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THE Headteacher of Thame’s Lord Williams’s school, who marched on Downing Street with thousands of other Headteachers protesting agains school funding cuts, has written to parents about the government’s ‘deceptive’ figures.

Mr David Wybron writes: “I was staggered to discover in the following week that The Department for Education’s figures on spending on schools included spending made by families on university tuition fees (loans to students) and independent (private) school fees.

“This adds billions of pounds to headline data but has absolutely no effect on funding received by schools. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has again confirmed that schools have faced an 8% cut in real terms between 2009-10 and 2017-18.

“I have written before that the School’s Budget does not include Sixth Form funding and like other schools with a Sixth Form we have been absorbing a 20% reduction in funding for sixth formers. This is alongside increasing staffing costs and inflationary pressures.

Appeal to Thame’s MP for honesty

“I will be writing to our MP, John Howell, and the Department again about something which I can only call deception and would make an appeal for at least an honest statement on resourcing rather that the spurious figures which have been officially distributed. We teach about values in schools. It leaves me wondering what sorts of values are being practiced by the Government in terms of funding for schools.

“I would urge you, if you have time, to write to The Rt Hon Damian Hinds, Secretary of State for Education at the Department for Education and local MPs about the situation.

Worthless? Campaign

Today, a letter from the Worth Less? Campaign for fairer schools funding, is being sent to thousands of parents across the country, including parents of Lord Williams’s School. The letter reads:

“Dear Parent/Carer

Update – School Funding Campaign

“You will be aware that 2000 Headteachers attended a rally in Westminster and delivered a letter to 11 Downing Street on Friday, September 28, as part of a campaign by Worth Less?, a grass-roots group working for improved school funding. Amongst them was a group of 35 Headteachers from Oxfordshire. Thank you for the support that many parents gave these Headteachers, and others that could not attend but supported their actions.

“It is clear from the emails that colleagues and I received, that parents overwhelmingly support the need for much improved investment in our schools. As soon as we receive a reply from the Chancellor, we will let you know. I am sure everyone will watch with interest to see how he responds to our requests during the Autumn Statement (Budget) on Monday, October 29.

“Following recent headlines, Headteachers across the country hope very much that the Government and the Department for Education, in particular, will stop providing parents and the wider public with misleading information about spending on schools. This week’s scathing letter to the Department of Education (DfE) from the UK Statistics Authority underlines all of the concerns that Headteachers have repeatedly stated over the past three years.

“Analysis by the BBC shows it is entirely wrong to suggest that Government spending on schools is much higher than in other comparable countries. The statistic misleadingly chosen by the Department for Education included spending made by families on university tuition fees (loans to students) and independent (private) school fees. This adds billions of pounds to headline data but has absolutely no effect on funding received by schools. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has confirmed that schools have faced an 8% cut in real terms between 2009-10 and 2017-18

“We hope that DfE ministers will now focus on the key issues – investing adequately in schools and supporting much improved recruitment and retention of teachers, in order to rebuild trust and credibility with the teaching profession.

“Parents have also asked how they can support the drive for improved funding. In light of this we are able to let you know that parent groups have lobbied parliament (October 10) and there will also be a national day of parental action on 19 October. For more information about 19 October, please search #parentsteachersunite on Twitter or Facebook.

“We would again like to thank you for your support and confirm that our campaign will remain reasonable and determined with a single goal of ensuring that every school and pupil receive a much better deal in the near future.”

Yours sincerely

Headteacher

THE contractors working in Park Street, Thame, Cappagh, via Oxfordshire County Council Highways, have said that the emergency road closure on Park Street to repair a collapsed sewer is expected to be in place until at least Wednesday, October 24.

It has been reported via social media that a company spokesperson has explained: “We’ve had to Close the Road on Park Street as an emergency due to properties being internally flooded by sewage.

