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.

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).

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.)

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.)

"Even though I'm deaf, it does not mean I can't play the violin!": a touching, but also troubling story

(Post made at 2110 on 24 Dec 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

I must confess to ignorance here: I knew about virtuoso percussionist Dame Evelyn Glennie, but before reading a recent article in the National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS) magazine, I did not know that deaf people could play the violin.

The NDCS has a "Get Deaf Aware" poster (the link should download a copy to your device) that includes as one of its phrases "Even though I'm deaf, it doesn't mean I can't play the violin!". There is a touching (but also troubling) article in their magazine about a girl with moderate deafness who has been playing the violin and has really been enjoying it.

To quote the article:

"This summer Olivia, who's been playing the violin since she was seven years old, won our Raising the Bar competition.  Her prize was to spend a weekend playing in an orchestra with professional musicians who are deaf, which gave her another confidence boost".

I have made contact today with the Bournemouth and Poole College's Board and I was also contacted by Ofsted

(Post made at 2246 BST on 26 Sep 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

I have just managed to contact a member of the Bournemouth and Poole College's Board directly (as you recall the College refused to pass on my concerns to that Board). I have asked for a formal response from the Board.

As a result, I now hope that my concerns (and those of the other parents and teachers whose evidence formed the basis of my complaint to the College) will be properly addressed.

Open letter to the Bournemouth and Poole College's solicitors

(Post made at 1127 BST on 26 Sep 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests. Update 0531 BST on 27 Sep 2017: please see the comment below this post to see the College's solicitors' reply). 

From: Patrick Lee
Sent: 26 September 2017 11:24
To: johnandrews@steeleraymond.co.uk
Subject: Re Bournemouth & Poole College (your letter of 14 July 2017)

Open letter (i.e. public and non confidential)

Dear SteeleRaymond LLP

I refer to your letter of 14 July 2017 to me, titled “Bournemouth and Poole College”.

I believe your client (“the College”) may not have given you a full or accurate picture of the situation.  In particular with regard to the evidence supporting my concerns and those of other parents and teachers, and to the fairness and integrity of the independent complaints investigation carried out by View HR Limited, and hence the integrity and appropriateness of the College (and by extension your firm) relying on the outcome of that investigation.  Please confirm whether the College disclosed to you the full contents of my email of 26 June 2017 to the investigator (via the College member of staff appointed by its Quality Department as the point of contact), headed “Formal complaint with items numbered for clarity and ease of reference”?  You say in your letter that you do not believe that there is any evidence to substantiate the allegations I have made – did you make that statement despite having read my email of 26 June 2017 just referred to?

Bournemouth and Poole College: a failure of governance because of a lack of accountability and little apparent concern for ethics

(Post made at 2245 BST on 25 Sep 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests). 

In my opinion a flawed complaints system (which is being used to silence criticism rather than address it) is preventing accountability for poor practices.  In what way is the College accountable for what I believe to be very poor ethical behaviour, if it accepts the results of a manifestly flawed (and itself unethical, because of incorrect statements that no witnesses came forward to support complaints) "independent" complaints investigation?  Where is the accountability and ethics in the College refusing to allow an appeal despite the clear flaws in the investigation?  Where is the accountability in the College refusing to allow my concerns to be passed on to its Board? How is the College's refusal to investigate items complained about not a violation of its Complaints Policy? Aren't all these things further evidence of unethical behaviour and a failure of culture, governance and leadership at the Bournemouth and Poole College?

In my opinion the impartiality and fairness of the investigation carried out cannot be relied upon (key witnesses not contacted + other irregularities)

(Post made on 17 Jul 2017 in a personal capacity.  Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).  

This is a follow up to the preceding post.  This is a copy of an email just sent to the Bournemouth and Poole College.

Open letter:

Dear Quality team and Bournemouth and Poole College Principal

In fact I have since heard that, contrary to the statement in the Independent Investigator outcome letter to me that no witnesses interviewed corroborated my allegations and that no witnesses had been willing to step forward to support my allegations, so far 4 witnesses have confirmed that they were NOT contacted by the College/View HR Limited (the Independent Investigator’s company).  In addition, 2 witnesses had been contacted, but were given an unreasonable deadline (email sent at 2049 on 11 July requesting a response “today”). I also know so far of at least 1 witness supportive of the other person’s complaint who was also NOT contacted by the College/View HR Limited. In my opinion this raises serious questions about the impartiality and fairness of the investigation. 

in my opinion, in view of this and other procedural improprieties the outcome of the investigations must be regarded as suspect and neither the College nor anyone else should place any reliance on the investigation carried out by View HR Limited. I understand that some of the witnesses who the Independent Investigator failed to contact will be getting in touch with the College.

Yours faithfully

Patrick Lee   

Bournemouth and Poole College "Long Overdue" with their response to Freedom of Information Request (about discrepancies in their responses)

Post made in a personal capacity at 0945 BST on 1 July 2017. Please see here for important background and disclosure of interests).

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

I have just received an email from WhatDoTheyKnow informing me that the College is long overdue in providing a response to my Freedom of Information request of 4 May:

I have just asked once more for the College to comply with their obligations under the law by responding without further delay.

