News archives
THIS PAGE –
This page is a historical chronological record of some of the notices sent around during the Wynstones Parents Legal Action case in 2020 against Ofsted. It makes for good reading – even gets the blood boiling some again!
The Case is filed!
We’re delighted to say that our Grounds for a judicial review against Ofsted, challenging the legality of its effective closure report on Wynstones School, as formally lodged with the High Court on Monday, 11th May. Michael Mansfield QC & team have written a 14,300-word howitzer of a legal challenge. So the first major step has been taken, and we have a fantastic case.
Great news that the game’s afoot! I’ll be cheering Mr Mansfield on …
Sue Palmer
as will the entire teaching profession, I imagine.
For the Wynstones Parents Initiative newsletter to parents and friends for 21st May 2020, click here!
For viewing back issues of newsletters, go to our Links and Archives page.
Recent Publicity
Week of 18th May – We’ve had coverage recently from left, right and centre – so to speak! Or, politically, quite literally! Stories this week are dominated by the impressive fact that we are being represented by Michael Mansfield QC. It is making the case more noteworthy and adding gravitas! Rightly so! – it is an important case, with potential positive repercussions up and down the land.
From the right leaning The Telegraph: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/05/17/steiner-parents-hire-michael-mansfield-challenge-ofsted-verdict/
From the left leaning Unity News: https://www.unitynews.co/steiner-school-forced-out-of-education/
And from the regional centrist Stroud News & Journal: https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/18454573.wynstones-closure—michael-mansfield-qc-backs-parents-ofsted-challenge/
Also from the ‘good ‘ol’ BBC: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-52721840
NEW!
An essay and book review on safeguarding, from Self & Society, Spring 2020:
Safeguarding Children and the Overreaching of the State into the Private Realm – a Book Review Essay of Lauren Devine’s: The Limits of State Power and Private Rights: Exploring Child Protection and Safeguarding Referrals and Assessments, Routledge, 2018 (Click here or on header above)
NEW BOOK! – just out!
PUSHING BACK TO OFSTED: Safeguarding and the Legitimacy of Ofsted’s Inspection Judgements, by Richard House, published by InterActions, April 2020, £10.99, distributed by Wynstones Press.
BUY IT HERE: https://tinyurl.com/r76jgqp
ALL PROFITS MADE WILL BE DONATED TO THE LEGAL CASE AGAINST OFSTED >> see: https://tinyurl.com/wpell94
It’s also available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0952836424/ref=sr_1_1dchild=1&keywords=pushing+back+to+Ofsted&qid=1587744388&sr=8-1 where you can read a good brief review of it. ‘In this book, Richard House sets out in relentless detail the shortcomings of an Ofsted inspection report that was used as the pretext for forcibly closing Wynstones School, …. the book shows how a one-size-fits-all evaluation approach can perpetrate a kind of ‘violence’ upon any pedagogical approach which cannot be shoe-horned into the mainstream paradigm.’
NEW BOOK REVIEW of Pushing Back to Ofsted, by a former long-standing lead Ofsted inspector!! Click here to view a PDF.
Or see the page Pushing Back to Ofsted for further information.
Legal
As a result of our pre-action letter, the DfE finally sent us the correspondence we required. Neither Wynstones nor Ofsted were quite so obliging. We now know exactly what went on around the school’s closure. And it’s rather what we thought. The school were ‘required’ to close by the DfE, rather like someone putting a gun to your head and asking you to hand over your wallet. You tend to comply without argument. The correspondence altogether reveals that we have a still stronger case against Ofsted than we thought.
Since that point we have compiled considerable further evidence to support our case, extending the testimonies to teachers and officials from other schools including the three former Steiner Academies which have been taken over by Avanti. We have also have evidence from an expert in child safety law, along with testimonies from two former Ofsted inspectors! We have testimonies from several teachers at Wynstones along with parents and children. We and the legal counsel carrying the challenge believe we have a strong case.
Fund-raising
As of 18th May we have reached the milestone of £20,000 on our Crowd Justice crowd-fundraising site!! We have reached this in less than two months time, which is brilliant. Thank you to all who have contributed!
We have been very successful also in our request for pledges, raising over £10,000 in promises should our target not be met. (See our pledge page). To see these pledges coming in was a great encouragement to us – it’s reassuring to have these pledges as back-up but we do not want to have to use them unless necessary. The total costs for this initial stage are estimated to be approx £32,000, plus additional approx. £10,000 as contingency for covering defendants costs (maximum they are allowed to claim at this stage) in the (unlikely) even we don’t win in the first round for getting merit. We are confident we will get merit, and a contrary judgement would be appealed, but it means we are pegging the fund-raising needs now for this first stage at £40,000 total.
Therefore we are urgently now seeking an additional £20,000 to cover the costs of this first stage in our campaign and to set us up for the future. For this purpose we have also, in addition to our Crowd Justice page, now set up a GoFundMe crowd-funding page (click on the link). Do check it out! – And we’d be delighted if you’d make a donation! See the menus above for the different options, including pledges and Gift Aid.
