Waynetta’s world

An open letter to Jimmy Foreman

Today’s meeting of the Cabinet of South Tyneside Council will consider a report setting out a new general policy that attempts to limit the number the number of successful planning applications for hot food take away shops in the borough.

Many of our recognised retail areas have a number of hot food take-aways at present, an indication of the general demand for such facilities (they wouldn’t be there if people didn’t want to use them), and in some areas we are actually losing good general retail space to make room for them. In South Shields 14% of our retail outlets have been given over to cafes and restaurants and a further 6% are occupied by hot food take-aways, does this indicate that many of our residents have a lifestyle which reflects that of Waynetta Slob (pictured), the character created by Harry Enfield?

One might argue that the modern lifestyle revolves around a couple with 2.2 children both working who have little time to prepare and cook their own food and therefore rely on a convenient supply of burgers, fish and chips, kebabs, Indian curries, pizzas, and Chinese food, yet at the same time there are areas in South Tyneside where unemployment is still unacceptably high with couples and single parent families relying upon the same sources for their meals. The applications for hot food take-aways would not be so high if the demand for their services was not there, and after reading in the News of the World on Sunday of the lifestyle enjoyed by Karen Matthews I was struck by instant recognition of a number of similar scenarios that I could point to in South Tyneside. We are in danger of allowing our residents to live in Waynetta’s world!

As a libertarian I will say that it’s their choice to live this way, to shop in these places, and to feed themselves and their children with an unhealthy diet high in saturated fats and carbohydrates. So whilst people want to use the facilities of hot food take-aways then why not let them?

There are a number of other disadvantages to allowing this market free and unfettered access to our High Streets of course, they nearly all (without exception) create problems with car parking, particularly between the hours of 6.00 p.m. and midnight when local residents hear a constant stream of car engines coming and going to make use of limited parking space. Many of them are the cause of increased litter problems, especially at weekends, some of them create odours , and some become the focus for attention from groups of youngsters who seem to enjoy flocking to a lit window like moths to a flame. This can be intimidating for ordinary law abiding citizens making their way home at night. Again, an illustration of Waynetta’s world.

Yet, the demand for these products and services need not necessarily be as high as it is at present if we start a massive educational onslaught against our children to help them enjoy the benefits of knowledge, and learn all about food, it’s preparation, and cooking. These skills were once passed on from mother to daughter (and even to sons) and yet as far as I can remember have never been given a general high focus within the educational curriculum. Some very basic cooking skills are being taught in South Tyneside schools from an early age (i.e. years 1 - 4) and the skills curve starts to rise again at year 7. However, the time and intensity given to the subject needs to be amplified, encouragement needs to be given to all pupils of both sexes to learn culinary skills between years 7 and 11 and in further education. Community education needs to become involved too for adults looking to further their knowledge and skills, community projects need to be initiated to involve as many sections of the community as possible, our community centres, clubs, and associations have a role to play too. Once culinary skills and talents are established the skill base will again start to widen as the knowledge gained starts to be disseminated amongst family groups.

This is the the way to break out of Waynetta’s world Jimmy, but first you need to be brave enough to break out and away from the national curriculum, and to establish a new pattern in South Tyneside which stakes a great pride and emphasis in increasing knowledge of healthy easy cooking and eating. You should be pressing your Cabinet colleagues to follow your lead in this venture and impressing upon them the benefits of health, fitness, and more importantly a lessening of the demand for hot food take-aways in our retail areas. the consequences of which will be a releasing of more square footage originally intended for general retail use.

Councillor Jimmy Foreman as the Lead Member responsible for education in this borough you have an important and pivotal role to play which overlaps into other areas of the region’s lifestyles, you can be instrumental in driving a cultural change which will benefit us all, and your lead could create a model which other authorities might follow and it could become a catalyst for much better styled shopping areas in the future.

People make better choices when they are better educated, and the culture of Waynetta’s world can be eradicated.

:: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: :: ::

Quote of the day

“It is time for a re-think by the Government on what constitutes real success for pupils before the push for better results, increased monitoring and more measurements means young people can only function in a society which has been so spoon-fed that it cannot think for itself and cannot challenge and grow in the future.”

