So now we know!

Just imagine the scene.
 
It’s Friday evening after a happy day at Moorside: younger daughter  safely collected from the Kings Cross train for her birthday weekend;  logs are crackling in the wood burner; I’ve just poured a glass of something nice; and I’m savouring the prospect of a titanic England Wales rugby match at 8 o/clock.
 
Then a  momentous text message arrived.
 
It was  from one of the staff to say that they’d  just read this morning’s edition of The Journal which reported that Durham County Council has announced the go ahead of Consett Academy.
 
This is what The Journal said:
 
‘Durham County Council ended some of the uncertainty over its plans for an academy in Consett yesterday by saying they would be building a new academy and have begun advertising for a head. But a council spokeswoman said yesterday no announcement would be made for a further two weeks, adding: “An academy will be built. It was only in doubt if no funding had been forthcoming.” ‘
 
Well, that settles it then.
 
That’s a clear, unambiguous statement which removes the doubts we were led to have about whether or not Moorside would become an academy. And I must say, markedly different from previous communications which left all options open, including, I assume, lifting the closure notices on both Consett secondary schools.
 
Anyway, such dramatic news jolted me into work mode. I immediately found the article on the web and forwarded it to  all staff and governors.  Having been through reorganisations before I know that firm  information about what is going to happen is like gold dust. So I took the liberty of contacting everyone before they heard the news from another source.
 
I hope that I didn’t interrupt too many Indian take aways.
 
And I must take this chance to assure everyone that Moorside will co-operate fully with the sponsors and our partners at CCSC in planning for the opening of the academy in our present buildings on September 1st, 2011. There’s a daunting list of jobs to be done, but I think that the sponsors know that there’s a vast pool of talent and commitment in both schools. So we have the people to make this thing work.
 
Well, that was a bit serious, wasn’t it?
 
Next week I’ll tell you about The Helicopter Boys.