“Due to the location of defect’s on foul sewer we’ve had to excavate in the Carriageway to a 3.5m depth and then construct a tunnel 3.0m in length from our excavation in carriageway to excavate under the footpath in order to dig below services in order to get access to defect.

While Park Street is closed, the 280/X8 bus will not serve Wenman Road or Jane Morbey Road bus stops.

LORD Wiilliams’s School, Thame’s Sixth Form Opening Evening this year will be on Tuesday, November 6, 2018.

The evening will begin with a Presentation in the Thame Leisure Centre from 6pm-6.45pm for students new to the school, and 7.15pm to 8pm for LWS Year 11 students only. There will be an opportunity to talk with subject teachers and current Sixth Formes in subject areas between 6pm to 8pm.

For further information and to view the school’s prospectus/course details, visit www.lordwilliams.oxon.sch.uk or call 0144 210510

THAT’S the intriguing subject of a talk being given at the Thame Arts and Literature Festival (TAL) later this month to mark the 50th anniversary of one of sport’s most iconic moments.

Most cricket fans know that West Indian cricketing legend, Garry Sobers, became the first batsman to hit six sixes from six deliveries when he smashed 36 runs off a Malcolm Nash over at Swansea in 1968. But what happened to the battered ball? And was the one sold by Christie’s for a world record £26,400 at an auction in 2006 the real deal?

 

Freelance broadcaster and journalist Grahame Lloyd has investigated the controversial sale and his 2013 book, Howzat? The Six Sixes Ball Mystery, proved that the Duke & Son ball sold at auction was a wrong ‘un because it was the wrong make – even though it was accompanied by a certificate of provenance signed by Sobers.

The actual ball used in the over was manufactured by Stuart Surridge and BBC TV footage confirms Nash’s assertion that it was the only one he bowled – not the last of three as claimed by Christie’s – during the Glamorgan versus Nottinghamshire county championship match.

Lloyd will be recalling both the famous feat and the infamous fate of the ball in his illustrated talk, Fifty Not Out: The Six Sixes Revisited, at Thame Museum on Sunday,  October 21.

“I used the same ball for all six deliveries,” said Nash, “and it was charred, scarred and scuffed but never changed. It’s interesting to note that Christie’s have never bothered to ask me about the ball I bowled and how many balls were used in the over.”

After the Duke ball was withdrawn from a Bonhams sporting memorabilia auction in Chester in 2012 because of Lloyd’s “compelling and conclusive” evidence, the plot thickened. Lloyd then launched an 18-month investigation through which he traced the balls’ owner to India.  After appearing on BBC Radio’s Test Match Special programme to celebrate the Six Sixes’ 50th anniversary in August, he has now called on Christie’s to admit they sold the wrong ball.

“I unequivocally support Malcolm Nash’s contention that the ball isn’t genuine,” says Lloyd.  “I’ve tried to uncover the truth about its sale by Christie’s but with half the people involved in the auction refusing to discuss it, my search hasn’t been easy. I’m very disappointed that the unwritten 43rd Law of Cricket covering the exercise of common sense has been ignored by Christie’s. What happened to that ball in 2006 is ‘just not cricket’ and the 50th anniversary is an appropriate time to highlight the discrepancies in the sale and for Christie’s to do the right thing and admit they made a mistake. It’s a sad and disturbing tale of fake news.”

Lloyd is currently on a speaking tour of literary festivals with his hour-long talk: – “It’s not just cricket – a tale of mystery and intrigue which had our audience laughing, singing, questioning and clapping from the first ball bowled to the last.” (Cardiff)

“Frank, astonishing and delivered in a very easy, enthusiastic and delightful style” (Ilminster)

“A fantastic event and an excellent speaker (Swindon)

“Completely engaged the audience throughout, using the kind of versatile delivery that would have credited an international bowler” (Frome),

During his investigation, Lloyd discovered that

* Sobers didn’t profit from its auction at Christie’s and the former West Indies and Nottinghamshire captain describes himself as a “very innocent bystander.”