Courage in the face of crisis
A contribution by Richard Brinton for the Wynstones Parents Initiative, written 21st April but with many still relevant bits of information and informative links –
21 April 2020
As many of you are aware, there is a Wynstones Parents Initiative group which is bringing a challenge to Ofsted and the DfE for its irrational and unfounded judgements and the consequent disproportionate action of closing Wynstones School. For those wanting to read further on the background, here is a link to an article about the case from New View magazine: https://tinyurl.com/ybrtw28g
It is important to give an update to the Waldorf School movement and beyond, as it concerns not just all Steiner schools in the country, but will have potential farther reaching ramifications. What is needed above all is openness and honesty.
The strength of the case grows by the day, and it is exciting to see how many are joining in from outside Wynstones and the movement to give testimonies and giving the group incredible support – the irony is that the greatest support so far is from outside the Waldorf school movement: people wanting and willing to stand up to Ofsted and DfE policies. From inside many are afraid to speak, or are washing over details. More on that below.
Every day new communications come to make us realise we are not alone, that there are really many, many others up and down the land, right now, who are asking for change, especially in the accountability and testing frameworks which have such a negative effect on true education and real learning. Ofsted and DfE are the principle ones in the crosshairs. A new example is the following petition: https://www.change.org/p/dfe-change-education-2020 . See the link for the full site, and to sign their petition! See the INSTED Facebook page for many other initiatives, educators and writers: www.facebook.com/InspiringNewStandards.
Another example of not being alone: On Sunday, 19th April, the National Education Union (NEU) ran an online conference, Celebrating Education, in which over 1000 people participated. The panelists spoke about many aspects for educational renewal, but Mary Bousted (Joint General Secretary of the NEU) above all was scathing of Ofsted, with the NEU for its abolition, replacing it with a collaborative and supportive framework. Tune in at 49 min. to this video of the conference: https://www.facebook.com/100868668273698/videos/557284348502185/.
But returning to the case! –
We had a very encouraging conference call yesterday (Monday 20th April) with solicitors, expert witnesses, the Wynstones legal action core team, and importantly with Michael Mansfield QC himself. He is well known nationally for successfully taking on challenging cases having to do with social injustices. His involvement raises it to a national profile level. (See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Mansfield) From the start a few weeks ago he showed a keen interest in the case. In the conference call yesterday he was very positive about the chances for the case succeeding. The case particularly focuses on the irrational, unprofessional and often unfounded nature of the judgements, showing inconsistencies both within a school and also between schools. Mansfield had strong comments about the actions which Wynstones trustees should have taken but didn’t – this may come out at a later stage.
We have a witness who was an Ofsted lead and team inspector for 23 years, who paints a litany of inexcusable failures of upholding true education and justice, through irrational and irrelevant Ofsted judgements which he has witnessed first hand in countless schools, including in the area of safeguarding. “In the case of the Wynstones Steiner School, the focus by the inspection team in determining the school’s alleged inadequacy of provision rested almost exclusively on alleged safeguarding issues. It is interesting to note that among the so-called ‘fundamentals’, no mention is made of learning, of child development, of teachers promoting each child’s self-reliance, self-confidence, critical thinking and self-esteem… [and further on curriculum] The very act of looking at children through economic eyes means that the Steiner Waldorf humanising curriculum which seeks to feed children’s imagination cannot possibly be contemplated.”
Power is the name of the game. One of the first Ofsted chiefs, Chris Woodhouse, had a reputation for his ruthlessness. His words in 1994: ‘I want Ofsted to be an instrument of fear and terror for teachers.’
The legacy lives on. Sir Michael Wilshaw (former Ofsted chief before Amanda Spielman) said, “If anyone says to you that staff morale is at an all-time low, you know that you are doing something right.” And many schools and teachers, out of fear, continue to play the game, perhaps not fully realising that by playing their game they are spelling their ultimate doom.
We have testimony confirming the above from several school Heads and Principals on the irrational methods and judgements employed by Ofsted. There is an accumulated litany of complaints against Ofsted, most of which are ignored or “dismissed by Ofsted’s complaints team as being not possible due to the Inspector’s high level of professional training and expertise.” No further conversation allowed. And these organisations bank on anyone having the temerity to challenge them not following through because of the formidable and dispiriting obstacle-course that is our legal system – currently the only redress for holding these organisations to account. This is why our Wynstones initiative is absolutely determined to follow this through right to the end of the legal process – and we have the will forces to do it!
The Wynstones Parents Initiative is a group of over 50 parents, many giving testimony to the trauma experienced by not only the sudden school closure but the lack of proper ‘closure’ for parents and children, no connection or support allowed. (See separate report on that here, from a parent survey done: https://tinyurl.com/yd5ja4hp ). We have several prominent psychologists as expert witnesses, confirming the nature of trauma that family and children will inevitably have experienced under these circumstances. Any who took part in this brutal decision are complicit in what was an inexcusable action. We even have a statement from Gloucestershire County Council that sudden changes of school should be avoided wherever possible due to this.
