SHOULD JO SHUTER REMAIN AS HEAD OF KSHS?

No she shouldn't.
Please sign my petition if you agree.
http://www.petitions24.com/jo_shuter_must_never_return_to_king_solomon_high_school

#1: -

signed it with great pleasure!!

Well said #72. She won one award which certainly shall be taken away.
How many people have own awards and continue doing good? Many.
But Shuter won the award and she believed to be invincible. Greed went to her head.
She was on a very good salary £170K per year. Many families live with less and have 2
Parents working. Pure greed. I totally agree that she is ruining the Jewish community. She shows no pleasure in the festivals and oversees assemblies.
For those parents who support her I believe that these do not have a strong Jewish identity.
Yes you will say that there are less Jews in the school nowadays, but nonetheless the fact that other kids from different religions were coming to the school
and adhering to the curriculum, was opening their horizons and showing them that the Jewish people are not as bad as some other religions or races portray us to be.
There are many Muslims who come to the school and integrate well. This just goes to show the world that there is no need for racism or prejudice.
Haven't we as Jews been targeted enough? The fact that despite being a Jewish school we are opened to other religions shows that we are accepting of other cultures, races, identities, religions.
It is a message that we are sending out saying we are all the same. Even though we are minority in the school it is and always been a Jewish school and those who are not Jewish come to the school because obviously their parents believe it to be good enough for their kids and do not mind the fact that is a Jewish school.
Now by Shuter taking away the Jewish ethos of the school she is not only targeting our community but she is killing the chance of showing people that we are not as bad as they portray us in the news, books...

I believe that the school does not depend only on the head and the teachers. It also depends on the kids and the support they get from there parents. If they have a bad example at home they shall bring this to the school. If the children cannot take criticism they will retaliate when criticism is given. KS has many good teachers. Like every school you have the good ones, great ones, memorable ones and the bad ones. It is the general rule of life, but it is not Shuter who makes KS better, it is the teachers, my kids have received a lot of support when needed from their teachers, from Rabbi Bruce, Ms Shutz, Ms Carmel Brown. Changing teachers is something that any institution does. Teachers get new opportunities and move on, new one comes, some good some bad. But the whole of a school is not the HEAD, it is a unison of all those who work in the school, it is making decisions by consulting the staff and taking into consideration their opinion and coming to a solution that shall be good for all and not a small portion.
When Mr Lewis was head I never had any problem with him, all the times I need to speak to him, or his help he was very helpful.
I am really struggling to see what great changes she made, a part from trying to get rid of the Jewish studies and Jewish festivals.

I think very few people are on the same page as us. It is a pity, I moved to Redbridge so my kids could go to a nice Jewsih school. My youngest went to IJPS then into KS and my eldest to KS from a mainstream school in SE London.

When I first visited KS I immediately felt welcomed and liked the school. as I before it is not only the head that makes the school successful it is also down to teachers, admin staff, security, canteen workers, cleaners.... You have to work as a team, this hasn't been happening at KS.

People quote the Torah saying that you must forgive, but you can still forgive someone for doing you harm but you may still want them to learn a lesson..

I find that the majority of parents who support her attack us viciously and show that by trying to demean us. In my opinion people who say forget it, she hasn't done anything bad to anyone at KS, she has turned the school around are clearly parents who need to understand the case.

If any teacher would have been rude to their child, would have abused their position as a teacher these parents would want this teacher struck off ASAP, why is it then that they make so many allowances for Shuter?

Sometimes I feel like I live in a third world country where people bow and say amen to the people who are clearly in the wrong.

By getting rid of JS and the JEwsih festivals she was aiming towards turning the school into an academy, where more money would be available, JS was a barrier in her path. Do notice that during her probation period she was acting all nice and pleasant. As soon as it was over her attitude changed a lot. Starting with making JS a core subject.

It is a pity, our community is small, and I would like to see it survive, but if Shuter continues it will be wiped out and more parents will move their kids to Jcos, JFS or Yavneh. Can you imagine this happening in any of these schools? No, so much so that Mr Lewis went to Yavneh a good Jewish school. If he was so rubbish as they say why did Yavneh want him?

Yavneh were despirate and i have it first hand that there are many unhappy pupils and parents since he joined!!! My son could have gone to Jcoss or KS. He even had a place ar Davenant. I let him choose and he chose KS. He has a statement and Mr Lewis and Mr Soibelman werent interested in him. Ms Shuter believed in him. Restored our faith! He has excelled under her guidance. Believe me other head teachers in the borough had already tried to ruin him!!! She gets my vote every day of the week!

