Kent Council backs first grammar school expansion in England in 50 years

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Daily Express, John O'Dowd, KCC, Kent County Council, Martin mcGuinness, New Grammar school approved, Sevenoaks grammar school places, Sinn Fein

Parents win in battle to provide more selective school places.

Kent County Council overwhelmingly backed a 2,600-plus name petition demanding a boost in grammar school places in Sevenoaks to meet high demand.

 Perhaps John O’Dowd and other “educational experts” in Northern Ireland need reminding of the Martin McGuinness instigated Department of Education Household Survey of 2002 in which the majority of respondents told the Sinn Fein DENI Minister that they wished to retain the 11-plus and academic selection.

 The difference in the two campaigns is the fact that 200,551 respondents took part in the Household Survey and yet John O’Dowd persists in his bullying campaign to try to eradicate grammar schools.

 Northern Ireland still has a very popular 11-plus testing system – the good news is that it is out of Minister O’Dowd’s reach.

 

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/311220/Council-may-back-grammar-school-bid

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Parents alarmed at an urgent meeting between ESAIT, CCEA and the BELB chief executives……

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BELB Chief Executive, Belfast Telegraph, CCEA, CCEA Chief Executive, ESA, ESAIT, Gavin Boyd

 

Gavin Boyd posing as Chief Executive of ESAIT, CCEA and BELB

The Belfast Telegraph announced Friday March 23rd, 2012 that Gavin Boyd was “good value” for taxpayers’ money.

A meeting of the Chief Executives of ESA, CCEA, the Curriculum and Exams body and the BELB, the Belfast Education & Library Board would effectively mean Gavin Boyd in a mirrored room talking to himself. Instead of outrage at the very idea of such nonsense, the Belfast Telegraph promote such extravagance in a time of austerity as “good value”. Perhaps they may wish to pick up the tab for this inefficiency. No matter how Gavin Boyd slices up the bacon on this porker the most he dedicate to each job is one third of full-time – an indictment which even our political representatives have been forced to address. Will the Belfast Telegraph now apologise to all those politicians they tried holding to account?

Northern Ireland Education Minister issues gaffe press release: Remedial English lesson required.

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DENI, John O'Dowd, Michael Gove, Minister of Education, NI Direct, Sinn Fein, spelling mistakes

John O’ Dowd, Education Minister for Northern Ireland issued a Press Release via the N I Direct Executive web site announcing his decision for the future of assessment at GCSE level.

Unfortunately for the hapless Sinn Fein representative the extent to which the Minister is not fit for purpose is revealed in the content of his PR. Announcing an increased emphasis on punctuation, grammar and spelling, Mr O’ Dowd includes a spelling mistake for good measure. The mistake was contained in a paragraph referencing O’Dowd’s equivalent post-holder and political nemesis in England, the Secretary of state for Education.

One may only assume that someone prepared the press release, someone proofed it and the minister actually read it prior to publication. On the other hand…..

http://www.northernireland.gov.uk/index/media-centre/news-departments/news-de/news-de-120312-education-minister-says-2.htm

Warning for Parents: School League Tables & their Limitations – the DENI ignore evidence.

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Belfast Telegraph, David Spiegelhalter, DENI, DENI Research Briefings, Harvey Goldstein, John O'Dowd, Journal of The Royal Statistical Society, Martin mcGuinness, Northern Ireland schools performance, Schools performance tables, Sinn Fein, statistical issues in comparison of schools, The Detail.tv, UUP

Absent a willingness or ability of the Detail.tv and the Belfast Telegraph to address the DENI data on pupil performance at GCSE and A-Level, Paceni offers a warning to the DENI and some reassurance to parents.

  League tables and their limitations in the comparison of institutional performance such as schools is not a new issue. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/2983325?uid=3738032&uid=2134&uid=372782467&uid=2129&uid=2&uid=70&uid=3&uid=60&uid=372782457&sid=47698738446577

Martin McGuinness banned such tables when he was Education Minister in the 1990s but his party colleague John O’Dowd has reintroduced them via the media to persist in the attack on academic selection and grammar schools. However no reference has been made by any education correspondent to an important paper published in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society in 1996.

