This blog is moving to Word Press, which I think is more user friendly to use (both for me and site readers)

I intend to make all new posts from now on at the new, Word Press, site:

https://improvebpcollege.wordpress.com/

A copy of existing posts and comments has been imported from here to there (Word Press has an excellent Import facility).

Update: "Independent investigator" still on Solicitors' roll/regulated by SRA, but does not hold a practising certificate

(Post made at 0926 UK BST time on 14 Sep 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

This is an update on my previous posts (here and here).

Having made enquiries of the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA), the position of the "independent investigator" from View HR Ltd is more complex than it seems from the View HR website (which states that he/she is a "former" lawyer - solicitors who are no longer on the roll have to describe themselves as "former" solicitor):

He/she is still regulated by the SRA, and still on the roll of Solicitors, but does not currently hold a practising certificate.  I have asked the SRA when this member stopped holding a practising certificate.

Until now, I was under the impression (from the View HR website stating that he/she is a "former HR and employment lawyer") that he/she was not regulated by the SRA.  I have also asked the SRA to clarify what regulations/code of conduct someone on the roll of Solicitors but without a practising certificate is subject to.

I do not believe this changes the position that without a practising certificate, the investigator was not entitled to be a member of the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) and hence to hold himself/herself out as one.  The ELA seem to have agreed (or the member himself/herself), since within 3 days of my querying the person's entitlement to ELA membership, that membership has ceased.

Bogus solicitors: what the Solicitors Regulation Authority says about them

(Post made at 1457 UK BST time on 8 Sep 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

This is what the solicitors' regulator, the Solicitors Regulation Authority has to say about bogus solicitors (see http://www.sra.org.uk/consumers/problems/fraud-dishonesty/bogus-fake-solicitors.page)

Bogus solicitors

It is a criminal offence for someone to call themselves a solicitor or act as a solicitor if they are not on the roll of solicitors. We call these people "bogus solicitors" and we may prosecute them. We publish alerts about bogus solicitors.

Bournemouth and Poole College paid a fake "Employment Lawyer" to investigate our formal complaints

(Post made at 1039 UK BST time on 8 Sep 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

The short version of my earlier post is:

My wife and I made two detailed formal complaints to the Bournemouth and Poole College last year about in our view very poor treatment (in her case, of her after 13 years of very dedicated service, and in my case, of schools, some staff, and children including one with a disability) at the Centre for Wessex Young Musicians.

The College appointed an "independent investigator" from an outside firm (View HR Ltd) who has been falsely claiming membership of the prestigious Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) for at least the last two years, by falsely claiming to them (and to the world via their ELA member page) that they were a practising current solicitor when they have not been since at least June 2016.

Claimed to be a practising solicitor but was not. Was not entitled to be an Employment Lawyers Association member

This fake "Employment Lawyers Association" member then, rather like a fake "doctor" who examines only one leg and pronounces that all is well, conducted an extremely unprofessional "independent investigation" in which they effectively only looked at one side of the evidence (the College/CYWM's). (Along with many other procedural irregularities).

The fake employment lawyer gave the College and CWYM a clean bill of health and said that after their "exhaustive investigation" the College would not consider an appeal.

The ELA appears to have acted swiftly and professionally

I contacted the ELA with my concerns about the membership qualifications of this View HR Ltd "investigator".

Three days later this person was no longer a member.  

How much did the Bournemouth and Poole College (a registered charity) pay this fake ELA member/VIew HR Ltd? 

The "independent investigator" who did such a questionable job investigating our complaints about Bournemouth and Poole College was not a current solicitor so was not entitled to be an Employment Lawyers Association member

(Post made at 0055 UK BST time on 8 Sep 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

The investigator (from ViewHR Limited) who in my opinion did such a questionable job of "independently investigating":

• my wife's complaint (about the way the College and Centre for Wessex Young Musicians had treated her), and 
• my complaint (mainly about poor treatment by the College and Centre for Wessex Young Musicians of other schools, some members of staff and some children including one with a disability)

was a member of the Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) both at the time of the investigation and until a few days ago.

