people supported the campaign against the closure. Many signed petitions, online and on paper. The campaign held the first demonstration in Seaford for many years, and was supported by the town council, county councillors and the local MP.
3. Many teachers also said they supported the campaign, but felt they could not say so publicly for fear of victimisation, an alarming sign of what one described as a ‘culture of fear’ in the organisation.
The benefits of a sixth form
4. The sixth form plays an important part in the academic life of a school. The example of students studying at an advanced level, and going on to university, offers benefits to the whole school. Teachers in particular appreciate the intellectual challenge of teaching their subject at that higher level.
5. There are other benefits: the sporting and cultural lives of the school are enhanced. It is unluckily that the dramatic or musical productions of recent years could have taken place without the involvement of post-16 pupils. The achievements of the netball team rest on sixth form involvement. The school’s specialist status in sports and science, much vaunted, will be under threat.
6. Behaviour too is improved by the presence of more mature students, and the currently ineffectual anti-bullying strategy is unlikely to make progress of the sixth form is closed.
7. Significant public investment in the school, achieved on the basis that the school would offer a full educational programme, will be wasted.
8. Apart from the immediate loss of teaching and other staff jobs, it will become far more difficult to attract the best teachers to the school.
Wider issues
9. I currently work in further education after some years in universities. In both sectors, we fight constantly against students’ perception that higher education is for the elite. The work we do to broaden participation is undermined by the closure of the sixth form, and by the prejudice against academic achievement shown in such remarks as the sneers at the ‘Oxbridge culture’ of sixth form work spoken by one representative of the school at the recent consultation evening.
The potential
10. The numbers enrolled in the sixth form have fallen, but the current year 11, if offered the opportunity, could well have reversed the trend. The timing of the closure is bizarre. If closure were necessary, it would have made far more sense to close when numbers were at their worst, rather than when they were recovering.
11. The demographic analysis offered as justification is insufficient as a basis for closure, and lacks the necessary long-term perspective.
Some alternatives
12. If, and it has by no means been demonstrated to be the case, a Seaford Head sixth form is not viable, one would expect the school to explore a broad range of alternatives.
13. No effort has been made to explore the possibility of keeping post-16 studies in the town in collaboration with other providers, either public sector providers elsewhere in the county, or private sector providers such as Newlands School.
14. That post-16 education is expensive is undeniable; the point is that it is money well-spent, to prepare students for higher education, for employment and to lead civilised lives
15. Some tried to defend their decision by claiming that the school had no choice and was following central and local government policy. The letter sent to parents last year announcing the suspension suggests otherwise. In it, the decision is presented as that of the governors alone. The absence of county council representatives, either elected members or officers, at the recent consultation meeting, is significant. The example of Ringmer shows that sixth forms can be viable for much smaller communities than Seaford, if they have the imaginative leadership required.
16. The derisory budget allocated to promotional activity shows that no serious effort was put into attracting students, either form Seaford, or from nearby areas. One option would be to keep the sixth form for a two-year period, to allow the necessary serious effort and resources , hitherto lacking, to be put into marketing the sixth form.
The way forward
17. Whatever decision is taken about the future of the sixth form, and many feel this consultation comes too late, the vents of this academic year have raised serious questions about the way the school is managed, questions which need to be tackled.
17.1. The school conducts its affairs in secret. It was necessary for the campaign to resort the Freedom of Information Act to see the minutes and other papers presented to meetings at which the decision was taken.
17.2. The school shows no commitment to talking to and involving parents. When I asked why parents were not consulted about the suspension decision, I was told it was because there was no ‘requirement’ to do so. It is a disgrace that the senior management of the school only talks to parents when required to by an external body.
17.3. Governors do not consider themselves accountable. In particular parent governors failed throughout to take up issues raised by those they are supposed to represent. In spite of several invitations, the principal and chair of governors refused to debate the issues in public.
17.4. The senior management of the school, in particular the principal and the chair of governors, lack the vision and leadership skills the school now needs. We urgently need a change of personnel at the top, and with it a change of direction. Without a new leadership that understands its responsibilities to students present and future, to parents and staff, and to the community as a whole, the school will continue to fail.
The need for change
18. In conclusion, in the interests of the school and of the town, fundamental changes in direction and management are necessary. I hope the school will learn from its recent experience and make those changes.
Tom Roper
2 May 2008
Tags: consultation, seafordhead, seafordheadcommunitycollege, sixthform