Serious question marks over the ethical standards and culture at the WYO/Bournemouth and Poole College

(Post made at 2110 UK time on 08 Jun 2017. This post is made on a personal basis, as a member - and until 4 February 2017 Chairman -of SWYM because of my significant concerns about the running of the musically excellent Wessex Youth Orchestra, and about recent aspects of the governance of SWYM and the management of the CWYM and College. Please see https://musicmattersandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/welcome-disclosure-of-interests-terms.html for important background and disclosure of interests).

The WYO/Bournemouth and Poole College told me, twice in succession after I queried this, and in writing, that there was no rehearsal schedule for this term. Yet there was one (see here). How could this happen? I await the WYO/College's explanation (see this open letter). I can think of two possibilities. Either (to use the words of former FBI Director James Comey in his testimony on another matter earlier today) those statements were "lies plain and simple", or the WYO/College leadership managed somehow to forget that a schedule was sent out this term, despite one having been sent out regularly every term for many, many previous occasions. Personally I think I would struggle to find the second explanation credible.   

An open letter to BPCollege Principal and Freedom of Information Officer, in the light of yesterday's FoIA response

(Post made at 2352 UK time on 07 Jun 2017. This post is made on a personal basis, as a member - and until 4 February 2017 Chairman -of SWYM because of my significant concerns about the running of the musically excellent Wessex Youth Orchestra, and about recent aspects of the governance of SWYM and the management of the CWYM and College. Please see https://musicmattersandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/welcome-disclosure-of-interests-terms.html for important background and disclosure of interests).

This is a copy of an open (i.e. public) letter emailed to the Bournemouth and Poole College earlier today, after analysis of the response received yesterday to my Freedom of Information Act request of 20 April. See here for the full details of the correspondence under that request; the letter also reflects my concerns about the reliability of information supplied by the College, in particular the "WYO Key Facts" document recently sent to schools (see here).

Freedom of Information Request (no 3, 20 April): complete correspondence, including College Response (late, 6 June)

(Post made at 2318 UK time on 07 Jun 2017. This post is made on a personal basis, as a member - and until 4 February 2017 Chairman -of SWYM because of my significant concerns about the running of the musically excellent Wessex Youth Orchestra, and about recent aspects of the governance of SWYM and the management of the CWYM and College. Please see https://musicmattersandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/welcome-disclosure-of-interests-terms.html for important background and disclosure of interests).

Yesterday 6 June I finally received (the main part, but not all, in particular no information about which schools the schedule was sent to, presumably none) a response to my Freedom of Information request of 20 April, which was due under the Act by 23 May at the latest. (Previous posts referring to this particular request are here and here, but I have put the entire email chain below for ease of reference, with most recent emails at the top). 

Note: the WYO Schedule attached to Mr Roberts' email of 6 June can be found here: page 1 and page 2.

Disturbing news about anti-democratic and intimidatory behaviour at Bournemouth and Poole College

(Post made at 2207 UK time on 29 May 2017. This post is made on a personal basis, as a member - and until 4 February 2017 Chairman -of SWYM because of my significant concerns about some aspects of the running of the musically excellent Wessex Youth Orchestra, and about recent aspects of the governance of SWYM and the management of the College. Please see https://musicmattersandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/welcome-disclosure-of-interests-terms.html for important background and disclosure of interests).

Disturbing, anti-democratic behaviour towards CWYM parents

Am hearing disturbing reports that the College has forbidden some parents from discussing the possibility of calling a SWYM EGM (and possibly other topics too) on College premises.  Also that a security guard intervened to halt a conversation between a small number (I believe 2) of CWYM parents in the car park.

Such actions seem unlikely to reduce concerns about the appropriateness of the current culture/management style.

Will the College do the right thing vis a vis those parents?

Perhaps it is time for the Bournemouth and Poole College to take a leaf out of the Olivier Theatre's book, as in this blog post.

Answers to "Why is this public?" and other questions

(Post made at 1251 UK time on 21 May 2017. This post is made on a personal basis, as a member - and until 4 February 2017 Chairman -of SWYM because of my significant concerns about some aspects of the running of the musically excellent Wessex Youth Orchestra, and about recent aspects of the governance of SWYM. Please see https://musicmattersandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/welcome-disclosure-of-interests-terms.html for important background and disclosure of interests).

Why am I commenting in public?

Some SWYM members (i.e. Centre parents) have asked me why this blog exists, and why I have made it publicly visible.

This is for several reasons:

1. Given the questions as to whether the SWYM is being run in line with its Constitution, and for general good governance,the SWYM Constitution needs to be accessible to SWYM members. To date, this blog has (to my knowledge) been the only place where members could view the Constitution (you can it see here).
2. The College is a publicly-funded body and members of the public (including of course SWYM members, but also school headteachers and heads of music and conductors of other ensembles) have a right to view information obtained from the College under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  This blog provides such a place for the responses to my FoIA requests (e.g. here)
3. As explained in the very early posts on this blog, while I was Chairman of SWYM, I had a duty to communicate with SWYM members in a situation where I had significant concerns about whether the SWYM Constitution was being followed.  I had previously raised these concerns privately but was concerned that I had not been given satisfactory answers.  
4. My confidence in the ability and/or willingness of the College to address the concerns I had been raising (about the management style within CWYM vis a vis both SWYM and staff, the degree of freedom the SWYM Committee had to choose items for discussion on its agenda, and a lack of accountability of the WYO Director, including a very high degree of secrecy about the WYO rehearsal schedule) has been increasingly undermined by several of the College's actions (and inactions) over the period since last November.  