Incorrect claim on his/her ELA member page that he/she was a practising solicitor. Was an ELA member despite not being entitled to be one

Employment Lawyers Association (ELA) members self-certify that they are practising solicitors or barristers who spend at least 25% of their time practising employment law (see the bottom left of https://www.elaweb.org.uk/membership).

The hourly rate advertised by Bournemouth and Poole College is £28. It was only £18 just over a year ago, effectively on a zero hours contract

(Post made at 1754 UK BST time on 4 Sep 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

Further to my post of yesterday, the Bournemouth and Poole College / Centre for Wessex Young Musicians is currently advertising for a permanent Wessex Starter Strings / Wessex Middle Strings Conductor, after having had a succession of "guest coaches" since mid May 2017.

Centre for Wessex Young Musicians rate for staff as low as £18 per hour

The hourly rate in the advert is given as £28.

I mentioned yesterday that I was glad the rate had gone up.  Why?

Extract from Protocol (agency) payslip during 2017

Because the rate paid to the previous "permanent" WSS/WMS Conductor (can it really be "permanent" if it is effectively a zero hours contract, with zero notice period?) was only £18 per hour.  Presumably this was also the rate paid to the Fanfares Conductor, and the Theory Class Lecturer - and presumably they too will now be getting the new rate of £28 per hour, instead of only £18 per hour (fairness should probably demand this).

Bournemouth and Poole College is advertising for a new Wessex Starter Strings/Wessex Middle Strings Conductor

(Post made at 1842 UK BST time on 3 Sep 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

An advert was placed last Wednesday (29 August 2018) at  https://www.educationweekjobs.co.uk/jobboard/cands/jobview.asp?v=7841343.

For some reason the closing date is only a week later (Wednesday 5 September 2018, so now only 2 days away).

A copy of the advert is shown below. I'm glad that the rate seems to have gone up & that admin work is no longer being expected. I hope the Bournemouth and Poole College and Centre for Wessex Young Musicians will treat any new occupant of the post better than the WSS/WMS Conductor from Sep 2004 to May 2017 feels she was treated (see here). In particular, will the post still have no notice?

Jane and I genuinely wish any new occupant of the post all the very best: the children and their parents are wonderful and it was a joy to make music with them.

Secret Bournemouth and Poole College Wessex Youth Orchestra rehearsal schedules for 2017/2018

(Post made at 1620 UK BST time on 3 Sep 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

Further to this post last year, below are the Wessex Youth Orchestra (WYO) rehearsal schedules for the past academic year.  They are still marked secret on the CWYM website ("for WYO members and families only", see http://www.cwym-music.com/wyo-membership-guidelines.html), and on the schedules themselves (with the exception of the Summer 2018 schedule - a sign of progress?): "Private and confidential".

This secrecy continues to be bizarre and in the past parents have mentioned to me, on learning of this practice (after their child had recently joined the WYO): "I understand that the rehearsal schedules are secret - what's that about??".

As in the past, I had to use the Freedom of Information Act (FoIA) in order to obtain the schedules, and the Bournemouth and Poole College has again tried to prevent their publication by claiming that copyright prevents them from being published without the copyright holder's permission.

The Bournemouth and Poole College's poor compliance with the Freedom of Information Act continues, having failed to reply to internal review requests after almost a year

(Post made at 1618 UK BST time on 6 Jun 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

The Bournemouth and Poole College is extremely late in responding to two Freedom of Information Act internal reviews:

How often have fire drills taken place at the Centre for Wessex Young Musicians? 

(see here).

and

Discrepancies in information given by College about communicating Wessex Youth Orchestra rehearsal dates to schools

(see here).

Credit where credit is due: the College have finally corrected their website

A thank you to Bournemouth and Poole College who corrected their website earlier this week: it no longer says that my wife conducts the Wessex Starter and Middle Strings (which is good because she stopped doing that just over a year ago).

