La Mare head quits
Saturday 11th February 2012, 12:01AM GMT.
La Mare de Carteret High School head teacher Ken Wheeler has taken early retirement.
LA MARE High head teacher Ken Wheeler has quit amid failing GCSE standards at his school.
Education announced yesterday he was to take early retirement due to health issues and his resignation would take effect immediately.
The announcement came on the same day that the department confirmed that Denis Mulkerrin had been commissioned to carry out a second review this time of primary education in the Bailiwick.
Mr Wheeler was unavailable for comment yesterday but a spokeswoman for the department said his decision was down to health issues.
Geoff Cowley, who was brought in as a ‘school improvement partner’ to help once the results were released, will be the acting head teacher until the end of the academic year, in September.
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Thanks Mr Wheeler for all your efforts in a crazy situation. I think that Guernsey has lost a caring and dedicated headteacher today. My children have been a testimony to your vision and leadership at st Peter Port school. I hope that the real culprits in this scandal are brought to justice some day!
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How can someone who has been in a position for just 2 years be held responsible for the development and education (or lack of) of 16 year olds. Surely we should look at the parents, teachers, educaton department and systems over the whole 16 years – not just the last 2. Yes the mare results were bad, but who’s to blame? The children, parents, and staff who have been involved with them for 15 vyears – not one scapegoat. look aT THE RESULTS OF LA MARE OVER THE LAST 8 YEARS AND COMPARE THAT TO THE RESULTS OF ST PETER PORT (MR WHEELERS LAST SCHOOL) YOU WILL NOTICE THAT ST PETER PORT WENT UP YEAR AFTER YEAR WHILE LA MARE WENT DOWN. Perhaps they closed the wrong school!!!!!!
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I wish Mr Wheeler all the best in his retirement. Very difficult to meet the challenge of leading a school in line with elevated public expectations under the microscope of unrelenting media pressure.
No individual is to blame for the GCSE results however robust leadership of this school is required and Mr Wheeler’s health should not be put at risk nor be an obstacle to the considerable ongoing challenges.
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Mr Wheeler has conducted himself with great dignity throughout this process and he has to be admired for that. As head he has to take some of the responsibility for the success or otherwise of the school but, Like Jeff Smith, he probably felt he was running the school with one hand tied behind his back.
Others have mentioned on these blogs that the school is hampered by having a high staff turnover and many temporary appointments. If that is the case Mr Wheeler cannot be blamed as those matters were beyond his control.
The ultimate responsibility lies with the governing body, i.e. the Director of Education and the Education Board. Thankfully the two main culprits Neale and Steere have gone however Deputy de Lisle is still there. Has he been asleep for the past four years or did he simply accept everything he was told as the truth.
At least the school can look forward to rising from the ashes of this mess. Good luck to Mr Cowley and his team. I hope they wil get the backing they need from the Education Department in terms of getting the very best teachers. Have you any vacancies for September? I haven’t seen any advertised yet.
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Totally agree!
Why oh why don’t they put Mulkerrin in as headmaster? His track record is excellent.
After the awful press this school has had recently ( I don’t blame Mr Wheeler either ) the staff and pupils need a bit of stability. They deserve it!
Putting Mr Cowley in till the end of the academic year is pointless. This is not a slight against Mr Cowley, this school has been treated disgustingly lately and needs the Education Department to pull it’s head out of it’s backside and repair the damage it has caused.
Let’s have some long term staff put into positions and introduce some teacher / pupil interaction. Staff changes all the time are ruining the pupil’s chances.
Has Derek Neale really gone? I hope so, let’s not have him sticking his nose in under the new Director of Education.
Make LMDC great again, PLEASE!
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Frankie
I agree Mulkerrin would make an ideal headmaster for LMDC but maybe he isn’t interested? He is retired. I’m not sure who other than Mr Cowley would be suitable to lead the school until a replacement is recruited.
Derek Neale was apparently instructed to oversee the school rebuilds as part of his role as Director of education. I gather he now reports to the chief executive of education as will the new director, whomever that might be.
LMDC is as great as it has ever been.
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Walk away with your head held high Mr. Wheeler, my children went through St. Peter Port with you and your staff and you all did them proud.
Get well soon and enjoy your retirement, you deserve it.
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I suppose it was inevitable there would be a fall guy. Shame it’s a man who has done wonders for secondary education in Guernsey.
He had to manage the extremely difficult ‘integration’ of his former St Peter Port pupils into La Mare, a task Education sadly underestimated.
I hope that people will remember Ken Wheeler for all the good he did and not tar him with the failure brush for something which was not of his making.
And before the usual ripostes, I don’t know him, I’m not related to him or any of his family and have never met him.
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Mt Wheeler has retired due to health reasons it was said in the paper (although not above). It does not appear his suitability was the reason. It also appears people have a lot of nice things to say about him.
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I find that this is disgusting. You be letting him go you will never get a better head master then him so I say let him stay we want him for seconder and who yo have replaced him you will see teas in are so let him stay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Sorry Cara, but what exactly do you mean?
Can someone explain the position of the “Deputy Head” – wouldn’t he naturally go the the top job, and is he given “first refusal”?
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It’s not a he but a she – the new Deputy Head who took over in september. The old one left = why?
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retiring to spend more time with his golden plated pension.
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Can he rely upon the militant support of Emily Dawes I wonder?
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i woz @ la mar an can say he tort me well
he is 1 ov des better teechars @ my skool @ dat time
i onle whish he cood had teeched me betta english
my arte is very goode tho
there
my 2 peense wurth
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Respec 2 u an yr (forma) teecha man. U woz tort the bestast by tha top dood an dats 4 shore
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cheers bb/geezer
?
ave 1 on me
or mayb wii can hook up!
got xbox an ps3d wiv hd
toots!
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“my arte is very goode tho”
Sounds more like a line from The Winter’s Tale…
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me tags neva chow op ere WTF
?
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random
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one word failure
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