My suggestions for improvement at the Centre for Wessex Young Musicians

(Post added at 0825 UK time on 18 May 2017. Most of this content is originally from a Facebook post I made on 12 May 2017, but now added here because it is relevant to improving the culture of both CWYM and SWYM).

This post is made on a personal basis, as a member - and until early February 2017 Chairman -of SWYM because of my significant concerns about some aspects of the running of the otherwise excellent Wessex Youth Orchestra, and about recent aspects of the governance of SWYM. Please see https://musicmattersandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/welcome-disclosure-of-interests-terms.html for important background and disclosure of interests).

I understand that Centre for Wessex Young Musicians parents (again except us, which is improper) have been sent an email with a feedback form asking for suggestions for improvements. So here are mine:

1. [this para slightly reworded 1622 UK time 13 May 2017] Beverley (or someone else suitable) should replace Susanna as Director of the Centre. Susanna to carry on as WYO Director, but with very close supervision by Centre Director.
2. The SWYM Committee to be allowed to set its own agenda (without a veto by WYO or CWYM Director) as per its current Constitution.
3. WYO Director's manager to make sure that she consults properly with WSS / WMS Conductor and Fanfare conductor rather than imposing by dictat.
4. Honest, regular communication with schools by publishing the schedule of extra WYO rehearsals on the website
5. All staff (not just the WYO Director) to be able to make suggestions to SWYM Committee and to get a fairer share of the funding. Parents to be able to make suggestions to SWYM Committee too.
6. All significant expenditure items that need to be paid by SWYM to be approved in advance by the SWYM Committee.
7. SWYM Committee and Centre staff to look into whether the gap between WYF/WMS and WYO has become too high? If so why? Eg has the increasing number of extra rehearsals that the WYO has been getting contributed to this? With a view to working out how to either reduce the gap or to fill it, so that players who feel that they have outgrown WYF/WMS have somewhere to go and we don't lose them from the Centre. (If we lose them, then they might miss the opportunity to develop their music playing to the stage where they are good enough to have near lifelong enjoyment from it). If an intermediate orchestra is needed to fill the gap, then SWYM to work out how to finance it.

BPCollege/WYO "Key Facts" document for schools gets the facts wrong and omits key information ...

(Paragraph added 0440 UK time 12 May 2017: This post is made on a personal basis, as a member - and until early February 2017 Chairman -of SWYM because of my significant concerns about some aspects of the running of the otherwise excellent Wessex Youth Orchestra, and about recent aspects of the governance of SWYM. Please see https://musicmattersandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/welcome-disclosure-of-interests-terms.html for important background and disclosure of interests)

No wonder the College and WYO Director wanted to avoid the WYO rehearsal schedules being published.
It seems that a document was recently sent by the Bournemouth and Poole College to schools, entitled  "Centre for Wessex Young Musicians - Key Facts", with sub heading "Communication and Cooperation between the CWYM/WYO and local schools".

Unfortunately, this document gives a materially incorrect picture of what has happened in recent terms (the only ones I have details for, because the rehearsal schedules were kept secret).

Secret WYO rehearsal schedules which both the WYO Director and the College repeatedly tried to stop publication of

(This post is made on a personal basis, as a member - and until recently Chairman -of SWYM because of my significant concerns about some aspects of the running of the otherwise excellent Wessex Youth Orchestra, and about recent aspects of the governance of SWYM. Please see https://musicmattersandculture.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/welcome-disclosure-of-interests-terms.html for important background and disclosure of interests).

Almost six months after I first asked for the autumn schedule, and delays in obtaining it under Freedom of Information, followed by repeated attempts by the Bournemouth and Poole College (the College) to avoid the information being published (by false claims that it would infringe copyright to do so) I am now able to publish the Wessex Youth Orchestra (WYO)'s rehearsal schedule for Autumn 2016, and also for Spring 2017.

I pointed out several times to the College that the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) has made clear that copyright is no bar to publication of responses received under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, and that copyright is not infringed by publishing the information providing the copyright is acknowledged. (See paragraph 18 of https://ico.org.uk/media/for-organisations/documents/1150/intellectual_property_rights_and_disclosures_under_the_foia.pdf).   The College did not reply for several weeks and when I asked a third time for clarification came back with "we acknowledge the regulations" which evaded the question.

When an organisation repeatedly claims that a list (of rehearsal dates and times, and instructions to children/parents about confidentiality and how many rehearsals must be attended) is COPYRIGHT and publishing it would breach that copyright, then one is entering PrivateEye territory. Such a claim stretches credulity and smacks of a desperate attempt to avoid publication of the said schedules.