Alunh
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Quite a few people have written on here about
i. The size of the Superschools
ii. The Feeder SchoolsIf you actually check the stats on the Clywedog school, you will be surprised at how small this has become. It is not particularly a victim of the numbers problem.
The recent Estyn reports have noted that the problems are not as relatively evident at 11 as they become by 14 or 16; that is the Primaries are not the problem, it is the Secondaries.
The problems that are noted in Clywedog are noted in several of the local schools and 5 minutes ago it was Bryn Alyn that was provoking the problem.
It is largely a systemic problem that we have here compounded by poor management. A poor system can look ok with good management and a good system can look poor with bad management. The ideal is a double positive but clearly we have had several examples of double negatives (bad system and bad management).
The model itself is terrible and whilst the English Labour groupings have grasped the nettle on Comprehensives, those in Wales have not
One of the classic near run things was the proposed Wrexham Theatre that would have been built on the Yale College site. An ‘offer’ was made by the Welsh Assembly to provide a major capital contribution for the building of this Theatre and the Council would have had to supplement this as well as service the ongoing costs. The project was promoted as potentially a major artist and cultural centre to put Wrexham on the venue map.
So far, so good. I have long thought that a Theatre in Wrexham would provide a major cultural focus for the area.
Then came the breakdown
This was projected to be a 400 seat capacity Theatre. Oops. Given that Llandudno was 1500 seats and Rhyl is 1000 and William Aston Hall was already 900+, it was obvious that such a concept was always going to be a damp squid and incapable of attracting anyone that would be considered of star quality. Despite the input of any number of rational people who actually deployed the mathematical realities of a 400 seat Theatre, this concept almost crawled over the line to fruition. The Town/Borough escaped by a whisker on this one. This would have been one of the biggest cash drain ever
How odd
Here was I having a rant yesterday afternoon (with friends) about a subject that has been close to my heart for all my working life. I go on and make a few obvious remarks on here yesterday and then the Daily Post and Leader happen to be running a story.
The sad sad truth is that a succession of individuals are parachuted in to do a job in a system that doesn’t work. This is not JUST about the people who run the ship; the ship is not fit for purpose.
Wrexham needs to break ranks with the Welsh Assembly (not that they can in practice) and actually Educate its youngsters. A generation is being held back in this town by dogma
Education is about learning NOT politics.
Parents want their children to do their very best in school so that they can enjoy lives that are better than their own. That is the cross that parents bear!!!
Picking a school for your child is one of the most difficult tasks in life. You want your child to attend a school where they will be safe and secure and where they will fulfil their potential.
Children learn in stimulating well ordered environments where children are taught in classes that are well ordered, interesting and geared to the needs, aptitudes and aspirations of the individual child.
This is not Wrexham in 2013
Since the demise of the 1970 system (based around the Butler Act of 1944), the primary emphasis in this town has been in promoting the Comprehensive principle, underpinned where appropriate by Mixed Ability classes. The 4 Comprehensives established in 1972 were exactly the same in their texture. Once aspirational parents and aspirational pupils realised that their Johnny and Susan was being taught in classes that were child centred and mixed ability a subtle game of educational musical chairs ensued.
Suddenly, there was a proliferation of phantom Catholics and Welsh learners; Morgan Llywyd and St Josephs became quasi Grammar schools. Result. School No 1 collapsed and the old Grove Park site (now Yale) disappeared and the Groves was amalgamated.
Stage 2; Rhosddu, Borras and Garden Village suddenly developed an affinity for the country air and Darlan became the next quasi Grammar School. So too did the Maelor school in Penley. Oddly, Bishop Heber (in Malpas) suddenly found itself with a large Welsh contingent. The Groves collapsed under the pressure of Numbers
Stage 3; 2 Superschools were launched with massive investments. Appeals were made to the Welsh office to allow differenciation within the schools so that they might follow the English Academy approach. Rejection.
Stage 4; ‘Anglicans’ are now added to the Catholic faith school. More buses carry Wrexham youth to Penley, Ruabon, Castell Alun, Darlan, Bishop Heber, Kings School, anywhere.
And you wonder why we don’t reopen the Grove Park site as a school!!
Answer: we DON’T want to educate our youngsters. If we do that some of them will have higher grades than others and that just wouldn’t be fair (would it?????)
Stage
On the subject of Grove Park School/Bromfield:
In 1970 when Wrexham was a much smaller town, there were several schools in the Town itself offering a form of secondary education.
(i). There were 3 Grammar Schools complete with 6th Forms:-Yale Grammar Tech
Grove Park Grammar School for Girls
Grove Park Grammar School for Boys(ii). There were 2 Secondary Modern Schools
St David’s
Bryn Offa(iii). There was a Welsh School (ML), a faith based school (St J) and others.
(iv). There was a Tech as constituted by the 1944 Butler Act catering for those youngsters who wanted to go on to a technical education but who did not pass the 11 +
The key element here is that the 5 schools which were reduced to 4 when the 6th forms became Yale College have now been reduced to 2. Significantly, despite the fact that these schools should be full to the rafters, at least 1 of the 2 is under acute numbers pressure (Clywedog).
These are the facts and the facts spawn theories. Has anyone got a good theory because I have.
@Liam 4680 wrote:
I believe WCBC shut the Groves believing that Yale would buy it off them.
Seems a bit naive if they didn’t have any cast iron agreements with Yale. I think Yale were probably wise not to buy it given that they operate well enough from their existing campus.
It wasn’t that Yale were wise (or not) Liam. They were broke and at the time had to lay off a large strata of their senior management team. If you want to see how strapped for cash Yale are/were, compare the P/T A level offer available in Yale (North Wales largest town) with Llandrillo. It’s embarassing
Several points
Firstly; the main difficulty with the Bromfield/Groves site is the Covenant. There are technicalities pertaining to this that make it impossible for Wrexham Council to operate a free hand here. To hand, I don’t have the precise restrictions.
Secondly, the obvious thing for this site to be is a School. Wrexham has the sad sad reality of having schools with excess capacity because the schools have been so bad in the last 10 years (and more). The demographics of 2013 dictate that Wrexham should have several secondary schools full to capacity but even Bishop Heber in Malpas (as well as Castell Alun and Penley), the Welsh School and St Josephs are taking up the slack because petrified parents are running scared of the town.
Thirdly, Keynes was a moron and he was a moron of his time. If anyone actually thinks that it is a good idea to relocate money from one area (possibly a tax paying profitable business) and pass it over to another on the presumption that it will provide an economic stimulus, they are reading outdated books. I can go with the idea of capital projects but not the rest
Pricing is usually geared to profit maximising but this may be more subtle that merely marking up an item on the shelves. The Coop may well be adopting a SPQR approach to their pricing being less concerned about profits per unit and more focussed on profits overall; equally the Coop may be setting their bread prices below the normal margin to stimulate custom for their other products. Pricing is rarely done for monodimensional reasons and there will be a reason for selecting a certain formula
