Financial Mismanagement at Moseley School
Readers are invited to judge for themselves just how incompetent the Moseley School Interim Executive Board was by reading this redacted Audit Report.
The two people implicated in this damning report are the two people that concerned and honest governors tried to remove but were prevented from doing so by Birmingham City Council.
Decision Report on Retrospective Planning Application - 12/07918/FUL for Grouse Cottage, Cymro Road, Gilwern
Who in their right mind would spend more than £200,000 of School Budget Share on a property with the following issues?
- Noise from the site is a problem, when the accommodation was restricted to the cottage there had been no complaints from neighbours.
- There is no information regarding the education activities.
- There is no mains water at the site. There is a private water supply and too much water is being taken by education centre.
- There are only two combined small wet rooms available for 30 youngsters and 4 adults.
- These are insufficient facilities for the numbers using this site.
- There is only a non-mains sewerage system.
- The form states that no trees or hedges will be affected by the development. This is not the case and a tree survey is warranted.
- The site is next to a SSSI and SAC, the development proposals are not sympathetic to the environment.
- The applicants have not consulted with neighbours.
- The camping proposals are particularly unwelcome and there is a question about the appropriateness of the activity.
- The form notes that there will be 30 annual trips involving durations of up to 2 nights.
- It is not worth travelling to South wales for such short trips and this aspect of the application requires clarification.
- The child are not adequately supervised as they are very noisy, often late at night and they enter private land.
- Since 2010 indiscriminate building work without planning permission or adherence to Building Regulations has taken place.
- Two minibuses will be required for this many visitors.
- There is not adequate parking on the site.
- The road is single track and used by farmers who need to move large farm machinery along the road.
- The students frequently walk along the road, which is increasingly used as a quick run for traffic.
- The safety aspect of this is questioned.
- Two full grit bins were used to get the minibuses up the road one evening in 2011 and used up the whole supply that would normally be used throughout the winter and are essential to life in this area.
Birmingham City Council's investigation and Audit Report into Old Grouse Cottage is flawed
Birmingham City Council's investigation and report into the Old Grouse Cottage is a complete and utter sham. Birmingham Audit did not interview ex-Governors who would have given a fuller picture on the origins of this enthusiasm of unapproved overspend from school budget of £131,243.
Birmingham Audit should have looked at the 2008 Terms of Reference for the Finance Committee and compared it to the 2009 Terms of Reference for the Finance Committee when Tim Boyes was appointed Interim Head as well as with the 2011 Terms of Reference for the Finance Committee* when an Interim Executive Board was in place, with a view to checking for key differences and identifying who made the changes and why?
Did a significant change to the Terms of Reference for the Finance Committee facilitate the breach of financial procedures leading to an unapproved overspend from school budget of £131,243?
* Who made the handwritten corrections in the 2011 Terms of Reference and why?
When concerned Governors saw the 2009/2010 Budget for the first time in a Finance Committee meeting held on 5th May 2009, they raised questions about the budget item 'Sch. Imp. Exp-School Priorities' because it was such a large item of expenditure of £75,000. Highly Respected Headteacher (HRH) Teflon Tim Boyes and / or Richard Potty the bean counter explained that it was for the school cottage.
A concerned governor made handwritten notes on the 2009/2010 Budget about this proposed item of expenditure. They included:
- Subject to scheme
- It belongs to school but not LA
- School owns the cottage
- Legal ownership - Mary Miles
Concerned Governors felt that £75,000 was £45,000 more than the original estimates given in previous Governing Body meetings by members of the Moseleians Association such as Keith Townsend.It seemed strange that the school was budgeted to receive £72,000 National Challenge Income - a high amount - because it was regarded as a high risk school owing to historical low attainment and yet there was a budget allocation of £75,000 for a cottage whose exact ownership was in question.
Richard Pothead the bean counter normally drafted the minutes and guess what? The legitimate questions raised by concerned governors did not appear in the next set of minutes! By then the Governing Body was preparing legal action against Birmingham City Circus for its premature and illegal application for an Interim Executive Board (IEB) whilst an Appeal to Ofsted against a Statutory Warning Notice was still outstanding. In addition, the Governing Body was also busy challenging Highly Respected Headteacher Teflon Tim Boyes for his unlawful appointment of two Deputies without following the rules for senior staff appointments (Jobs for the Boyes).
