I recently gave a talk about transforming public services and positioning them to respond to the challenges they face. Dramatically reducing funding, being divested of their provision, changing working practices, becoming customer focused, commissioning services; these are all things the public sector are facing.

I talked about the need for leadership and not just management, the need to have a clear vision, to know what you want to achieve the need to take risks. However mostly I talked about the need to create a culture that is fit for the business one needs to do. A culture that lets all see “how we do things around here”, or “how we behave around here”.

In the public sector we spend a huge amount of time on reorganising and restructuring our organisations and on producing brilliant plans for the future.

Actually our main effort should be on creating the culture that will drive the behaviours we want. Great people doing great things will deliver great results. We need to establish the behaviours we want and reward them, recognise them in our appraisal systems and communicate them to our staff and customers.

All too often we forget to do this and then wonder why our great new plans are delivering exactly the same as our rejected old plans.

On Saturday it was Beyond Westminster, Tuesday LBC and the paper review and Thursday the Report on Radio 4, to listen follow the link..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015crkq

The programme was questioning the validity of the dramatic fall in reported numbers of permanent exclusions in schools. Whilst none of my children have been permanently excluded, they have had fixed term exclusions, huge amounts of time in the withdrawal room and spent long slugs of corridor time which surely has to be the biggest waste of all!   My god son, was forced to change school because of his behaviour, he did spend weeks at home as this was sorted out with no education, he did move to another school, he did end up in part time provision in a Pupil referral unit and predictably a very bright boy did not get five GCSE’s. So it wasn’t just my professional experience that  lead me agree to try and explain the exclusion system to the radio programme it was my personal experience of what happens when it simply doesn’t work.

The programme looked at several aspects of exclusion, I focussed on the “managed move”. When the managed move happens because a school has run out of patients with a pupils behaviour, it is in fact an exclusion by another name, it has the advantage for the school of not being classed as an exclusion, so it does not show up in the Department for Educations figures, in theory it also has the advantage  for the pupil of allowing them to start a fresh in another school without the stigma of being excluded.

The child does start in a new school with a different cohort, and this can be the break they need from their old peer group to  give them the chance to start a fresh. In reality more often than not the challenging behaviour they demonstrated in their previous school follows them to the new one and it is not long before they start the cycle of temporary exclusions and eventually another move or a permanent exclusion.  

The programme did not focus heavily on what can be done to ensure no child needs to be excluded or “moved” . Whilst I accept that there will always be the extreme situations that may require excursions or a fixed term or permanent  basis I do believe a large number can be avoided.  The real trick to keeping children in the school of their choice, is not a  magic wand in the cupboard, it is providing pupils with great teaching and learning, in a well lead school, with clear vision, good teachers and excellent relationships with parents.

Sadly when schools are not run well in England, the governors, school leaders and all too often the media,  blame the children, poverty, delinquency and poor parenting.  You only have to look at a school like Woodside in Tottenham which is achieving far higher than the national average in 5 GCSE’s with English and maths in one of the most deprived, and as recent events show dysfunctional, areas of the country. They don’t have a magic wand they Joan McVittie, a truly great head teacher, who has driven a high quality teaching and learning environment.

We can’t clone Joan’s but we can learn from what she does and share her good practice.

I was on Radio 4’s beyond Westminster programme on Saturday morning. I was interviewed about Academies and Free schools, 11 minutes into the programme you can hear my dulcet tones.

I hope I was able to simply explain how the funding works and expose the myths and truths!

Click on the link below to listen

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b015bgvc

From an idea for an education company I am now mortaring a long and have publically stated an intent to buy the Place group. Very exciting times for us.

This was the announcement made on Thursday last week.

 

WEY EDUCATION PLC

(“Wey” or the “Company”)

Memorandum of Understanding to acquire The Place Group Limited

Wey Education Plc, the PLUS listed education business is pleased to announce that the Company entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) on 14 September 2011 to acquire the entire issued share capital of the Place Group Limited (“PGL”), a specialist Programme Management and School Services Company (the “Acquisition”).

Background

PGL is dedicated to the education sector and its mission is to help schools develop their visions, strategies, infrastructures and environments to create the best outcomes for young people and ultimately their families and communities. PGL has recently re-secured its position on the Department for Education’s Education and Project Management framework and has successfully established over 70 Academy and Free Schools including three of the first twenty-four free schools to have opened this month. PGL has worked with over 800 schools on everything from implementing leadership programmes and placing interim strategic leaders into highly challenged schools, to developing student and parent engagement strategies.

For the year ended 31 December 2010, PGL reported turnover of £5.65 million, a gross profit of £1.99 million and a loss after tax of £0.80 million. The published net assets of PGL at 31 December 2010 were £0.72 million. During that year, as a result of a change in government policy, a number of PGL staff were made redundant at a cost of £0.56 million. Other measures have also been undertaken to return the underlying PGL business to profitability.

