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William Ellis School; inset: the council’s warning |
Secret message to school: Beat debt or lose control
Special report: Private paperwork reveals council threat to take charge of famous boys’ secondary unless massive £500k debt is cleared
EDUCATION chiefs have warned staff and governors at one of Camden’s most celebrated secondary schools that they will lose the right to run it – unless a £500,000 debt is swiftly paid off.
The New Journal has seen internal documents which show how Camden Council has laid down the law to debt-ridden William Ellis in Highgate Road, Highgate, and issued its strongest possible threat.
In simple terms: If the books are not soon balanced, the Town Hall will take over the running and assume control of every important decision affecting the boys’ school.
William Ellis has lost its headteacher Richard Tanton, who resigned last month, but the school has responded by bringing in a new bursar and governors, while its acting head Malcolm Rose has secured the confidence and support of parents and colleagues.
The message coming out of the boys’ school is that, while nobody is burying their heads in the sand and there is frankness about the need to increase class sizes and agree support staff redundancies, it’s still “business as usual” for staff and pupils.
Yet, no matter how strong the goodwill and the stoicism in the ranks, the financial cloud is likely to hang over the school for the forseeable future.
By any yardstick, the sanction of losing control of its own affairs would be an embarrassing low point for a comprehensive considered one of the best in north London and unthinkable to a governing body which includes Fiona Millar, the campaigning education journalist who was once a Downing Street aide to Cherie Blair, Dr Fiona Macintosh, a research fellow at Oxford University, QC lawyer Nicholas Blake and crown court judge, His Honour Ian Karsten.
It is chaired by another respected silk, Vernon King, who insiders have said has played a pivotal role in trying to turn around the school’s financial misfortune.
Camden has taken the rare step of issuing an alert known as a “Notice of Concern”.
It means Camden’s finance director Mike O’Donnell and Richard Lewin, an assistant director in the education department, have put down in writing a demand for the school to get its books in order – or face the consequences.
Issued in November, it said: “If the notice is not complied with or there is insufficient evidence that the school is making progress in reducing the deficit in accordance with its budget plan, the authority may take additional action.
“This could include requiring the school to consult the authority before it takes any significant financial decision and ultimately withdrawing delegation.”
Paperwork released to the New Journal under the Freedom of Information Act also confirms for the first time that William Ellis has been battling against a staggering debt of £541,918.51.
Documents show that a rescue battle plan includes giving governors new training in financial management and there has been a review of how the school recruits staff and how it spends money.
It was reported earlier this year that a large share of the debt was caused by problems surrounding the school’s decision to order in a new boiling system.
Mr Lewin said in a letter to the school, representing more or less a final warning: “The deficit is significant compared to the school’s budget and the school will need to take difficult decisions and exhibit financial management to ensure that the budget is balanced.”
The school has until the end of 2009 to break even. William Ellis has in turn assembled some new faces to work with its high-brow list of governors.
With Mr Tanton gone – he was signed off sick in his last fortnight in the job and apparently left with such swiftness that he was unable to say goodbye to everyone he wanted to – Mr Rose has taken up the reins on a temporary basis, for the moment at least.
Many parents and ex-students – known as Old Elysians – say they are surprised he hasn’t been handed the top role at previous opportunities, given his 35 years of service at the school.
He joined as a geography teacher in 1973 but is better known as a successful head of sixth form, where generation after generation of students from the school’s Hampstead and Highgate catchment area have proved themselves Oxbridge material.
Mr Rose said in his first newsletter to parents: “It may be of significance that in the 1990s I was also responsible for the budget setting, monitoring and control processes at William Ellis, a period where the school ended each financial year with a small surplus.”
He jokes that his nickname might be ‘Mr
Chips’ after the character from the novel and film Farewell Mr Chips about a schoolmaster who spends his whole career at the same public school. He is likely to stay in the post until January 2009 with governors insisting they won’t be “rushed” into finding a definite replacement for Mr Tanton.
Mr Rose added: “My key message is that the school is looking to the future, will work to full capacity to maintain the high standards associated with William Ellis and earn the confidence of families who placed their trust in us.”
Other recent additions to the school’s line-up are Patrick Carter, who joins as bursar and will be meeting regularly with the council to discuss a step-by-step recovery, and new governor Alan Chesters – who is a governor at South Camden Community School in Somers Town to help. He is husband to Pam Chesters, the former leader of the Conservatives at Camden Council, now chairwoman at the Royal Free.
But in his own right, Mr Chesters is regarded as one of the most committed volunteers in Camden’s family of governors and is expected to be able to provide welcome expertise and experience to the rest of the board.
Mr King confirmed in his latest despatch to governors that mentor posts will have to be axed and class sizes will increase.
He said: “The principal saving in terms of posts is the deletion from the structure of five learning mentor posts, and the creation of one exclusion room supervisor.”
He added: “I would not wish to undervalue the work of our mentors, but their work can be undertaken in different ways and by different people, with teachers taking a greater role.”
The warning from unions is that William Ellis is in such an unusually bad financial situation and facing a tough timetable to rectify it that there will inevitably sharp savings that could affect the school’s performance. The larger the class sizes, the argument goes, the less support for students.
But Mr King added: “Class size is an emotive issue but I do not believe that this proposal will impact on the achievement of boys in these subjects.” |
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