Guest blog by 'Mistleflower'
The cull in the summer resulted in the end in
Copland losing around 60 staff, most
taking ‘voluntary’ redundancy either because they were desperate to get away
from the last regime’s shambolic mismanagement or they saw the way the wind was
blowing with the new one (cut Copland to the bone, close it down, flog it off).
Many of the teachers who left were happy, like myself, to do supply teaching
rather than stay.
I now hear that Phase 2 of the process has
begun. Around 50 support staff have been
informed that 32 of them are to be made redundant. These include such people as
library staff, pastoral support workers, science technicians, mentoring staff,
caretakers, ICT technicians and, ( in the week that ex-Copland footballer Raheem
Sterling was included in Roy Hodgson’s England squad for the World Cup
qualifier), the football coach. Apart from the obviously essential nature of
their work, people like these liaise with parents at
difficult times, help motivate students, keep them on track and generally promote
the social cohesion which is at the heart of any school community. ( Those wielding
the axe might need to look up those two
words ‘heart’ and ‘community’).
As in July, in all of this, agreed procedures
are being ignored, possibly illegally.
Phase 3, it has apparently already been
announced, will take the axe to the Teaching Assistants, the staff who provide
in-class support for children with special learning, language or emotional
needs, ( Every Child Matters is soooo last century).
After that? Well, what remains of the place is
still sitting in a very nice location and the few staff who remain can maybe
get jobs helping to clear the site for the next Carpet Warehouse. One way or
another, it looks like it will be an Absolute Return for someone, but clearly not for the current kids and staff at Copland.
