A letter from the Partnership to me states: ‘Thank you for contacting Kent Catholic Schools' Partnership. I am able to confirm that Mr Webster is unexpectedly away from his duties at present but has not left KCSP and remains an employee of the Trust’. School governors are unable to get any further information and some are naturally very unhappy about this, approaching me on the subject of his departure. This is an action which is very surprising as KCSP is normally a highly disciplined organisation. Secrecy about the matter is unlikely to be helpful to anyone, unless discussions about Mr Webster's future are taking place.
Clive Webster created a national controversy and unhappiness amongst many of the Trust’s primary schools last October when he instructed them not to host the Kent Test for grammar school entrance from this year onward. This decision appears to have been his own initiative and a subsequent letter from the Archbishop of Southwark publicly reversed it, following an unholy row in the Trust. The depth of the public row over the decision to ban Trust schools from hosting the Kent Test cannot be understated.
This article has been extensively updated following comments and information sent directly to me by a variety of correspondents.
The controversy over the 11 plus ban was extensively covered in the national media and I was interviewed on several occasions. I also received enquiries from as far away as Ireland and was sent copies of the relevant Trust Board Meeting Minutes which I used to illustrate my previous articles. Many of the Trust primary schools were up in arms, as, although it is rightly Trust policy to support comprehensive education through Catholic secondary schools, many are proud of their pupils’ performance in the Kent Test and market those successes strongly. To make matters far worse, there was an explicit threat of disciplinary action to headteachers who ignored the instruction.
The ‘position statement’ from the Catholic Archbishop of Southwark, in my view a masterpiece of politics in the way it explains away previous events, made clear that: ‘"The ban was inoperable, discriminatory and not supported Canonically from the Bishops’ Conference, and so could not therefore be Diocesan policy’. Pretty conclusive and placing Mr Webster in an impossible position.
Biggest problem is probably at St Edmund’s Catholic School, a secondary in Dover, which the Trust took over four years ago, and has improved its standard from the previous Special Measures under KCC. It has now improved its image in Dover, and is oversubscribed for the first time in September, turning away 31 first preferences. However, it has been forced to close its Sixth Form through lack of demand during the lean years, and is currently running at a net deficit of £257,000. Nothing in this article decries this strong performance of the Trust in terms of school achievements and progress. It is rightly proud of its record of running 19 schools, nearly all high performing at either Key Stage Two or GCSE (in an academically selective county), an excellent Ofsted record with six Outstanding schools and, dare I say it, an excellent record in securing places at Kent grammar schools.
The Trust has a declared ambition to run all 32 Kent Catholic schools by 2022. Presumably those that haven't joined are resistant, and it has been suggested that Clive Webster was an obstacle, so it will be interesting to see what happens now, especially given recent events.