Friday brief: School leaders vent frustrations at local education authority staff churn
Here's our regular Friday news round up
School staff on the ‘frontline trying to deliver in challenging circumstances’ need more content and substance from the local education authority in the North of the county, say leaders.
Frustrations with the continual flux within the children’s services department at North Northamptonshire Council were evident at this week’s School’s Forum as criticism was levelled at the local authority.
Since the unitary authority was formed four years ago there have been three directors of children’s services and a high turnover of directors. New children’s services director Charisse Monero began her role last autumn, but despite pledging to make improvements, the school’s forum heard there is no evidence as yet.
The authority has a new interim director of education Amanda Butler who gave the school’s forum a verbal update on what is going on within the department, saying that work is underway to devise a new locality model and help families feel better supported. She also said new adverts had gone out for permanent positions and there was a new organisational structure in development.
But Principal of Kettering’s Latimer Arts College Kettering Kathyrn Murphy said head teachers were not aware of the changes and ‘there is definitely a feeling we don't know who to go to at the moment.’
The assistant director said ‘that makes me very sad Kathryn as I shared it in the newsletter three weeks ago and I shared it last week’ but Andrew Read, associate director of education at the PDET academy trust, said there was need for more than information on a sheet of paper.
He said:
“We are operating in an environment with a tremendous amount of staff change and uncertainty.
“Ninety percent of the narrative is about ‘will be’. A lot of it is about future projection. I’m thinking about it from the perspective of those people who are on the front line of trying to deliver in challenging circumstances. So we look forward to substance and content, which is about ‘are doing’ and not just about ‘is going to be done’ because people would be forgiven for feeling they need to build some confidence in the council in relation to stability and actual tangible outcomes that we can see, particularly in the area of high needs.
“I am sure there are people watching this feeling a bit frustrated that we’re still in this kind of transitional stage with things.”
The interim director said meetings had been held with heads this month and there were a number of projects that were close to being finalised.
News in brief
A million pound works project will be carried out at Sywell reservoir after a safety assessment by the Environment agency.
North Northamptonshire Council (NNC) says the project is needed to make sure water levels can be lowered quickly if the dam fails. In a 2022 inspection of the reservoir, the report identified a need to undertake a drawdown assessment of how fast the water level can go down, as well as further work to maintain the integrity of the dam.
Cllr Helen Harrison, NNC’s executive member for climate and green environment, stressed that there was no suggestion that the dam is currently failing but said it was “very important” that the council manage the project and deliver it on time.
The construction of Sywell Reservoir was completed in 1904. It was built to supply water to the Higham Ferrers and Rushden areas of Northamptonshire.
It has been assessed by the Environment Agency (EA) as a Flood Category A – the highest – where a breach of the dam could endanger lives in a community. As the landowner, the council has a duty to ensure the reservoir complies with the Reservoir Act 1975 and undertake any maintenance and repairs recommended by the inspecting engineer.
Subsequent assessments by the council’s engineers found that, in case of an incident, water would need to be drained from the reservoir faster than it is currently able to by installing a new siphon. The draining facility will only be used in an emergency when there is concern over the stability of the dam.
The EA has agreed an action plan with NNC, under which the authority must carry out works by September 2026 “in the interest of safety”. Failure to do so could lead to enforcement action from the EA.
Report by Nadia Lincoln, local democracy reporter
The former chief executive of Kettering General Hospital has stood down from a charity after a parental complaint.
As reported by the local BBC Deborah Needham, who left the hospital last year, had become a trustee at the Stillbirth and Neonatal Death Society (Sands) last month. But she has stood down after a complaint by a bereaved parent and said she did not want to cause upset. Read the BBC report in full.
A 13-year-old girl has appeared in court this week charged with the murder of a mother of three.
The body of Marta Bednarczyk, 43, was discovered at a property in Newcomen Road, Wellingborough in the early hours of Monday after emergency services were called to a fire. A postmortem found she had died from a sharp force injury. She moved to the UK in 2010.
The teenager attended Wellingborough magistrates court on Wednesday, charged with murder and will appear again in court on April 11.
A police corden remains around the scene of the murder. It is unknown whether this is the home where Marta lived.
Ofsted inspectors have rated the county’s adoption service, managed by the Northamptonshire Children’s Trust (NCT), as ‘good’.
This is the second inspection by the watchdog into the NCT Voluntary Adoption Agency after the service took over from the old county council. In the latest report, published last week on March 8, inspectors praised the service for its protection of vulnerable children and the ‘outstanding’ leadership provided by the Trust.
Ofsted complimented the agency on the quality of therapeutic parenting training, their “warm and professional” welcome to prospective adopters, and the ongoing relationships between social workers and adopters.
It also said that introductions between children and adoptive parents are “child-focused”, which helps to develop positive relationships and experience long term stability. The report noted careful consideration is given to the matches so they are placed with adopters who understand their needs.
Post-adoption support was also found to be a “real strength” of the service. The report noted: “The work completed by staff is child focussed and details children’s wishes and feelings well. Adoptive parents give consistent positive feedback about the impact of the service provided by the post-adoption team.”
By Nadia Lincoln
The Northants police, fire and crime commissioner has reversed a decision by the former commissioner for a new joint police and fire hub in Moulton.
Instead commissioner Danielle Stone’s office has this week announced that there will be a £17m fire station built at Moulton on the current site, but the proposed police station which was due to share the same site will not go ahead. Instead there will be a new site found for a new station in the Eastern district of Northampton which will eventually replace the Weston Favell building.
Alison Gaffney-Hinde is appealing to anyone who may have been affected by childhood cancer in the Corby area to get in touch.