Wynstones trustees and former management cannot be excused from responsibility in this, as we have indications that, although DfE “decided that the school must close with immediate effect” (quote from an Ofsted letter), this may have been for example ‘within three days’ (trustees refuse to relinquish the exact wording of the DfE communication), giving parents some possibility of ‘closure’. As legal advice has noted, trustees and management may have thus potentially made themselves severally culpable in the trauma experienced by parents of the sudden closure.
We have evidence from a prominent legal and academic expert in Child Safety and Safeguarding. The way Ofsted presents judgements in this area is not looking after true child safety. Additionally, “From the documentation I have seen there is potential for challenge in relation to both the conclusions in the Report concerning safeguarding failures, and the rationale for those conclusions.”
Richard House’s new book, Pushing Back to Ofsted, makes further mincemeat of Ofsted judgements and rationale used, showing how irrational and unfounded many of its judgements are not only of Wynstones but in general. (see www.tinyurl.com/pushback-to-ofsted )
That there is greater potential for the school in holding out and being compliant to all that Ofsted and the DfE demand, this is an argument presented by a number. What are they holding out for? The summarised Action Plan as presented to parents is a whitewash of the devil in the details. A preliminary analysis of some of the details reveals a bleaker picture, with several teachers acknowledging our own analysis that little will remain of a Steiner School if this plan were accepted and then implemented (see https://tinyurl.com/v7nxy8o)
Promises to the contrary will mean little if one continues the road to full compliance. We can learn from the Academy stories, where Avanti’s initial promises at SAB (Steiner Academy Bristol) convinced trustees to stop their legal action against Ofsted which had great promise, only to have hopes of a Steiner school fully dashed. The Wynstones initiative is not going to repeat this grave error.
The success of this case actually holds much greater hope for the school and Steiner education: the Ofsted judgement will be quashed, and the teachers will then not only be able to open the school immediately (the grounds for closure being removed) but teachers and schools will also have much freer rein to put together a future on the ideals truly wanted and needed.
We have testimony from several teachers and former teachers. They have been brave to stand up for principles, in the face of threats from management of dismissal if anyone speaks up. Is this the morale we wish to foster in Steiner schools? One trustee said, “they must feel free to speak.” We would hope, for the Steiner ethos, that these are not hollow words.
Is there a bias of Ofsted against Steiner Schools? This also lies at the heart of the case. The SAB case had the first judge, Justice Holman, stating: “In my view, the Claimants [Steiner Academy Bristol Board of Governors] raise an arguable case ….that HMCI [Ofsted] was deliberately targeting the academy because it was a Steiner school. In my view, this is not a frivolous, hopeless or misconceived claim. It is a very serious one from the perspective of the Claimants, and is sufficiently timely and sufficiently arguable.”
We have gathered further evidence on this. A second previous Ofsted inspector as witness has noted: “Like many inspectors I am alarmed and saddened by the actions of Ofsted. The orchestrated attack on Steiner Waldorf education by the department using Ofsted’s cover is I believe an abuse of power.”
Michael Mansfield QC, in his preliminary survey of testimonies, also indicated there seemed sufficient evidence to bring this in to the case – that Steiner schools are being deliberately targeted and are moving into schools looking for ‘evidence’ to justify their pre-drawn conclusions (he had a legal term for this which I don’t recall!).
This is what many have felt all along. Not just in Steiner schools, but that the DfE and Ofsted have a prejudice against alternative streams of education. The Summerhill Case in 1999 won their challenge against the inspectorate, and it was proven in the subpoenas as part of this that Ofsted did have a black list they were chasing up on.
No school will be the ‘perfect’ school to raise a case against Ofsted – probably no school that is considered ‘perfect’ (or say ‘outstanding’) would ever consider raising a case in the first place! This is a weak excuse to not support this case involving Wynstones. There were wrongs done by Ofsted itself at Wynstones (and potentially by the DfE using Ofsted as a front) and it is part of a pattern that can be shown to be repeating itself. We now have a very positive chance to stand up and expose the very serious flaws within Ofsted itself!
There are a great number outside the Steiner movement wanting to challenge Ofsted and who are now also standing up and supporting this case. It is in great humbleness and thankfulness to recognise that it has here been a group of Wynstones Steiner School parents who have taken up the cause, with children being the clients. It is parents and children who stood behind the founding of the first Steiner school 100 years ago, and in reality it has been the same for every new Steiner school founded since. It is children who are at the centre.
What is needed is openness and honesty, and courage, in many ways, on many matters. This is what this case in essence is about. We would welcome more people to speak up, not just teachers at Wynstones, but throughout the Waldorf movement. We would also welcome donations to the cause. See https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/justice-for-parents-and-childr/. We believe this case will be of benefit for the movement here and consequently also world-wide as well.
Thank you for your attention and for your support!
Richard Brinton, for the Wynstones Parents Initiative Core Group
21 April 2020
For further information:
For further updates, follow the updates given on the Crowd Justice site. [This had to be taken taken]
Our facebook page [still active, with many still viewing it, but largely an historical record]:
https://www.facebook.com/Wynstones-Parents-Legal-Action-114127803559871/
For further information on Ofsted and new perspectives on standards and accountability, see the INSTED facebook page and group: www.facebook.com/InspiringNewStandards