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[Silly Muuddled Teen]

We live in a crazy, crazy, crazy world.

Shame we can't sack the board or put some of the idiots 'above' us on free transfers.

We are a Premier school with Conference League (North) managers.

Thank God 2 have gone.

[Rank Pitts]

Sack the Board, Sack the Board, Sack the Board!

Repeat ad infinitum!

[Big and Bouncy]

Even Mersey would have been better than Beecham.

[johnpetersmith]

Parents, if you are really that dissatisfied, get organised, make representations to the British Embassy, withhold your fees and insist on a board of governors elected by parents, staff and stakeholders. There is no other way this is going to change for the better.

The Academy is not yet in its death throes, but it is coughing up blood.

I like Qatar, I like Doha, I'd be back like a shot if there were a single, well-managed British or IB secondary school to work in.

[Harry Barry]

Hi there J-P!

Glad to see you're keeping up with the news!

How is everything?

H

[Debbie Reynolds]

JohnPeterSmith...withholding fees is a good suggestion, but unfortunately unless a lot of parents do it, well they will just replace us. They made that perfectly clear in their 'clarification' letter, which I've quoted below.

Payments due by 14 June 2007
If payment is not received by the due date, Doha College will assume that your child will not be returning and the place may be offered to another child on the waiting list.

Payments due on 1st day of term
If payment is not received within 14 days of the due date, late payment charges will be imposed and this could potentially result in the loss of place for the child at the college.

And I hate to say it, but as much as we may complain, they do have a long wait list, which I'm sure they're quite happy to use.

[Tess Shore]

It seems like they have covered every angle to stop views being heard etc

[johnpetersmith]

Debbie Reynolds...

yes that is always the problem with a monopoly, if its the only game in town you do have to play it their way. Thats why it would be so important to be organised first, and thats a lot more difficult than it sounds.

The Academy really needs to get rid of its governing body or it will fail. In the meantime the management is already failing its students and staff.

The only other option is to set up some competition, but how feasible would that be with the politics involved? The length of the Academy waiting list is evidence that another British School is desperately needed.

Harry

I am still in the Gulf, though not Doha.

Things are pretty good really. There are some aggravations and tribulations here, as there are in any school, but nothing like at the Academy. As far as welfare and housing go, the management (with a little pushing) are prepared to discuss issues and do try to come up with workable solutions. They will make compromises if you stick to your guns.

As far as academic matters go, well I'll let you decide - heres an example:

I approached my headmaster with a curriculum audit and facilities audit, which showed that my department is only able to present one third of the National Curriculum requirements for my subject, guess what the response was;

An immediate one-third increase in my departmental budget for the year, doubled allocation of rooming starting next year, a capitol investment budget for the next five years to bring the department to the state where all of the compulsory national curriculum will be covered and 98% of the recommended additional material will be covered. New facilities and furnishings are already being fitted ready for September, capitol equipment is on order from the UK.

To give a contrast I remember when my department at the academy bought in some pewter for project work. The metal arrived through the post (fully labeled for customs clearance, with dockets and invoices detailing exactly what it was) in the form of shiny ingots. Del Mersey strode into the department demanding to know why we had bought bars of silver!

Tess,

I am reminded of an old saying:

theres none so blind as "will not see", none so deaf as "will not hear"

JPS