Goodbye, good riddance and good luck to Tim Boyes, back in his old job!
The nightmare at Moseley School is finally over. Interim Head Teacher, Tim Boyes failed in his attempt to secure the post of permanent Head Teacher of Moseley School (Jobs for the Boyes). All his plotting, planning and scheming - from one destructive structural solution to another (National Challenge Federation, National Challenge Trust, Trust School, Foundation School) - to secure the prestigious post of permanent Head Teacher of Moseley School has been in vain and his reputation lies in tatters. He managed to alienate Moseley School Governors, members of the local community including community leaders and elected members with his obnoxious views that have no place in a diverse city like Birmingham.
When his school, Queensbridge conducted its consultation exercise to become a Foundation School, the event was held on the day of one of the most important religious festivals for a significant group of parents. When Moseley School conducted its consultation exercise to become a Foundation School, members of the local community and local community organisations were deliberately excluded on grounds that have no legal, moral or political basis but on dubious grounds of collective punishment. The idea that Birmingham City Council promotes equality and Community Cohesion is disingenuous On his watch, Moseley School failed its OFSTED Inspection (Notice To Improve) and early indications suggest that Moseley School failed to improve on its 2010 GCSE results.
Readers will recall that within months of Tim Boyes being appointed as Interim Head Teacher of Moseley School in 2009, the Moseleians Association published a webpage that was grossly inaccurate and misleading by stating blatant untruths such as a hard federation had been established between Queensbridge School and Moseley School, in a so called anonymous amalgamation and that Tim Boyes had been appointed as permanent Head Teacher of the enlarged school! Who gave the Moseleians Association such inaccurate information to publish?
Tim Boyes smeared and instigated the removal of the Moseley School Governing Body with the support of cronies in Birmingham City Council such as Cllr. Les Lawrence, Tony Howell, Revd Jackie Hughes, Andrew Dixon, etc. Following the removal of the Governing Body, an Interim Executive Board was established, initially chaired by Thelma Probert OBE. Ms. Probert (OBE) was forced to resign with immediate effect when it became public knowledge that there was a potential and serious conflict of interest. Not only was she the School Improvement Partner for Queensbridge School (a paid post) where Tim Boyes is the substantive Head but when she was Head of Golden Hillock School, she had a Deputy Head called Mr. T. Boyes! Questions were raised whether she could really act as a critical friend in her paid role as Chair of Governors of the Moseley School Interim Executive Board.
One of the justifications used by Tony Howell to remove the Moseley School Governing Body and appoint an Interim Executive Board was to raise standards under the National Challenge Programme where all secondary schools in England were expected to achieve an unambitious minimum standard of 30% of pupils passing five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths. (In the good old days, Moseley School pupils were expected to pass at least eight GCE O-Levels or more if they wanted to stay on to study A-levels). The best result that Ms. Probert (OBE) achieved at Golden Hillock School was 24% of pupils passing five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths. More than three-quarter of pupils did not make it on her watch. Despite her risible record for academic attainment, she was the School Improvement Partner for several secondary schools in Birmingham!
It is also interesting to note that Tony Howell and OFSTED did not intervene to remove the Governing Body when Moseley School hit rock bottom in 2006 with a pass rate of 15% for five GCSE subjects at grades A*-C including English and Maths. That's probably because the Chair of Governors who had Full Spectrum Dominance as the Chair of Finance as well as the Chair of Personnel was a salaried employee of the education establishment, namely as Assistant Head of School Effectiveness for another Local Authority. But when parents and members of the community undertook leadership positions on the Governing Body and challenged the school over historical low attainment and culture of lame excuses, low aspirations, low expectations and discrimination, only then did Moseley School come on Tony Howell's radar.
Parents, families, local communities and taxpayers have to pick up the pieces when state schools fail to produce pupils who are literate and numerate to an acceptable standard. With education in such a dire state, the Conservatives have little choice but resort to the nuclear option of breaking up a national unified education system by encouraging schools to become Academies and free of damaging and malevolent Local Authority control and influence. The Conservatives' laudable attempts to drive up standards in the 1980s and 1990s through the introduction of Governing Bodies with parent and community representation; league tables; regular OFSTED Inspections and testing at key stages; a national curriculum, etc., have failed to drive up standards sufficiently and fast enough and structural solutions offer the only viable way forward.
There are nearly 1200 vacancies for school Governors in Birmingham with the highest proportion in the parent category. Surely, this cannot be by accident. The Interim Executive Board at Moseley School does not have a single elected parent governor that represents the majority of parents served by the school. It's almost as if Birmingham has an unwritten policy of keeping parents out at all costs. When Stephen Pollard published an article in the Daily Telegraph in 2010 warning the new Secretary of State about the opposition to reform he would face every inch of the way from the education establishment, a parent related their own experiences as a school governor in three schools. The parent claimed that the constitution of each Governing Body was carefully controlled such that the majority of Governors were either Local Authority, Local Authority-selected placemen and staff Governors. Local Authorities such as Birmingham are more interested in power, control and influence instead of driving up standards and ensuring schools comply with all their legal obligations. Former Governors of Moseley School can fully relate to the comments made by the Head of Perry Beeches School when he describes his experiences in dealing with Birmingham City Council as failing children, lacking the ability to lead, playing political games and having no honesty, transparency or fair play.
A golden opportunity now exists for the new Head Teacher of Moseley School to make a fresh start for Moseley School by tackling the root causes of historical low attainment at Moseley School that were highlighted by the January 2011 OFSTED Inspection / Report; reviewing relationships with Queensbridge School and organisations that have no experience whatsoever in running a complex inner city school like Moseley; addressing the issue of unlawfully appointed Deputies; restoring Moseley School's former reputation for academic excellence and high aspirations, by raising standards and attainment; following a traditional, rigorous and demanding curriculum that is valued by universities and employers alike and that will give children from this community the opportunity to compete with the rest, the best and the privileged for credible jobs, degrees and careers; and ending the discrimination that children of Moseley School have been suffering for decades with the complicity of officials in Birmingham City Council whose views on education are completely at odds with the aims and vision of the founding fathers of the modern education system.
The Moseley School Parents and Community Association (MSPCA) welcomes the appointment of a new Head Teacher for Moseley School and wishes him all the best in transforming the school to make it the best performing inner city school in Birmingham.