John O’Dowd and the DENI have a statistics and research branch http://www.deni.gov.uk/index/32-statisticsandresearch_pg.htm  but it would seem that they ignore warnings provided by those who cautioned against the inappropriate use of data to compare schools. The reason is quite clear. Mr O’Dowd is stepping up his attack on grammar schools for political and ideological purposes. Unfortunately other political representatives are colluding with O’Dowd in order to panic and decieve parents. If the DENI have a response to Harvey Goldstein and david Spiegelhalter the world would be delighted to examine it.

From the provider of InCAS: a Data Protection lesson from the ICO

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CCEA, Data Protection Act, DENI, ICO, Incas, personal information, University of Durham

“All documents should be checked for personal information before being made available on a website. This case also highlights the importance of organisations having comprehensive data protection training in place for all staff.

“It is vital that schools, colleges and universities introduce robust systems to handle their pupils’ information on electronic and paper based systems in compliance with the Data Protection Act and we will continue to work with those in the education sector to ensure they are keeping young peoples’ details secure.”

DENI secret: 11-plus transfer tests receive only one complaint in 3 years

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11-plus, 11-plus tests, Assembly questions on education, Daithi McKay MLA, DUP, ESA, ESAIT, Gavin Boyd, post primary transfer, SF North Antrim, Sinn Fein, transfer system, transfer test, Ulster Unionist Party

If there was ever a need to answer the persistently wrong and ideologically failed attack on academic selection by 11-plus testing carried out by the DENI, an answer to an Assembly Question by a Sinn Fein MLA gives a resounding response.

The Question

AQW 6202/11-15

Mr Daithí McKay (SF – North Antrim)

To ask the Minister of Education how many complaints each Education and Library Board has received in relation to preparing primary school children for transfer tests in each of the last three years.

It is little wonder that there were no press releases, planted media articles or angst-filled human interest stories obediently spewed up using words and phrases such as child abuse, stress-laden, difficult, morally wrong, scandalous. The DENI have known since the Household Survey of 2002 that the majority of parents want valid and reliable transfer testing at 11. Their miserable decade long campaign has resulted in failure but the DENI promote failure by denying the taxpayers their right to regulated testing and then object to and hamper those who suceed in doing their work for them. If an example of promoting failure is required then linking the ending of regulated transfer tests to the promotion of the multi-jobbing  ESA Chief Execuive may be a good place to start.

Also note that there has been no effort by the unionist parties to highlight the response to AQW 6202/ 11-15. This may be explained by their secret desire to see the issue of transfer testing disappear or perhaps they don’t read answers that don’t refer to themselves.

The Answer

 

One written complaint was received by the Western Education and Library Board in the last three years in relation to a primary school in that area preparing its pupils for unregulated transfer tests. No written complaints were received by any of the other boards during that period and records are not kept of any verbal complaints.

 

Early warning for parents about Gavin Boyd

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Belfast Telegraph, enriched curriculum, Gavin Boyd, revised curriculum, Robert McCartney QC

For parents who want to know more about the background to concerns about Gavin Boyd’s triple-jobbing influence the following article published by The Belfast Telegraph on 22nd December 2008 is worth reading. Note also the two published comments that follow the article.

READ THIS BELFAST TELEGRAPH OPINION  

http://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/opinion/robert-mccartney-black-mark-against-reforms-14117979.html

Gavin Boyd becomes triple-jobbber

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BELB Chief Executive, Education and Skills Authority, Gavin Boyd, Rosemary Rainey

Rosemary Rainey, chairperson announced Mr Gavin Boyd as the Interim Chief Executive of the Belfast Education and Library Board to fill the void left by the resignation of the former Chief Executive on February 29th, 2012. No reason for the resignation was disclosed. The PR states that no addition remuneration will be paid on top of the £145,000+ salary that Mr Boyd currently earns.
If the Executive believe that Mr Boyd is the best candidate to fill the role at BELB instead of asking someone else to act up then it follows that the chief executives of all the other ELBs should be fired and the monies saved ploughed back into the schools budget.
Meanwhile meatings of the ELBs Chief Executives could take place in a mirrored room with Gavin Boyd talking to himself and then emerging to tell the media of his decisions. Oops – with him holding three influential positions in education despite a string of failures the MLAs had better hope he does not enter politics.