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By FIG Director
of Education
Recruitment for the new
Head-teacher is proceeding well and we anticipate the post will be filled by
September. Helen Bell has taken over
as interim head-teacher until the arrival of the new post-holder. Louise Taylor started at the beginning of
term 3 in her new role as Deputy Head-teacher. Recruitment has been completed for two teachers
for the Art and PE posts.
The process of recruiting for
the post of English teacher has commenced.
One LSA is away on medical and the school has been unable to fill this
temporary post as there are no LSAs available in the pool. A member of staff has now returned from
compassionate leave. No information
has been received about the application for a complex needs teacher which causes
concern in regard to recruitment at this late stage - teachers from the UK
need to have resigned by May 24th.
No information has been received about the submission for an examinations
officer and vocational administrator.
Mr Hill has taken on the Acting
Director’s role until he leaves the islands in August. Mrs Steen has been confirmed as the
substantive Head Teacher of IJS&CE.
Mrs Cooper takes on the Acting Deputy role until she leaves in August. Verbal offers were made during March for all
new appointments for 2013-14. As yet written offers and contracts have not
been secured by the HR dept. 4 LSA
roles have been recruited for since the last Education Board due to
resignations (many cited low pay as reasons for leaving.)
The Quality Assurance
Co-ordinator has resigned from her permanent position. She has been awarded a
one year contract to provide a quality assurance service to the Training
Centre from the United Kingdom. The Trainer/Assessor,
(Carpentry) has left to take up a managerial position outside government. An interview panel was held early in April and
the Training Centre is still awaiting approval of the Board’s recommendation
from HR.
Stanley
House reports that only one member of
staff has not returned at the start of May, this post has been covered
internally.
There is no update from the Accommodation
Working Group.
The contract for the
refurbishment of the learning support unit has been awarded and work should
start soon. This will naturally create problems of storage, noise and dust as
school continues as normal. There is a timeline for finishing of the start of
July as the new space created will need to be used for the transition process
of a student with complex needs from IJS.
Several students have been chosen for the island games in Bermuda and
we wish them every success. Recently
results were received about the music theory examinations. There were once
again outstanding with one student receiving 100%!
Students are about to go on
study leave. Arrangements have been made for supported revision to take place
with subject teachers throughout the examination period. Two students from the school were chosen to
read at the memorial service for Baroness Thatcher. They read very well.
The closure of the swimming pool
will have an effect on curriculum provision and timetabling this term. The repair and maintenance of the building
continues to cause concern. The windows in many rooms are simply inoperable
and leak badly during rain. Concerns
continue about the elderly heating system.The system has been judged to be
too elderly for a management system which would significantly reduce the
heating costs.
FICS management have recently discovered
that the school is still joined to the leisure centre for water costs which FICS
are paying and also heating costs. If the school’s heating is off so is the
heating in the leisure centre. There are also anomalies regarding cleaning - FICS
cleaners clean in the leisure centre.
Sadly there has been serious
vandalism to the 2 benches which are placed outside the school building and
were gifts from the British people after the conflict. Students were asked to
come forward with information and the police were informed. Some students
have undertaken to try and repair the damage but we fear they are beyond
repair.
The Veranda development is nearing
completion ahead of schedule. The
Sensory Garden development is well behind schedule due to difficulties with
contractors. New playground equipment
for the Pre-School and for Camp schools is currently being shipped, (supplied
through funds raised by the PTA and Camp Education Donation Fund.) Renovation
work at Hill Cove School has commenced.
Progress for Term 2 has been
analysed and a full report will be contained in the School Evaluation Form (SEF) at the end of May.
No unit issues are reported from
the Training Centre
There are 23 students in
residence at Stanley House Hostel at the moment. The new fire alarm system has now been
fitted in all three buildings. A new
fuel tank has now been fitted in Sir Rex House, this hopefully will solve the
on-going problems with the heating in this block.
Donations have started to arrive
for the open day. No comments have
come back from parents on the behaviour policy. Many of our students received certificates
at the end of last term for outstanding behaviour in school & Stanley
House.
Lucille McMullen has visited
students at Chichester and Peter Symonds; she will provide a report for the
next meeting. The LSA policy paper is awaiting Executive Council
consideration.
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