Julia Neal - President, Association of Teachers and Lecturers

Please read this, and discuss.

South Tyneside school Ofsted inspection waste of money

St. Mary’s Tyne Dock inspection this week

I know that South Tyneside Council and it’s local education authority is not directly responsible for the scheduling of Ofsted inspections of schools in South Shields, but this week’s inspection at St. Mary’s primary school, South Shields, by the education watchdog bothers me. So much that it ought to be described as a complete waste of public resources.

The school has recently been operating under “special measures” designed to bring it up to standard after poor Ofsted inspections in the past, and has also been earmarked for closure. The final decisions on the closures under the TOPS (Transforming our Primary Schools) are now not due to be taken until after the May local government elections, which will conveniently take account of political considerations for certain schools such as St. Bede’s in Jarrow. However, it is understood that St. Mary’s, Tyne Dock will amalgamate with All Saints C of E primary school at it’s site in Biddick Hall, South Shields, at the beginning of the next autumn term. Pupil numbers at St. Mary’s have been allowed to reduce drastically over the past couple of years and moves are already progressing to appoint a new head for the amalgamated school.

So what, exactly is the point of driving forward an inspection of a school doomed to closure? Why spend this money at all, and what affect does the inspection have on the morale of the staff who are about to move to a new location? One hopes that the result of the inspection might vindicate the work by staff at St. Mary’s and show a massive improvement in standards since the last inspection, such a result might also sit kindly on the CV of one Karen Pemberton the head teacher of St. Mary’s.

Just six days ago Ms. Pemberton was reprimanded by the General Teaching Council in Birmingham where she admitted unacceptable professional conduct. The former head of Eastbourne School in Darlington (also operating under “special measures”) was reprimanded for failing to keep an accurate register at the school, which had one of the worst truancy records in the country, she was suspended from the school after a damning audit by Darlington council in May 2005. Under Ms. Pemberton’s headship the Eastbourne School was ranked 182nd. out of the 200 worst secondary schools for GCSE results and was amongst the 200 worst secondary schools in England and Wales for truancy. The GTC reprimand will remain on her record for the next two years.

So it may be much more to her advantage than that of her staff and pupils to achieve a good inspection this week from Ofsted.

Boarding schools for “looked after children”

Cllr. David Potts suggests offering high quality education

I’ve been thinking about Cllr. Potts’ idea for sending South Tyneside children in the care of the local authority to boarding schools as (a) an option for offering improved academic standards and (b) a cost reduction exercise.

Bearing in mind that the Conservative councillor for Cleadon Village and East Boldon is only making a proposal, which may gain greater popularity in areas away from South Tyneside, it is worth applauding him for bothering to think about new radical ideas if nothing else. Personally I would rather younger children are brought up in a family environment more in keeping with (or better than) what they are used to. Older children may appreciate the proposed option as a personal choice, although I wouldn’t be keen on making it on their behalf. It also needs to be remembered that the biological parents often have visiting rights to take into account.

Any options which offer responsible choices at affordable prices are worth considering, particularly if the educational establishment is one with a proven record for quality.

No need to dismiss the proposal out of hand, but no need to set it in stone either.

MacEducation

New government backed diplomas

I wonder how successful this idea will work out to be?

There are many good British companies that offer extremely good structured training for their employees, training which equips them to do the job to the best of their ability within the framework of the company’s mission statement and culture. Problem is that the culture and values of one company may not easily be transferred to another company when the time comes to move on.

The ethos of making working and learning more attractive for young people is noble enough, however, one might have thought that more emphasis should have been put on gaining those qualifications in schools or colleges that would result in young people being equipped to find that first job.

Will a MacGCSE be any good for making pies at Greggs? 

South Tyneside College

Still supplying marine expertise

In an uncertain world it is good to see that people are still looking towards South Tyneside College for expert marine advice.

Michael Hubble, 62, of Kent has been facing charges of manslaughter over the deaths of three yachtsmen in the English Channel, he was cleared of all charges. The jury were unable to reach a verdict on charges brought under the Merchant Shipping Act.

