Headteacher Quits City’S First Free School - Anand Primary

[singhbj singh]

Headteacher quits citys first free school

The headteacher of the Black Countrys first free school has quit her post - and the schools controlling body has disbanded less than a year into its existence.

Anand Primary School opened its doors in Wolverhampton in September last year.

But it can today be revealed the body set up to oversee the running of the school has agreed to relinquish its control amid fears about the low number of pupils - just 20 - on the school roll.

The Wolverhampton Sangat Education Trust is to fold after its board agreed to allow the Birmingham-based Nishkam School Trust to take control of the school.

Headteacher Kulbinder Kaur Pouni, who took up her post in September 2013, told the Express & Star she had resigned and would be leaving on September 1.

The news comes just a week after the Government gave the go ahead for 38 new free schools to open by September 2015, including another one planned for Wolverhampton.

They are created by groups of parents, teachers, charities, businesses, universities, trusts, religious or voluntary groups, but funded directly by central government.

Anand Primary was set up at the former Orchard Centre in Great Brickkiln Street with the aid of a £220,000 grant from the Department for Education (DfE).

It received a further £1.6 million from the Government last year to build an eight-classroom extension.

It is run with Sikh principals but open to people of all faiths or none, aims to have 420 pupils on its books by 2019.

But only 20 children started classes last September - 40 fewer than the initial target of 60 starts.

And a letter from the Wolverhampton Local Education Authority sent out to governors in February stated only 14 pupils had put the school down as first choice for next year.

Teja Sidhu, who was part of the schools pre-opening steering group, said: The low number of pupils on the school roll is clearly of great concern.

But it is disappointing for Wolverhampton that a city with the second largest Sikh population in the UK cannot run its own school.

Robert Cooper, spokesman for the Department for Education, today said Anand Free School was a small primary school set up in direct response to demand from parents.

It has only been open for nine months and it is perfectly normal for any type of new school to take time to fully establish itself, he added.

Source - http://www.expressandstar.com/education/2014/06/24/headteacher-quits-citys-first-free-school/

[chatanga]

Not off to a good start, but whats alarming is that its next to an area with a big catchment area in wolves, yet none of the Sikh parents are sending their kids there.

[singh598]

Not off to a good start, but whats alarming is that its next to an area with a big catchment area in wolves, yet none of the Sikh parents are sending their kids there.

Its no good creating a project when you can't see it through

And yet they have Sangat TV aswell to promote it. What a bunch of cowboys.

[chatanga]

Its no good creating a project when you can't see it through

And yet they have Sangat TV aswell to promote it. What a bunch of cowboys.

The project is a good one, but you need to have good governence and support. The Gurdwaras that supported this school inc Sedgely St, with all its sangat, yet none of the parents wanted to send their kids there. They should have supported the school.

However all is not lost as the Soho Rd lot are taking over.

[cool water]

Big failure of project management and marketing. If you dont have proper qualified experienced project managers who can oversee tasks and prioritise them to meet criteria and completion deadlines then you have these kind of results.

And as for marketing obviously it wasnt given the publicity it should have got among the Sikh sangat in wolves. If the curriculum didnt emphasis strong academic work and results and strong Sikh ethos then Sikh parents would be reluctant to send their kids to a school that doesnt give their kid the best start in life.

The best schools in the UK are faith based schools because of their strong emphasis on education, discipline, values and as a result push and support kids to do the best in their academic work. The better the school does in exam league tables the more the parents want to send their kids there and the more talented pupils it will attract in the following terms.

[chatanga]

Big failure of project management and marketing. If you dont have proper qualified experienced project managers who can oversee tasks and prioritise them to meet criteria and completion deadlines then you have these kind of results.

Project management and meeting deadlinbes wasn't the problem. It was the lack of enthusiasm amongst Sikhs parents in the catchment area.

And as for marketing obviously it wasnt given the publicity it should have got among the Sikh sangat in wolves.

Thats not true, as it was the biggest gurdwara in woilverhampton that along with another 2 pushing the project. Everybody knew about the school, even thought there were some gurdwaras who offered no support, the wolverhampton sikhs still knew.

If the curriculum didnt emphasis strong academic work and results and strong Sikh ethos then Sikh parents would be reluctant to send their kids to a school that doesnt give their kid the best start in life.

The curriculum is only words until the results come out. As this was a new school, there obviously was no way of knowing how the school is going to perform. We still wont know how its performed until there is an ofsted report on it. However the performance isnt the issue. The fact is that its a Sikh-ethos school, but it has been abandoned by the Sikh parents who live in the areas right next to the school.

In a time of public scathing against wastage, obviously the public are not going to be happy that a school only has 20 pupils and is costing the taxpayer millions.

I only hope that the next years (september) intake will see a rise in numbers. The govt has given the Sikh community the potential to have a Sikh sschool free in wolves, and there is a lack of enthusiasm from the Sikhs.

And this coming on the back of the "Trojan horse" case in birmingham, makes you think how far behind other communities we are, when it comes to these issues.

[Ranjeet01]

Project management and meeting deadlinbes wasn't the problem. It was the lack of enthusiasm amongst Sikhs parents in the catchment area.

Thats not true, as it was the biggest gurdwara in woilverhampton that along with another 2 pushing the project. Everybody knew about the school, even thought there were some gurdwaras who offered no support, the wolverhampton sikhs still knew.

The curriculum is only words until the results come out. As this was a new school, there obviously was no way of knowing how the school is going to perform. We still wont know how its performed until there is an ofsted report on it. However the performance isnt the issue. The fact is that its a Sikh-ethos school, but it has been abandoned by the Sikh parents who live in the areas right next to the school.

In a time of public scathing against wastage, obviously the public are not going to be happy that a school only has 20 pupils and is costing the taxpayer millions.

I only hope that the next years (september) intake will see a rise in numbers. The govt has given the Sikh community the potential to have a Sikh sschool free in wolves, and there is a lack of enthusiasm from the Sikhs.

And this coming on the back of the "Trojan horse" case in birmingham, makes you think how far behind other communities we are, when it comes to these issues.

[Ranjeet01]

We are a very short sighted community. We are given a gift right on the doorstep and our sangat cannot even be bothered, they will only regret it when it is too late.

[singhbj singh]

I think Nishkam Trust will do a better job then Sangat Trust.

Wonder why Nanaksar Thath Isher Darbar or Guru Nanak Sikh Academy UK showed no interest.

They are pioneers of Sikh schools in Britain.

[chatanga]

Wonder why Nanaksar Thath Isher Darbar or Guru Nanak Sikh Academy UK showed no interest.

Gurdwara politics and rivalry bhaji.