#95 May 11, 2014, 10:10
People, just don't get the whole idea of wrong... By continuing she will kill thenjewsih Ethos, by killing the Jewish Ethos,she will turn the school into an academy, by turning the school into an academy IJPS will suffer as well, because parents from IJPS would like their kids to continue is a Jewish school. KS losing its Jewish ethos will not be an option for them, hence they will send them to Jcos, JFS, Yaveneh and so on. By doing that the Jewish community of Redbridge, which isn't that big, will dimish in time.
When Shuter decided to change Jewish studies to a core subject there was a reason behind it all.
She began saying that new courses would be introduced. Fair enough. Drama, French, photography, philosophy. Why photography it is beyond me, anyway., to fund these course she needs money, KS doesn't have money, so what better way to do it the turning JS into a core subject, this way they won't need as many JS teachers and with their wages she can use it for the other courses. Now what message does that send out to you parents. Many will say, yes I am happy JS became a core subject. But let me ask you something, why did you put your child in KS to start with, this of course to the Jewish parents? I did because I wanted my kids to be raised in a jewsih community, with jewsih values. Call me old fashioned but to me the sense of community always brought me a feeling of well being and a place I knew I belonged..
Now having a Jewish head is something rare to find, but I am sorry Shuter has no Jewish values and she does not enjoy the Jewish festivities.
In regards to the sum of money that she admitted taking, her excuses are feeble . She told the year 11's not to judge her on what is in the papers, but went on to explain some of the reasons why she did it. " I bought furniture for my house, it didn't fit well, so I swapped it with the school's furniture?"
Come on, does she love the feeling of being in a school that much that she takes the school furniture. Her reasons for what she did are feeble and you can see right through them. Had she said yes I took them because I was dishonest then it would be another story, but still she wouldn't be able to continue the work.
What also amazes me is why with such a high salary she couldn't fund her own birthday. Do parents take money from their work to fund their kids bar/bat mitzvahs?
Also let me question the board of governors, why the hell did they hire someone who was still being investigated, wasn't it irresponsible, they knew that the story wasn't over. Wouldn't it have been better to wait till she was cleared and if so all of this could have been avoided. But in light of desperation so much from their side and her side they struck a deal. She took it because she needed to restart building her reputation, KS needed a head.
But all in all they did both wrong and if Shuter is banned from teaching the board of governors should as well go and a new one created, hopefully with a bit more sense.
There are always people up for a challenge and in need of a job, I don't believe there is no one wanting a job as head.
As I said before a school works as a team, the head does not do miracles.
If she stays our community dies, if you parents want that then fair enough, why did u put your kids in KS to start with? No other options? I put my kids there because of the Jewish ethos and community, and so far they have done really well.

#7: -

This is exactly what we talked about last night and I can't say that you are wrong. It would indeed have been far more admirable to admit she infact stole funds and was wrong.  I am not sure that many parents know of this speech given to year 11 children,  I for one did not, it smacks of inappropriate behaviour and it should not really be for our children to have to carry that burden? The board of governors have a serious amount to answer for. Where is the respect for parents of the school children keeping us all in the dark once this story broke in the national news? Deciding to offer the position and ending Ms Shuters trial period before the ruling regarding her innocence or guilt was decided.  I am a parent who signed a petition to keep Ms Shuter, a decision based on some changes made so far that have substantially improved my daughters learning environment. HOWEVER my daughters well being is paramount to me and that said the school had become a dangerous environment at times with woeful discipline and some students being allowed to seriously disrupt lessons and even exams before Ms Shuters appointment. My daughters feelings aside for one moment I have always tried to instil a strong moral code with her and I do not think as this rests Ms Shuter is any kind of moral example but it's where we go from here. Once Ms Shuter is allowed to speak on this matter, to the parents, NOT year 11 ' s can she progress further by saying I have absolutely done wrong, and now I will put things right. Because there is no excuse to be made but i believe people can learn from wrong doing and move forward. I do very much agree with the statements made about the parent governors as right now they seem to be a law unto themselves and in my opinion they are answerable for landing KS and our children in this dreadful mess.

Now what do we think about this? Who is up for it?

