A pioneering free school which was backed by a Swedish education provider has been given the lowest possible rating by Ofsted after its first inspection.

IES Breckland Free School’s principal, Alison Tilbrook, told parents today that a report to be released on Thursday will show that the school has been found to be “inadequate” and placed in Special Measures.

Last week, the school’s Swedish education providers, International English Schools (IES), admitted that the education being provided at the free school was “sub-standard”, following an assessment.

http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/education/i ... _1_3418553

So the Swedes lack the promised expertise in free school management.

After the much vaunted Swedish Model, this can't be good. Especially as there are many of these schools only now come up to inspections.

Still the new head seems to have been to the Gove School of Spin, if I was a parent there I think I'd give her a kick in the crotch for this sort of shit:

Our students are incredibly willing to learn and up to the challenge of working to achieve the best results they can,” she said in the letter.

But she is apparently only there short term, she hasnt (allegedly) worked in a UK school for over 10 years and her predecessor had no experience as a Head Teacher. Many teachers there are supposedly new trainees, even Heads of Department. This brings allegations of cost savings, for whose benefit?

Well, IES the (for profit) Swedish experts have been bought out by a bunch of American private equity investors (TA Associates).

The actual 'Trust' who runs it has been described in Private Eye as “little more than a powerless conduit for the Department for Education (DfE) to pay IES”.

Bloody hell! The Swedes were said to have been given the run-around by creationists. With American money-men involved too, it's pretty well guaranteed.
Meanwhile, off-topic, the presenter of BBC 4's Secrets of Bones has just said that bones are there to allow an animal to move - and this from a professor of evolutionary biology. I'd have had my bony hand smacked in O-level biology if I'd written such a gross oversimplification. Is it now mandatory to dumb-down science programmes to such an extent? School science following shortly? There already?
Edit to add: my apologies to Ben Garrod: he's not a professor, apparently having only recently finished his Ph.D., so will be a beginner at lecturing.