The directors of Wey believe that PGL has taken the necessary steps to re-focus the business which Wey believes has a number of complementary synergies with its own strategy.

Following the Acquisition, Simon Rule and Claire Delaney, the CEO and Managing Director of PGL, will join the Wey Board as joint Managing Directors.

Consideration payable and other conditions of the MoU

Pursuant to the MoU, the entire issued share capital of PGL will be acquired for a consideration of £1,650,000 to be satisfied by the issue of 11,000,000 Ordinary Shares in the Company.

The Acquisition is conditional upon the completion of satisfactory due diligence and entering into a definitive Sale and Purchase Agreement. The MoU contains a long stop date of 15 October 2011 (or such later date as agreed between the parties).

The acquisition of PGL would mark an important milestone in Wey’s strategy to build a global education business. PGL and Wey share the same vision and passion for education and how it can create life chances for young people. Together they have the expertise to establish, run and operate outstanding schools across a broad spectrum of educational approaches and curricula in a diverse range of settings.

Simon Rule, Chief Executive of PGL commented:

“The potential acquisition of PGL by Wey is an exciting one for us. As the education landscape in the UK changes and evolves, PGL will be able to accelerate its development in outsourced services for schools and help drive efficiency through the system to ensure maximum funding reaches the learner. PGL has built a reputation in being first to market and successfully implementing policy into practice. With Wey we will innovate, create, and deliver new services to drive excellence throughout the education sector.”

Zenna Atkins, Chief Executive of Wey, commented:

“I am delighted that following a period of constructive negotiations our first significant acquisition is close to being substantially completed. We and the owners and management of PGL share a common education vision. We both recognise that PGL brings significant benefits to Wey and that Wey brings significant benefits to PGL.

We will continue our strategy to grow our business both organically and through acquisitions and believe that this acquisition will be invaluable in the creation of shareholder value as our strategies are implemented in the future.”

In the wake of the News of the World’s closure, phone hacking hystira and shamed blaggers, we are left wondering how it happened and what the consequences are.
At points we all think the ends justify the means. Exposing Watergate, sexed up dossiers, abuse in care homes. Speeding with an unconsious son to hospital, the white lie to make someone feel better, whistle blowing using company documents. Bending the rules and turning a blind eye are part of everyday life, often a necessary part.
What keeps these actions within the bounds of the publically acceptable? It’s the thin line of the moral compass. The ability to reasonably balance the value of the outcome with the necessary means to deliver the outcome.
In everyday life we do this for ourselves on a daily basis. In the work place I firmly believe that responsibility for plotting the coordinates of a company’s moral compass lie with the board and the very top level executives. If the board fails to set a clear tone and culture a clear compass, it is inevitable that employees will not just cross the invisible lines of decency but trample right through them.
So whilst I will still advocate a hungry investigative journalism culture in the UK and lament greatly any dumbing down or censorship thereof, I will not mourn the passing of a business whose board has lost the ability to set a decent and acceptable moral compass for its workforce.

Private firm sniffs a profit in coalition schools policy

Company run by ex-Ofsted head in pitch to investors as Michael Gove says changes will offer genuine alternative

A private education company run by a former head of Ofsted has told investors that the coalition's expansion of academies and creation of free schools will create more opportunities for private firms to make money.

Wey Education's statement to potential investors says the government plans will "create increased opportunities for private sector companies to manage and run state-funded schools at all levels".

It also says it can deliver better teaching at lower cost in failing schools, as it has identified "significant savings" in secondary schools' existing financial models.

Wey Education, which is led by the former chair of Ofsted Zenna Atkins, intends to "play a major role as an outsource provider of management services to schools providing state education … taking control of all aspects of the day-to-day running of such schools".

While free schools may not be run for profit, they can contract out school management to private for-profit companies.

The government has received 281 applications to open free schools from September 2012. These included a proposal from Everton FC to open a school that would use sport to engage children at risk of exclusion.

Speaking at the Policy Exchange thinktank in London on Monday, the education secretary, Michael Gove, said: "Even when there are places at local schools, they're not necessarily the type of school places parents are happy with. A choice between two things you don't want is hardly a choice at all. Free schools offer a genuine alternative – and they have the freedom to be different."

Like academies, free schools can set aside the national curriculum and vary teachers' pay and conditions. Many propose to extend teachers' hours to give children a longer school day.

Gove was accompanied at the speech by Michael Wilshaw, headteacher of Mossbourne academy in Hackney, east London, who is proposing an overflow free school to cope with demand from parents. Wilshaw said: "We turn away over 1,000 children every year. It will be a Mossbourne two, in the south of the borough, where provision is not that good, offering a balanced and broad curriculum. Our aim is that 70% will do the English baccalaureate."

Free schools were the most prominent part of Cameron's "big society" idea, encouraging parents and teachers to create their own schools. But earlier this year application rules were tightened up in a way that made it more challenging for community groups.

Detailed financial proposals now have to be presented in the initial application, before groups are eligible for grants to help with planning.

