‘Principal task for UCL academy head Sylvia Jones will be public relations’
Teacher with ‘outstanding’ track record given top job at controversial school
Published: 18 March 2010
by TOM FOOT and CONRAD LANDIN
DON’T call her a headteacher: the woman who will head the new UCL Academy will use the title “principal” instead.
Sylvia Jones – an applicant who came with “outstanding” credentials – was yesterday (Wednesday) confirmed as the first head of the new school in Swiss Cottage.
She will take charge of what is Camden’s first academy school, using the controversial model of allowing independent sponsors to dictate the way it is run.
There were warnings last night that one of her first jobs will be a public relations task in convincing parents that the school will not operate beyond the borough’s traditional family of comprehensive secondary schools.
Ms Jones, currently headteacher of Valentines High community school in Redbridge in east London, will take up her post in September. She has been a headteacher for eight years in one of the most successful comprehensives in the country – rated “outstanding” by Ofsted inspectors in every department.
Ms Jones, who is set to collect a six figure salary in her new job, sits on a steering group set up to implement the government’s academies programme in London, known as the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust. She will now lead one of the most prestigious academies in the country.
“One of the most exciting things about this move is the fact that the new school is being established on the principle that children from all backgrounds, and of all abilities, can achieve success if they are given the right support, teaching and curriculum,” said Ms Jones.
“In addition to shaping our own school, we also have the opportunity to support and strengthen the existing network of schools in Camden.”
But many feel the arrival of the academy – with a brand new state-of-the-art building and with direct links to one of the world’s top universities – will disrupt the current education system.
Camden Council’s decision to appoint UCL as sponsor without a tendering process of consultation was challenged in a five-day High Court hearing. The judge ruled the council had acted within its rights.
Lucy Anderson, chairwoman of Camden Campaign for State Education (CASE), said: “She [Ms Jones] will have a big task to win over the majority of people in Camden who didn’t want the academy in the first place. She needs to be very sensitive to the danger of impacting adversely on the morale of other schools in the borough.”
Ms Jones is a London regional co-ordinator for the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust (SSAT). It is one of the largest education networks in the world and it has lead responsibility for delivering the Government’s academies programme across England.
Schools campaigner and journalist Francis Beckett, in his pamphlet We pay the piper – they call the tune, described SSAT as “the most powerful organisation in British education”. He added: “It’s the engine of government policy on academies and trust schools. It has many of the powers and responsibilities which used to be exercised by local education authorities. It is not accountable to anyone, and there is no democratic input into its decision-making.”
UCL has appointed Professor David Price as the chairman of the academy’s governing body.