Vaughan Williams' sublime Sea Symphony

This weekend I had the great pleasure of taking part in a performance of Vaughan Williams' sublime Sea Symphony. This was with the Westbourne Orchestra (in which I play double bass), Brockenhurst Choir and Total Voice Chamber Choir, soloists Samantha Crawford and Alex Cook, conducted by Lee Marchant (only the 5th conductor in the orchestra's 88 year history!), led by Marjory King.

I did not know this work before rehearsals started a few months ago, but it has become one of my favourites.  A work of astonishing breadth and depth, and Vaughan Williams' first symphony, written between 1903 and 1909 when he was in his thirties. It is said that the composer himself fell back in his seat when he attended the first rehearsals, astounded that he could have created something so powerful.

If you've never heard this work before, I think you are in for a real treat.  Here is a link to a video of a magnificent BBC Proms performance from 2013:



"Sakari Oramo conducts the BBC Symphony Orchestra, BBC Symphony Chorus, BBC Proms Youth Choir and soloists Sally Matthews & Roderick Williams for Vaughan Williams 'A Sea Symphony'".

The wonderful music and Walt Whitman's words. Watching the joy on the conductor's face (and his wonderful rapport particularly with the soloists and choirs) and choir members' faces. My favourite bits are the following:

A year ago, Bournemouth and Poole College and the Centre for Wessex Young Musicians carried out an act of senseless destruction, which was not in the interests of the children in my opinion

(Post made at 1727 UK BST time on 11 May 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

An act of destruction

11 May 2017: an act of destruction at the College and the Centre for Wessex Young Musicians

In my view, a year ago (on 11 May 2017), Bournemouth and Poole College and the Centre for Wessex Young Musicians carried out an act of senseless destruction, which was not in the interests of the children or the Centre.  By dismissing a very popular teacher after 13 years of extremely dedicated service, without notice, explanation or thanks, and 3 weeks into the start of the summer term. The day after she had raised concerns informally over the management style at the Centre. She left that meeting (with a senior person at the College) feeling that her concerns had been listened to, and with the understanding that things were going to improve. Yet the very next day she was dismissed in such a callous, senseless manner.

The teacher concerned - my wife - was devastated.  Many, many, parents told us that they were too, and most important, 60 to 70 children from the Wessex Starter and Middle Strings were unable to understand why a teacher they had known in several cases for years (and in many cases had been very fond of) had disappeared suddenly, without reason or even being able to say goodbye.  Many parents found it incredibly difficult to explain to their children what had happened. Readers will have to judge for themselves whether the College's actions then and since are in line with its stated culture.

More incompetent (unethical?) behaviour (false advertising) by Bournemouth and Poole College/Centre for Wessex Young Musicians

(Post made at 1409 UK BST time on 13 Apr 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

The Bournemouth and Poole College are still advertising the Wessex Starter and Middle Strings courses on their website (see this page) as being conducted by my wife, 11 months after she stopped conducting these groups. (At their request, with no notice or thanks after 13 years, and without explanation until a week later when a pretext was given which was quickly shown to be spurious given accepted practice by other staff at the College).

See this screenshot, taken earlier today (you can click on any image in this post to see a larger version):

This is false and misleading advertising.

Is this simply incompetence, or is it deliberate, unethical advertising using a very popular teacher's name?

I heartily recommend the Secret Barrister's book "Stories of the Law and How It's Broken"

(Post made at 1406 UK BST time on 13 Apr 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).  

For anyone interested in UK law and in particular the parlous effect of successive cuts on our justice system, I can heartily recommend this book:

The Secret Barrister: Stories of the Law and How It's Broken

Here is an excerpt from the chapter which exposes the increasing number of false complaints:

But there will be cases where there is simply no other approach than to firmly and clearly put to a witness: you are lying.  And to make them relive every second of the events they describe so that you can clinically and decisively shred every sentence they deliver, building to a closing speech where you publicly implore a jury to reject the complainant as a liar.

In my opinion, the downplaying of the younger CWYM groups continues

(Post made at 1130 UK time on 06 Mar 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

Further to "The younger groups have got the short straw in the CWYM Summer Concert on 1 July 2017", something which seems to be happening again in the 2018 Summer Concert, there seems at the time of writing to be no Facebook event, no poster, and indeed little mention (apart from in the list of concerts on the CWYM website) of the March concert (on 18 March, with no time stated) by the Wessex Fanfares and Wessex Starter and Middle Strings.