According to data in the Times, more free schools set up by parent, teacher or community groups have achieved good Ofsted ratings than those established by existing academy chains or that converted from independent schools…
Figures from the New Schools Network show new starters, founded from scratch by groups with no previous experience of managing schools, have been awarded more good and outstanding reports than “establishment” schools. Schools set up by parents have done particularly well, while several of those converting from independent schools have been found to require improvement.

Experts suggested that the ‘new entrant’ types of schools were more likely to adopt an innovative approach, while others said their success may be down to middle-class parents skewing their intake. The breakdown of Ofsted reports will be given to the Commons’ education select committee tomorrow at a special session on free schools…

Of the new entrant schools, more than three-fifths were rated good, and nearly three-quarters were good or outstanding. Of the establishment schools, 45 per cent were found to be good, and 65 per cent good or outstanding. While more of the establishment schools received outstanding ratings (one in five), they were also more likely to be found to require improvement – 30 per cent compared with 15 per cent of the new entrants. However, fewer of them were rated inadequate.

Poor schools set up by community, faith or parent groups included Al-Madinah School in Derby, which was branded “dysfunctional” by Ofsted, and Kings Science Academy in Bradford. But independent schools have not fared well under the free school system. While two of those that converted from fee-charging to free schools were rated good, three were found to require improvement. And of the three free schools established and sponsored by independent schools, one was rated good, and two were said to require improvement.

Some independent schools have blamed their poor ratings on the requirement to provide new and different data under the state system…

FORMER Quintin Kynaston headteacher has been banned from unsupervised teaching for life after a misconduct hearing into the abuse of school funds found her guilty of “unacceptable professional conduct”.

Jo Shuter, who resigned from the academy school in Marlborough Hill, Swiss Cottage, last year, faced at panel in Coventry last month.

She was handed a “prohibition order” that bans her from teaching children unsupervised, with no chance for a review.

In a written decision, published today (Tuesday), the National College for Teaching and Learning wrote: “In reaching this conclusion the panel has taken into account the significant length of time over which the proved facts took place, the amounts of money involved and the breadth of areas involved in these breaches.”

The panel took the decision to ban Ms Shuter to maintain “public confidence in the profession,” adding: “This is particularly so in Ms Shuter’s case, in light of her high national profile as an influential figure in the education world and public recognition as head teacher of the year and her receipt of a CBE. This high profile increases the risk of public confidence in the profession being undermined.”

The financial irregularities, which Ms Shuter had agreed to before the hearing, were laid out in the report. At the hearing, Ms Shuter agreed that these abuses amounted to “unacceptable professional conduct and/or conduct that may bring the profession into disrepute.”

Abuses to the school's expenses systems that were considered by the panel included:

• Mobile phone bills for herself, son and daughter

• Taxis to restaurants including Ivy and Wolseley

• Delivery of £1,500 worth of furniture to her home

• Hotel stay for senior staff of over £8,000

• A 50th birthday party, totalling £7,000

• Used her personal assistant, paid for by the school, to organise her private consultancy work and organising bookings of her Turkish holiday villa

The panel acknowledged that Ms Shuter had been a “force for good in many respects” including the positive effect she had when she took over the failing Pimlico School in 2008. She said that running the school alongside QK had led her to “conflate personal use and school use of taxis.” But it added: “Ms Shuter was only headteacher of Pimlico School until August 2008, whilst the misuse of school funds for personal taxi journeys continued until at least August 2012."

It added: “The Panel notes that Ms Shuter admits that £5,855.67 of taxi expenditure incurred by Ms Shuter over the period 1 January 2011 to 31 August 2012 was definitively identified as not being related to school business.”

Deciding not to allow Ms Shuter to appeal for the decision to be reviewed in the future, the panel wrote: “Despite approximately two more years having passed since these events came to light, Ms Shuter does not, in the Panel’s view, show genuine insight into the severity and impact of her behaviours.”

The prohibition order has been agreed by Education Secretary Michael Gove. Ms Shuter may appeal the decision in the High Court within the next 28 days.

INCREDIBLE, SHE AS MANY OF THE PARENTS THAT WANTED HER TO STAY ON COULD NOT TAKE IN THE SEVERITY OF WHAT SHE HAS DONE. NOW IF THE NCTL HAS BANNED HER SHOWS AND SAYS A LOT ON HER CHARACTER, GIVING FEEBLE EXCUSES FOR HER EXPENSES, AND THINKING SHE COULD CARRY ON AS IF NOTHING HAD HAPPENED!