Our campaign gathers strength

We spoke to Bob Marshall-Andrews yesterday, and left with a feeling of cautious optimism. The department for education and the minister Lord Adonis have heard the proposals and the message that S.O.C.K. are telling and the phrase "gradualism" has come in, a sensible, reasonable approach to creating a school with a good chance to succeed that will build a proven structure and culture for the benefit of all the children of the Strood area. - Sound familiar to anyone?

We are in the paper again - this time from as far as the US - surely, there can't be many schools anywhere in the country who are held in this high regard. I hope the cabinet members read the papers more regularly than they read their emails.

Here is the article:

School gains support from across the pond

• Chapter's campaign spreads to America by Hayley Robinson hrobinson@thekmgroup.co.uk A FORMER head girl is supporting the campaign to save Chapter School from her home in the USA. Elizabeth Payne moved to Massachusetts 27 years ago but was disappointed to hear during a recent visit that Medway Council plans to merge Chapter with Temple and form an academy. As a result the 60-year-old former pupil decided to show her support by writing letters and signing an online petition. Elizabeth said: "Why does the council consider it necessary to close both schools and open an academy? Why not merge Temple with Chapter and give these young men the same access to an excellent education? "I did some research (into academies) and was concerned to read that they will help break the cycle of underachievement in areas of social and economic depravation. "Chapter is far from an under-achieving school. The school has built and maintained its reputation over many years due to strong leadership and dedicated teachers. "Change is obviously necessary for Temple but that change should not be at the expense of young women who attend Chapter School." Elizabeth left Chapter when she was 16 but credits her career history, to her education at Chapter. Progressive She said: "I left Chapter with four O-levels, went on to Medway College of Technology in Rochester where I obtained another four and in my 30s I went to university and gained a Bachelor of Arts' degree. "I have been very successful in my career. I credit all this to the faith the headmistress had in her students, the encouragement she and her staff provided and the opportunities made available to us in Chapter. Even then Chapter was a progressive school. I was part of an exchange programme; we were taken to the Old Vic in London and when I was 15 I went on a cruise with students from other schools visiting Helsinki, Stockholm, Copenhagen and Leningrad." Elizabeth still has links with Chapter. Her sister Christine Coward is PA to the school's head teacher Sue Dore, her great-niece is a pupil at the school while her great-nephew is a pupil at Temple. Public consultation on the academy plan has finished and the plan will be discussed by Medway Council's Cabinet on February 19.

Medway Messenger, 21 December 2007