Furthermore, rather than having an external venue (as has happened for the last several years), the younger groups (which are the future of the WYO) are being relegated this year to playing at the Bournemouth and Poole College.  This seems a throwback to the situation about 10 years ago, when the feeder groups just had an informal concert at St Andrew's Hall at the old Constitution Hill site, with little room for an audience, and not much of a sense of occasion.

This seems a pity.  When I was chairperson of the SWYM Committee, it was always our aim to integrate the groups as far as possible, and to minimise any feeling of "them and us" as between the WYO and its feeder groups.

Something I hope I've never adopted as a management style!

(Post made at 1106 UK time on 06 Mar 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

I found the above cartoon (amongst several on the theme of micromanagement) amusing. Managing a team is a challenge, with a balance between delegation and supervising, and I know I've not always got it right! 

Bournemouth and Poole College: why do the concerns I raise matter?

(Post made at 1046 UK time on 27 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

This is a follow up to a previous post, Why is this public?

Great music education is a partnership between classroom teachers, specialist teachers, professional performers and a host of other organisations, including those from the arts, charity and voluntary sectors.

The quote above is from page 3 of the government's "The Importance of Music", a National Plan for Music Education.

Reactions from some CWYM parents to the concerns I have raised have been along the lines of "fake news!", or "what does it matter if the rehearsals are secret?" "this is just admin, life's too short for that" or "stop criticising the Centre!".

My answers are:

1. To the best of my knowledge, nothing in this blog is "fake news", and I have written evidence to back up everything I have said.  With regard to whether cooperation between CWYM and other musical organisations has been good, I have written statements from several witnesses (which I supplied to the College) that in their view cooperation had been unsatisfactory over a long period of time.  The email from CWYM to a school head of music refusing an advance request for help when one of six (!) extra rehearsals clashed with a weekday school concert  provides clear supporting evidence to back up what those witnesses told me.  Note that there has been no denial from the College that that email is genuine. Notice also that, even today, the CWYM website still instructs parents and children that the rehearsal schedules are secret (http://www.cwym-music.com/wyo-membership-guidelines.html still says "Members will be informed of a following season’s concert dates by email each summer, and then regularly throughout a season on the WYO schedules (for WYO members and families only) and by email").  This is 13 months after a senior member of staff at the College told me in writing that he/she expected the schedules to be published. 
2. To the follow up questions, "so what if they are secret?" "so what if cooperation is poor?" my reply is: isn't that a rather selfish attitude? At a minimum, the likely absence of key players at key times seems to have caused significant stress to some other teachers/ensemble leaders, who have a difficult enough job as it is. Overall the impact on those other musical organisations seems to have been harmful, as indeed one might logically expect it to be.  In any case, the College claims to want to work harmoniously with other community organisations. Indeed as a publicly funded body and a charity doesn't it have a duty to do so? How does secrecy and a lack of cooperation comply with the importance of working in partnership referred to in the quote at the start of this post? In the absence of any valid counter to arguments such as these, if someone were still to say "so what?" then I think their views of right and wrong and mine differ enormously.  I believe most CWYM parents would agree that music teaching plays an important part in schools (see here for my thoughts on this).

I have no reason to believe that anything I have posted is untrue, but anyone who disagrees has the right of reply and should use it

(Post made at 1905 UK time on 26 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

A reminder that anyone who disputes the accuracy of any of my statements in any of the blog posts is free to explain why/add corrections in the comments. (Please see the Terms of Use on this page. In the 13 months since creating this blog, I have not had occasion to remove any comments).

If any statement can be demonstrated to be untrue I will gladly correct it . Indeed I have a professional obligation to do so, just as I have a professional obligation to speak out as I have done about actions which I believe are unethical, improper or unlawful.

