Wednesday 1 August 2012

Education on the island.

A recent Estyn report on the quality of local authority education services for children and young people in Cyngor Sir Ynys Môn concluded:

Overall judgement: Unsatisfactory

The local authority’s education services for children and young people are unsatisfactory because:
  • standards for children and young people are below what could be expected at all key stages;
  • attendance rates in secondary schools are unacceptably low;
  • the school improvement service is inadequate
  • not enough progress has been made in planning for school places;
  • operational leadership in the delivery of education has not driven improvements in areas of under performance and schools and officers have not been held to account; and
  • business planning and risk-assessment processes have not been robust enough to identify and address the slow pace of progress in education services and schools.
Capacity to improve: Unsatisfactory

The local authority has unsatisfactory prospects for improvement because:
  • there has been long-term under performance at service level;
  • the pace of action to bring about improvement has been too slow in the past to assure inspectors that improvement can follow this inspection without external challenge;
  • self-evaluation processes have been patchy and progress against recommendations made in previous inspections has been limited;
  • school leaders have not been held to account; and
  • service level lines of accountability are unclear.
There is only one thing you can say - it's another damning indictment of the piss poor leadership the Councillors of the island have given us. I for one think that since power was taken away from the under performing councillors things have actually started to improve at the council. It's less me me, and more about us.

Want more evidence as to the lack of leadership - Mike Barton in his report to review the future management strategy of property assets says:

An ongoing programme of revisions to condition surveys indicates a worsening situation with regard to building conditions and the maintenance required to retain premises in good order.. .. And...

No budget allocation is available to cover other categories of maintenance, for example painting and decorating.

Yes 'what the fuck' indeed, oh and don't forget that many of these so called Councillors are Governors as well, and that many of them are still prancing around as if this had nothing to do with them.

I think Councillor McGregor got it right, when he said this morning that this was another nail in the coffin of Ynys Môn Council.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, the next logical step is a merger with Gwynedd County Council and possibly others, as we were in the good old days, when someone standing as councillor did so for the benefit of the community and not as it now seems to gain advantage for themselves and friends.

5 comments:

An Eye On... said...

Keep the Commissioners and bin the council.

kp said...

Amazed that no councillor is prepared to take responsibility.

But I guess it is precisely this sort of behaviour that will finnish them all!

Anonymous said...

You're way off. Councillors, in any Authority, not just Anglesey, are seen as meddlers by management. As they're often green in the ways of town hall bureaucracy the majority will swallow any bull**it excuse peddled to them. The ones that try to hold management to account are mainly ignored; if they get uppity they are accused of micro management or bullying. Witness Durkin, Schofield and Gareth Winston. They've all been accused of bullying when trying (and in reality failing) to hold officers to account.

The education problems (which are over stated)and property problems are down to management, lack of staff and lack of creativity. Pure and simple.

The comment by Welsh Government that this has got nothing to do with the Commissioners is also laughable. The Commissioners have taken over the responsibilites of the Executive, period. One of those responsibilites is education. They can't back track now. Intervention on Anglesey has not worked. Things are as bad now as they have always been.

Your last paragraph doesn't make sense. The councillors of Gwynedd and any other county in the UK all get paid allowances. A hell of a lot of them are out to gain advantage for themselves and friends. Nearly every county has a blogger slagging off their local council. This isn't unique to Anglesey.

Ineptitude runs through all big organisations, be they public or private.

McGregor needs to learn to work with his fellow councillors. Trying to put the knife in because of his own failure is the ultimate in sour grapes. If he was a politican who cared for Anglesey, and had any staying power he'd be looking for solutions not bellyaching to John Stevenson.

Nothing is black and white so always look on the bright side.

An Eye On... said...

If he was a politican who cared for Anglesey, and had any staying power he'd be looking for solutions

Please name a politician on this island - at any level from Parish to Parliament, capable of doing this.

Albert Owen? You are having a laugh.
Ieaun Wyn Jones ? Some mistake surely
The Councillors? Last orders at the bar.

Low grade politicians, of low grade capabilities and entirely parochial and amateurish outlook.

The political structure on Anglesey is inhabited by crap pure and simple. And not even very good crap at that. Small minded people in a small minded environment, totally lacking imagination.

Gruntfuttocks said...

Please see my comments under the blog Investment in schools above.