During the trial, jurors were told by the defence team that experts from South Tyneside College calculated Ouzo was close to a 3,000-ton coastal tanker called Crescent Beaune at 0140 BST on 21 August.

South Tyneside College is facing a challenging future as we rebuild our educational establishments within the borough to meet the needs of the next generations, we all hope that it retains it’s special status as a centre of excellence in the education of marine cadets for which it has earned a worldwide reputation. We also hope that the redesigned college retains a planetary observatory, which currently, appears to be under threat.

The end of the nativity play

Only one in five schools plan nativity play

Only one in five schools are ­planning to perform a traditional nativity play this year. They are now outnumbered by schools that say they will be either putting on a non-religious play, such as Scrooge or Snow White, or giving no performance at all.

This annoys me every year, we get to read the same story in the newspapers, but year by year as surveys are completed the numbers fall, the traditional story of Christmas is further threatened and education suffers as a result. The standard message is that we don’t want to upset the sensibilities of other faiths. Yet we can quite happily allow our children to learn about Jewish, Islamic, or Hindu religious festivals without causing any upset at all to anyone!

This is a problem which affects schools in South Tyneside too, not only do some of our schools dispense with the traditional Christian message and theme of Christmas, they then go and spend sums of money buying up licensing fees to produce secular plays (and a small profit for the authors.) Do they really need reminding that the nativity as related in the gospels comes free of charge!

There should be no fear of proclaiming Christmas, there should be no fear of relating the message of the birth of Christ, if we are to provide any religious education in our schools then we ought to be tolerant of all faiths, without giving the impression that Christianity is to be hidden away.

Praise for South Tyneside schools……..

……..but questions remain over leading councillor.

At times, I have nothing but praise for councillor Jimmy Foreman the Lead member for Lifelong Learning in South Tyneside, as he has an absolute passion for food young people and his their future weight problems prospects, so really I ought not to trivialise his achievements. He wouldn’t want me to heap additional praise upon him anyway, he would rather I praised and thanked the children, young people, and teaching staff who work so hard to get an improved report from Ofsted. Which, of course, I am only too happy to do - well done everyone!

But the question remains, at just about every available photo opportunity, why is “school dinner Jimmy” pictured next to food, have we ran out of books or something?

Tidy them up

Cameron in “smarten up” call to school children

O.K. so it’s not a spanking brand new fresh idea that nobody has dared to think about before, more a reminder of how things ought to be done, however David Cameron’s sentiments on school uniform policy are essentially right.

A uniform policy is a sensible idea for most schools to operate, it introduces a basic set of rules for everyone to follow, an essential start in understanding discipline and conformity, and uniformity blurs the distinction between the haves and the have nots.

A shirt tucked in, and tie with a uniform width properly adjusted to the neck should not be beyond the achievement of most children and parents. Yet it is so common to see children in this borough (and countless others) with shirt tails flapping in the breeze below blazers, ties with knots the width of yacht sails and the length of a matchbox dangling four inches below an open collar, and expensive trainers that have seen better days treading upon overlength trousers. It suggests a very casual attitude and does not portray the pride with which schools would wish to be associated.

It may be an old fashioned idea to smarten up, and my comments will no doubt upset a few, but suitably turned out students (like those pictured) look as though they mean business and are ready to go about learning in an earnest way.

So why knock it?

New Executive Director for South Tyneside Council

Replacement for Kim Bromley-Derry

I understand from various customers that South Tyneside District Council is to offer the job of Executive Director or Children and Young People to Helen Watson who is currently Deputy Director Children and Families at North Tyneside Council. It is not know as yet if she has accepted the offer or whether she has experience in massive reformation of primary school structures.

She faces a challenging start to her new office and I wish her well.

18.00 Update

North Tyneside Conservative councillor Hugh Jackson says:

“I am, and always have been, impressed by Helen Watson whenever I
have had any dealings with her. To be honest, I rather hope that she does
not get the job, because I’d be sorry to lose talent!”

Looks like we may be on to a good ‘un!