Resorting to legal threats or making complaints is over the top and unnecessary. If anyone has evidence that any of the statements I have made is incorrect, the normal (and simplest) remedy is to simply produce that evidence.  (Indeed, making threats without having any such evidence would be an abuse of process in my view, and unlikely to succeed, since I have taken great care that all my statements of fact are evidence-based.)

Record of Wessex Youth Orchestra Leaders

(Post made at 1402 UK time on 07 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

James di Capite (Leader) and Patrick Curlett (soloist and former Leader) in 2006

This is a record of the list of Wessex Youth Orchestra (WYO) leaders to the best of my knowledge.  Any corrections/omissions/additions gratefully received. (This is some of the content which I had added to the previous CWYM website which was closed down, along with the previous CWYM Facebook page, by sudden order of the Bournemouth and Poole College in December 2016. This content - part of the WYO's history - doesn't seem to appear anywhere now so I am reproducing it here).

2017-2018 Helena Bartlett
2016-2017 Helena Bartlett
2015-2016 Helena Bartlett
2014-2015 Helena Bartlett
2013-2014 Eszter Sitku
2012-2013 Nathalie Green-Buckley

Bournemouth and Poole College's Centre for Wessex Young Musicians Facebook page still claims it is a charity ...if so, since when?

(Post made at 1900 UK time on 05 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

Further to my previous post, the Facebook page still claims that the CWYM is a charity.  The normal rule is that organisations with income exceeding £5,000 and claiming to be charities need to be registered ...

Update 1630 UK time on 10 Jan 2018: the page now seems to have been corrected, and says "Orchestra in Poole, Dorset". This particular Facebook page seems to have been set up almost a year ago (the first visible post is dated 7 Feb 2017 - how long has the false claim been made that CWYM (or by implication SWYM) is a charity? And why did the College think this was appropriate/acceptable? During my time on the SWYM Committee the question as to whether SWYM could become a charity was discussed on several occasions, and each time the College representatives replied that SWYM could not be a charity because it was part of the College.  (Indeed this appears to be correct from paragraph 1 of the SWYM Constitution -unless this was changed at the 2017 AGM which is possible but unlikely -which says

The society shall be called the Society for Wessex Young Musicians and shall be affiliated to and form part of Bournemouth and Poole College of Further Education (“The College”).)

So whoever set up the claim in the CWYM Facebook page that it was a charity should have known that this not right.)

The Bournemouth and Poole College's Wessex Youth Orchestra spent just under £2,000 on extra players for two concerts

(Post made at 1412 UK time on 02 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

On 3 December 2016, as still then Chairman of the Society for Wessex Young Musicians (SWYM), I was very surprised to be asked to sign cheques totalling just over £3,000.  This included just under £2,000 for extra players for the WYO's concerts of 16 November 2016 (the Music for Youth Schools' Prom at the Royal Albert Hall, 16 extra players) and 4 December 2016 at the Lighthouse (at least 8 extra players).

I have no objections to extra players in principle e.g. to fill in missing parts (e.g. harp), or in situations where the musicians concerned were ex WYO members. The latter help provide extra continuity, and can usefully - because they often know the WYO children well - be part of the accompanying adults team on tours.

But the numbers involved seemed a) much higher than usual, b) the majority had no connection with the WYO, and c) had not been cleared with the SWYM Committee in advance. Expenditure had instead been approved for the WYO to receive sectional rehearsals led by Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra players. I have always felt this was very valuable because all WYO players benefit from such tuition, and it also enhances the link with our excellent local professional orchestra.

The Bournemouth and Poole College's Centre for Wessex Young Musicians Facebook page claims it is a charity - I don't believe it is one

(Post made at 0855 UK time on 02 Jan 2018 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

The Centre for Wessex Young Musicians (CWYM)'s Facebook page, set up by the Bournemouth and Poole College early in 2017, is at https://www.facebook.com/cwymwyo/.

This states that it is a "Charity in Poole, Dorset" (click on the image to see it in larger detail).

Why? And for how long has this claim (false in my view) been made?

To the best of my knowledge, CWYM has never been a charity, and neither has SWYM (the Society for Wessex Young Musicians).