Critics seized on details of Wey Education's statement as an indication that rather than empowering parents, free schools will allow state schooling to be privatised. Mary Bousted, general secretary of the Association of Teachers and Lecturers, said: "This is about the private sector coming in and raking off profits and assets from schools, taking taxpayers' money away from state education."

Atkins, chief executive of Wey Education, said that companies brought in to run academies or free schools would be held to account for pupils' results, meaning they could not simply cut costs without risking losing business. She said: "Half of children are failing to get five good GCSEs including English and maths. When you have a state sector in this country which has failed to do that, I really think the profit motive is a red herring."

However, Gove's speech on Monday was attended by a number of parent and teacher-led free school groups.

Kerstyn Comley, one of thea parent involved in a free school proposal for Wapping, east London, said: "There's a huge shortage of places borough-wide. By 2014 we will be 240 places short. We decided that we had to do something about this as a parents' group."

The Wapping group advocates an extended school day with compulsory afterschool activities, including setting up a newspaper, playing football and polo classes. Comley said: "It will be quite a small school, with 81 students per year. The schools in Tower Hamlets are all pretty large."

She added: "We're not political. We just want a school that's good for our kids."

Like many free school backers, the Wapping group faces a challenge in finding a suitable venue. Comley said: "Where we are is next to the City of London, and if you're looking at private property it's City of London prices."

Tom Shinner, a history teacher working on a free school proposal for Greenwich, south London, said: "Like Mossbourne we'll have high expectations, a 'no excuses' approach. There will be an extended day, from 8am to 5.30pm, and a broad range of extra-curricular activities which every single one of our kids will have to take part in: debating, competitive sport, a model United Nations. We'll have more teachers and fewer non-teaching adults in school, fewer teaching assistants and fewer admin staff."

Rachel Wolf, director of the New Schools Network, said that her group had been "inundated" with applications. A hundred free schools could be created by 2012, and several hundred by 2015, she said

I recently went on my first visit to Leicester. I went to give a talk at the Young, Gifted and Equal Awards for Schools and to the de Montford University distinguished speakers series.  
The young, gifted and equal scheme was pioneered by Leicester and has been rolled out nationally. It aims to promote equality, inclusion and the celebration of diversity in schools. Across the city, schools use tools provided by the scheme and there is an awards event to celebrate schools that have won in different categories. Every school that won put on a performance. It was lovely seeing how the children had embraced the themes. They had all found ways to explore cultural, religious and class difference and found ways to bring fun and enjoyment to often weighty and challenging issues. They calibrated different foods, types of dance, religious practices and put on performances to reflect their learning. Seeing this interfacing and celebration made me reflect again on the agenda of single faith schools, whilst I accept that many religious people want their children to understand and follow their faith, does it help create an integrated society that is accepting and tolerant of difference? Would we in fact be better off with multi faith schools for the religiously minded parent?
Certainly the children’s performance that I watched convinced me that investing in programmes to help children undertake and enjoy each other is very worthwhile indeed.

I was asked to talk about why I had listed on the Plus market www.plusmarketsgroup.com and what the listing experience was like.

Having to do the talk helped me to consolidate why I had been so keen to be the boss of a public listed company and why I felt it was good for education.

I started by talking about who I am, the usual stuff; mother, dog owner, school failure, I then went on to talk about the companies I had founded and worked for, the executive roles in Government and charities and the non executive roles I have held, and how the theme running through all of them, was my passion for improving outcomes through common sense business practice. This lead to me revealing, I have never worked in a listed environment and I am always keen to do something new!

In addition to the novelty factor, listing Wey Education had the obvious attraction of being able to raise money, and as well as the obvious I like the transparency and rigor of the regulated environment. Standards that have to be met, reporting requirements, if you are using public money in big conglomerates, privately owned companies or even charities it is very easy to be opaque. It is hard to see what is happening to the tax payers’ pound, however in a single issue listed company like my education company, listing gives the public a very clear view of what is going on. There is far greater accountability which is important to me.

Of course by listing, anyone with a few pounds can buy shares and actually “own” a stake in the company, again an appealing concept to me.

From day one a significant part of Wey’s growth strategy has been to acquire existing businesses working in education, and listing offered the opportunity not only to raise money for acquisitions but to be able to aquire for paper, in an other words buying the target company for shares in Wey.

Being able to offer staff a stake in the business through shares or options is also a real bonus, as of course is having shares myself so I can actual accrue some capital, this is great for me as any money that comes into the bank goes straight out! I have no savings, no pension and a mortgage till I am 73! So having shares in Wey might be my old age saving grace!

Giving the talk brought home to me the daftness of the stereotype of the private sector world, as seen by the public sector. It is not about whether you make a profit, it’s about whether you made a difference for the same cost to the tax payer and whether children are getting a better education, better results and better life chances. As long as it doesn’t cost the tax payer more and the tax payer can see what is going on, the focus must be on getting better outcomes.