13th December 2005

Written by Administrator

Thursday, 15 December 2005

We now have a Design Team (i.e. the architects) on board. The interviewing process went well, in fact it was apparently very difficult to choose between two of the four contenders but finally Fielden Clegg Bradley Architects won through. Those who turned up for the evening community meeting heard a report from the interviewing team and - with a sigh of relief - gave their blessing to the decision. The Project Steering Group confirmed the appointment a few days later, so it’s all systems go. Three members of the design team – Julia Kashdan-Brown, Andy Theobald and Keith Bradley – visited us last Wednesday morning and we discussed many issues including: community involvement, the role of the Steiner consultant, and evolving the design brief. To help those of us in the community who were not on the interviewing panel, the architects are going to give their presentation again, this will be part of the next Forum – tomorrow – so by the time you read this a very enjoyable evening will have been had, I’m sure. We will all be seeing a lot more of Julia, Andy and Keith over the coming months; one point: clear lines of communication are very important through this potentially confusing time, so if you have any questions or suggestions to do with the the design/build aspects either ask Mike Whitfield who chairs the Design/Build group or Lara Newman who will be our overall liaison with the architects. Other issues being dealt with: the Governance group are exploring how the legal structures can embody the ethos of the school; they are looking at such things as whether trustees are the way forward or perhaps a co-operative, and how the role of College could be reformed. Testing is still being gone through with a fine tooth-comb; on the one hand it is acknowledged that using a test that does not relate to our curriculum is innapropriate, on the other hand there does need to be some form of accountability. This issue has been gone into deeply and a more comprehensive report will be made in the new year. Admissions and over-subscriptions criteria are also being examined, problems we have never really had to face before! Assuming we will have more demand for our limited resources we will need clear and fair procedures for deciding who is able to join our school. Also being considered is the role of IT in the Steiner curriculum. It is clear that the Upper School has a need to take on more IT but that it is not really appropriate lower down the school. More on this issue will be forthcoming; we are thinking of inviting someone to do a workshop on how to tackle IT. Looking forward – Lara has produced a colourful chart showing what we have to tackle next term: January – finalise the admissions and testing policies, formulate the overall vision statement, form the education and design brief, and produce curriculum statements. February – agree the format and role of the ‘principal’, produce the ICT vision statement. March – agree the principles of governance and the Special Educational Needs policy. All other key Academy policies should be in place by the end of May for the funding agreement to be signed in June. And of course, during all this time we will be working closely with the design team as plans for the new buildings start to appear. Next term the community will be involved in this process in many different ways: workshops, group meetings, forum meetings – I hope everyone comes back from a Christmas break refreshed and raring to go. The last Project Steering Group meeting is next Monday 19 December. Do contact any of us it you have any issues or concerns that you’d like to air. Michael Phillips

Last Updated ( Monday, 20 November 2006 )

 

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