February 2008 briefing paper about school cottage
Following revelations that the school cottage has been sold due to unauthorised building work, a review of all the paperwork associated with the said cottage has been conducted. On 5 March 2008, a briefing paper prepared by the Moseleians Association was presented to the Moseley School Governing Body. Of particular interest are the following extracts:
- The property is in relatively open countryside and just within the Brecon Beacons National Park. As such the property is likely to be subject to special planning controls as to improvements and extensions. Nevertheless the Cottage is recognised as a Study Centre, although I doubt that the extensions and 'improvements' previously carried out were done in character, or may indeed not have all the consents that they should have.
- Funding is inevitably an issue, but it would help to focus ideas on that to examine aspirations and what is possible even as part of a staged process.
- Any building work needs to be done properly and not rely on various ad hoc working parties travelling from Moseley to carry out work on a part time basis as and when people are available. Appointing a local builder and project manager - architect or surveyor - is more expensive but - subject to the right choice - more certain of delivery to a good standard.
In light of recent developments, this raises several questions, namely:
- If the Moseleians Association was aware that previous extensions and improvements may not have been in character or without consent then why was unauthorised work carried out again leading to the eventual sale of the cottage?
- Where and how was funding eventually obtained to carry out unauthorised work?
- Which architect, surveyor and cowboy builder were selected to carry out what now turns out to be unauthorised work on the cottage and who selected them and how?
- Can Les Lawrence, Tony Howell and Jackie Hughes explain why all the governors were removed from the Moseley School Governing Body with the exception of Inderpal Lotay? What was so special about keeping on Inderpal Lotay? Did Inderpal Lotay have any children at the school or did he understand attainment, levels, league tables, CVA, RAISEonline more than anybody else?
- Can Highly Respected Headteacher (HRH) Tim Boyes shed some light on this affair?
- Will the Shadow Education Secretary be writing to the new Secretary of State for Education with his concerns about financial probity?
- Will the Member of Parliament for Perry Barr use parliamentary privilege to name the individuals responsible for this fiasco?
- Should the West Midlands Police Economic Crime Unit be called in to investigate this matter?
The sale of the school cottage in such circumstances is truly tragic as the cottage was originally purchased by a truly outstanding, hugely popular, highly respected and inspirational Deputy Headtacher and Biology teacher, Mr. Bullock. Former pupils will remember Mr. Bullock for his dynamic and interesting lessons and end-of-year tour of the 120-foot Moseley School tower to see Egyptian artefacts on the way to the top for a magnificent view of the City. His benevolence and legacy has been short-lived and brought to an abrupt and shocking end due to the actions of at least two culprits. Had concerned governors who were former pupils of Mr. Bullock been successful in their attempts to remove these two culprits, the train of events leading to unauthorised work being carried out would never had happened. However, the efforts of concerned governors were thwarted on at least two occasions by officials from Birmingham City Council. Instead Birmingham City Council removed governors who either worked in regeneration managing multi-million projects, or were qualified at masters level in regeneration or who were experienced company directors who advocated a cautious approach e.g. determining legal ownership of the cottage and then establishing a company limited by guarantee with charitable status before undertaking any work.
School cottage sold due to unauthorised building work
Cottage sold due to unauthorised building work! Now then...
- Which highly respected head teacher invested heavily in unauthorised building work on the Cottage?
- What is the true identity of the cowboy builder employed to carry out unauthorised building work on the Cottage?
- How much profit did the cowboy builder earn from carrying out unauthorised work on the Cottage?
- Who was the legal owner of the Cottage when unauthorised work started?
- Who was the Chair of Governors when a cowboy builder was employed to carry out unauthorised work?
- How was funding approved by the Moseley School Governing Body to finance this vanity project?
- How much funding was approved by the Moseley School Governing Body to finance this vanity project?
- How much was the Cottage sold for and did Moseley School receive any small change? If so, how much?
- Who is the new legal owner of the Cottage?
- Has Tim Boyes ever been a member of the Moseleians Association? If so, when did he apply for membership and when was membership granted?
Maybe Keith Townsend has some of the answers. Afterall, he was so determined to infiltrate the Moseley School Governing Body in order to join three of his buddies from the Moseleians Association who were on the Governing Body, overseeing many years of lamentable academic performance and discrimination at the school.
Meanwhile Tim Boyes has been elected Chair of the Birmingham Education Partnership (BEP) by his peers! You could not make it up, even if you tried. Heads get the leader they deserve. To sign up to the BEP, please write to:
The Finance Office, Queensbridge School, Queensbridge Road, Moseley, B13 8QB
If you require any refurbishment, please contact Tim Boyes and he can recommend an excellent cowboy builder to carry out any unauthorised work, no questions asked.
The Shadow Secretary of State for Education should ask the new Secretary of State about financial probity in respect to the school cottage.