Bruce Liddington | |
---|---|
Schools Commissioner | |
In office 2006–2009 | |
Prime Minister | Tony Blair |
Sir Bruce Liddington (1949 – 28 July 2020) was the schools commissioner in 2006 under Tony Blair's Government. He came from a poor area of Wellingborough and did his degree in English at Queen Mary College,and a PGCE in Cambridge. He started his teaching career in Conisbrough,and rose to headteacher at Northampton School for Boys which he improved then and changed its status from a LEA school to a grant maintained school. For this he received a knighthood.
He moved to the Department of Education advising on the details of converting to academy status. He was employed as a senior civil servant responsible for the roll out of academies. Liddington became boss of the academy sponsor E-ACT,outlining his mission 'to improve the lot of the most-deprived children'. [1] Liddington was disgraced and resigned from the chain of academy schools following the disclosure of his overseeing its culture of extravagant expense claims,irregularities,and trips to prestige venues funded by public money,which the Times Educational Supplement compared to corruption in the US education system. [2]
His mother worked in a shoe factory and his father was a stonemason,he attended Wellingborough Grammar School. In his gap year he worked in a London secondary modern school as an unqualified teacher. [1]
He did his first degree in English at Queen Mary College,and moved on to do a PGCE in Cambridge where he listened to a lecture by the prominent chief education officer of West Yorkshire,Sir Alec Clegg. Clegg believed schools should pursue "the education of the spirit …the child's loves and hates …hopes and fears",and Liddington who said in a Guardian interview "I've always been attracted to kids who've had a hard time in life",was inspired to work in the deprived mining community of Conisbrough. He found the low levels of aspiration that he witnessed frustrating. After three years he went to the states to study for a masters. [1]
Wellingborough is a market town and civil parish in North Northamptonshire,England,65 miles (105 km) from London and 11 miles (18 km) from Northampton,north of the River Nene.
The Emmanuel Schools Foundation (ESF) is a charitable trust which has been involved in education since 1989.
Marling School is a grammar school with academy status for boys,with a co-educational Sixth Form located in Stroud,Gloucestershire,England. It is on the Cainscross Road,the main route out of Stroud towards the M5,and is situated next to the girls' grammar school,Stroud High School,with which it shares some facilities.
Northampton School for Boys (NSB) is an 11–18 boys secondary school in Northampton,England. It was founded as Northampton Grammar School in 1541 by Thomas Chipsey,Mayor of Northampton. Years 7 to 11 are boys-only,while sixth form classes are mixed. The school generally ranks among the best-performing in the county.
Wrekin College is a private co-educational boarding and day school located in Wellington,Shropshire,England. It was founded by Sir John Bayley in 1880. It is now co-located with a preparatory school,The Old Hall School,founded by 1835. The two schools merged their governance and formed one trust in 2007.
The Elms Academy is a mixed secondary academy in the London borough of Lambeth. Its sponsor is United Learning.
Sir Alexander Bradshaw Clegg,known as Alec Clegg,was an English educationalist. He was the innovative Chief Education Officer of the West Riding of Yorkshire County Council from 1945 to 1974.
Dixons Unity Academy,formerly Swallow Hill Community College is an educational secondary school Academy located in Leeds,West Yorkshire,England. It is sponsored by Dixons Academies Trust,having formerly been sponsored by Academies Enterprise Trust (AET).
Harris Lowe Academy Willesden is a specialist sports and arts Academy in Willesden,North West London,in the London Borough of Brent. Prior to 2023 it was known as Capital City Academy.
Wrenn School is a coeducational secondary comprehensive school and Sixth form with academy status,located in Wellingborough,Northamptonshire,England.
The Baverstock Academy was a mixed secondary school and sixth form college,located on the southern edge of the Birmingham outer city ward of Druids Heath.
A free school in England is a type of academy established since 2010 under the Cameron–Clegg government's free school policy initiative. From May 2015,usage of the term was formally extended to include new academies set up via a local authority competition. Like other academies,free schools are non-profit-making,state-funded schools which are free to attend but which are mostly independent of the local authority.
Discovery New School was a co-educational Montessori free school for pupils aged 4 to 10 located in Crawley,West Sussex. The school opened in September 2011 as one of the first free schools in the country and also the first Montessori free school. The school was funded directly by central government and had a planned intake of 16 pupils per year. Although the school adopted Montessori methods,the Montessori Schools Association (MSA) later said that they were refused permission to oversee the introduction of its teaching methods and had "warned the DfE of the school's likely failure" in 2010 before the school opened. Philip Bujak,chief executive of the MSA,said:"We were ignored completely." Martin Bradley,chairman of the MSA,said:"The Montessori Schools Association has had limited contact with the school from the start of the scheme. We suggested that they seek accreditation,but they did not."
Sir Herbert Leon Academy is a coeducational comprehensive secondary academy school and sixth form located in Bletchley,Milton Keynes,England. It is currently sponsored by the Academies Enterprise Trust,having become an academy under this sponsorship. Originally founded as two separate boys and girls schools on Bletchley Road (Queensway),the schools unified as a coeducational senior school in 1937. In the 1960s it was renamed to Leon Secondary School,in honour of Sir Herbert Leon,and relocated to Fern Grove in 1971,becoming a comprehensive. The school specialised and became the Leon School and Sports College sometime between 1996 and 2001,and academized as Sir Herbert Leon Academy in 2012. Between 2011 and 2014,the school hosted one of two campuses for the Milton Keynes South Sixth Form,in collaboration with nearby Lord Grey School.
E-ACT is a multi-academy trust responsible for 38 academies in England. Over 93% are now rated as “Good”or better by Ofsted.
Winton Community Academy is a mixed secondary school located in Andover in the English county of Hampshire.
Robin Alexander is a British educationist and academic known particularly for championing the cause of primary education,for his leadership of the Cambridge Primary Review,and for his research and writing on education policy,culture,curriculum,pedagogy,dialogic teaching and comparative and international education. He is currently Fellow of Wolfson College at the University of Cambridge and Professor of Education Emeritus at the University of Warwick. In 2011 he was elected Fellow of the British Academy (FBA),the UK's national academy for the humanities and social sciences and chaired its Education Section 2018-21.
Bob Moon is Emeritus Professor of Education at The Open University (UK). The main focus of his career has been the research,design and development of new models of teacher education in the United Kingdom and more widely. In 2009,he was made a Fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. In 2018,he was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in The Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his work on education in developing countries.
Nicholas Piers Huxley Hillman is an English higher education policy adviser,previously a school history teacher and special adviser for the Conservatives. He has been the director of the Higher Education Policy Institute since 2014.
Sir Ian Roger Bauckham is a British educator and public servant.