* Two former Christie’s sporting memorabilia specialists, David Convery and Max Dunbar, declined to discuss their part in the ball’s sale

* Glamorgan County Cricket Club’s archivist and the curator of the Museum of Welsh Cricket, Andrew Hignell, refused to answer questions about his role in the ball’s verification process

* Having re-investigated the 2006 auction, Christie’s stand by the ball’s original “good provenance” and the “signed certificate”.

Howzat? The Six Sixes Ball Mystery features extensive interviews with Sobers, his former agent, Basharat Hassan, Nash and Jose Miller, the former secretary of the Nottinghamshire Supporters’ Association, who sold the ball via Christie’s in 2006.

Nominated for the 2014 MCC/Cricket Society Book of the Year award, it has been described as “an unput-downable read, ranking with the best of mysteries, be they fact or fiction” (Welsh Books Council); “a terrifically dotty whodunnit, driven by one man’s relentless, borderline-psychotic quest for answers” (Wisden),; “the most original cricket book that has been published in years” (cricketweb.net);  “a cracking read and unhesitatingly recommended” (Cricket Society), “the
product of diligent and disciplined investigative journalism…a compelling read” (Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians) and “a skilfully crafted and highly absorbing book…a triumph” (Backspin magazine).

Grahame Lloyd’s talk, including DVD, poetry and song, takes place at 2pm on Sunday, October 21, at Thame Museum, 79, High St, Thame OX9 3AE. Tickets cost £7- LINK HERE

AFTER a jury at the Oxfordshire Coroner’s Court decided that the death of Stephen Buck, 58, was an accident, the Coroner, Darren Salter, said that the case should prompt a review of ‘dangerous’ construction site practices.

 

 

Mr Buck died after being struck by a reversing truck on a housing development building site in Thame, in April 2017.

The Coroner said that he would be writing to the two firms involved, ECL Construction, which employed Mr Buck, and David Einig Contracting, which employed the driver, about his concerns and to the Construction Industry Advisory Committee with a ‘prevention of future deaths report’.

SOURCE: bbcnews.co.uk/             Related article HERE

HOW come? Because – I’ve just finished reading Lydia Syson’s book ‘Mr Peacock’s Possessions’ – one of the two books I’ll be talking about with their authors, as part of the fabulous TAL – Thame Arts & Literature festival. LINK HERE

What can I say? Just WOW! The tantalizing description ‘An intimate, intense, beautifully realised novel of possession, power and the liberating loss of innocence’ really gives scant clue to the emotional, poetic, historically illuminating adventure that this book carries you into – with a climax so nerve-wracking and thrilling, that I had to stop and breathe before reading the final pages.

Obviously I want you to buy a ticket and come along to Thame library on Friday, October 19, at 10.30am, but REALLY – you have 12 days to scoot along to the Book House in Thame, buy a copy and read Lydia Syson’s book ‘Mr Peacock’s Possessions’ for yourself and I can assure you, that once you’ve left the volcanic (in every sense of the word) ‘Monday Island’ in the middle of the Pacific, and your pulse has returned to it’s familiar rythm, you’ll be so glad you did.

And now, I’m about to start my second interviewee’s book, The Story Keeper, by Anna Mazzola, ‘…..a sizzling, period novel of folk tales, disappearances and injustice set on the Isle of Skye’ ( Hmmmm – another island; there’s a theme emerging here).  I’ll let you know how I get on. In the meantime, nip on over to the TAL website  where you’ll find a huge variety of books, talks and other arts and literature goodies to take part in. But hurry – many are sold out and tickets for others running out fast. But, you know, just go for something you might otherwise have chosen and you never know, you just might enjoy a new author, find a new interest or at the very least, experience something unexpected. Hence TAL’s motto: Participate – Enjoy – Inspire

Can’t wait. See you there!

Sonja Francis