with thanks to thisisnorthkensington.wordpress.com

Comments

DAMESATHOME@GMAIL.COM
send the Dame your information, discretion assured.
Comments are welcome but do not necessarily reflect the view of the Dame.
Offensive/inappropriate comments will be deleted and the poster banned.

Monday 1 April 2019

RAISING A STINK IN HOLLAND PARK ACADEMY


Colin Hall, the headmaster or Executive Head(!) is a man of delicate and refined taste. 
Not for Colin common old Dulux paint or Waitrose scented candles: Colin has spent thousands of pounds on Farrow and Ball paint and Jo Malone candles!
His extravagance has caught the attention of Lord Agnew, Academies Minister, who is enraged by Colin's profligacy when schools are supposed to be bumping along the financial bottom £15,000!
One of the F & B paints is called Sulking Room Pink which might reflect how £260,000 a year Colin is feeling.
Click to enlarge

Sadly the candles and paint have done little for academic outcomes..., "government data shows Progress 8 dropped last year from being “well above average” to “average”.
The score fell from 0.82 in 2017 to -0.14 last year, putting it below the -0.02 average for state-funded schools."

Interestingly, the school has, as trustee, the ghastly Sally Bercow. 
Her hubby is equally well known for extravagance at the expense of the taxpayer.

31 comments:

  1. Clear The Swamp1 April 2019 at 17:14

    Just trying to get my head around this. £6k for Joe Malone candles in the context of Holland Park School is not surprising. After all, the school is in Kensington where expenditure on soothing effects is common and favoured. And the Deputy Head and close associate of Colin is especially partial to atmospheric evenings. And the precedent was set after the opening of the new school when £100k was spent on a rusty bit of metal on the roof of the school (an Anthony Gormley sculpture)and designer chairs for the Headmasters study. Apart from the Dame, there was not a single protest. So Colin took the hint - carry on treating yourself, float in the clouds, and whiff away with favourite Deputy.

    Not before time, The Academies Minister is casting an eye over the accounts.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Fly On The Wall1 April 2019 at 19:42

    Colin Hall is a strong willed Headmaster who has domineered the Governors of the school for years. It is high time that he is brought under control and it will require an outside party, like the Minister, to ensure that wrong doing is stopped.

    The Dame should bring this matter to the attention of the Evening Standard

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hall, a schoolteacher, gets paid £260k a year. His salary has doubled in 7 years. What more needs to be revealed? He is out of control - and standards are falling

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 19.54 is myopic. "What more needs to be said?" asks the silly moo.

      For a start, consider the marketing blurb for Colin's Joe Malone candles"


      “defined by an unconventional sense of sophistication” and having “taste that is rarified, yet a touch audacious”.

      All very Colin Hall. And of course right up the street of the Deputy Head.

      Delete
  4. What close friends Colin and David say about themselves on the school website:

    "The Head (since 2001), Colin Hall, coheres a diligent, committed and talented team of leaders. Central to it is David Chappell, Academy Head who has worked with Colin Hall since the 1990s."

    "Leaders are expected to be self-critical, self-aware and selfless"

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lord Kensington1 April 2019 at 20:53

      This sounds incestuous to me. Unhealthy relationship. Would not have been tolerated in my time. A quiet word from the Chairman of Governors

      Delete
  5. Horrible - Headmaster needs to be brought to heel and fast.

    What does it mean to be an academy?

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-13274090

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is clear from the web link above how Headmaster Hall has been able to pay himself £260k per year. A salary that has more than doubled in the last seven years.

      £260k per year for a Headmaster is not right. Citizens have a clear view of "fairness" and "correctness". Hall's salary fails the test on both counts.

      Delete
    2. Between them, Colin and "Dave" are pulling in £480k per year.Plus inflation proofed pensions. This is tycoon stuff!

      With the average wage of £18k per year, are these two making such an incredible contribution to society? I wonder what the nurses, firemen and policemen think?

      Delete
    3. Barbara Cartland2 April 2019 at 11:05

      Oh how exciting and romantic. An education item! And Joe Malone too. So very Kensington.

      Delete
    4. I am so thrilled. Thrilled, thrilled, thril!

      Delete
    5. Dame Edna Everidge3 April 2019 at 07:38

      My goodness, I have just discovered this blog. What a thrill. The lovely couple Dave and Colin. Two wonderful possums. And in a school too. I could not have started the day on a more positive note.

      Delete
    6. Edna Everidge (Dame)3 April 2019 at 10:13

      Dear Possums, I am having such an inspired day. Inspired no end by Col and D. How wonderful

      Delete
  6. Friend of Jackie1 April 2019 at 21:01

    The Hornton Street Education Director Jackie Griffiths saw through Colin Hall years ago and blew the whistle. The Council Mafia got rid of her with a £100k payoff and gagging order.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Dear Jackie was not a politician. She did not understand the importance of timing. Sad that she had to be got rid of.

      Delete
  7. What a nice looking Headmaster. Lovely smile.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Are David and Colin living together like Katherine and Barry Quirk?
    Golden couples!
    Even I never managed to screw taxpayers so royally. I hate that Dame. She cost me a move to the aristocracy

    ReplyDelete
  9. Retired Cheif Executive3 April 2019 at 10:17

    If there is truth to the story told by the Dame then this is a classic case for the Leader, Cllr Campbell, to wade in and knock some heads together. And stop wasteful spending on Lawyers and accountants.And Officers using up huge amounts of time. Tell the School to talk to the builder and tell the Officers to do something useful.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Why does society have to put up all the time with tedious people like Colin Hall. It is unsatisfactory that such people continually find their way into positions and then proceed to abuse the trust placed in them.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Hall has become too big for his boots. Thinks he is above reproach and rules the roost. The school Chairman needs to take him down

    ReplyDelete
  12. Edna Everidge (Dame)4 April 2019 at 07:38

    Darlings, I cant stop thinking about our Col. The shining crown and wicked eyes. I can't resist a mature gentleman. How lucky Dave is. I am not a bit envious. Just full of raving jealousy. But I do hope the possums screw up and give me a chance.

    Your MOST affectionate Dame

    ReplyDelete
  13. Edna Everidge (Dame)4 April 2019 at 11:14

    Possums. I have developed such a crush on Colin. And a Headmaster too. The delights and thrills of DISCIPLINE and spanking in the air. Darlings, the hormones are raging. My friend Sir Les has agreed to take care of the wretched David Chappel. Now theres a coincidence. Chapel! Is Col into religion too? What a strange world we live in. But I sent my nun's habit to the cleaners. Just in case, possums

    ReplyDelete
  14. Edna Everidge (Dame)4 April 2019 at 21:56

    I am beside myself with LUST for Col. Have not slept for days. Sir Les Patterson, my Diplomat friend, has been useless with Dave who has not responded to his charms. The whole infatuation is turning haywire. Absolute haywire, possums. The Dame is at her wits end

    ReplyDelete
  15. Edna Everidge (Dame)5 April 2019 at 07:55

    Darlings. The LUST for Colin has passed. I am over it. Dear Les and I had a call, a conference call, and we wisely decided there is no prospect of coitus with Col. So the Holland Park love birds have the WHOLE Borough to themselves

    ReplyDelete
  16. Concerned Resident5 April 2019 at 09:53

    Bloggers should not trivialise the importance of the main story. A Headmaster has spent £6,000 on scented candles to give his school some atmospherics. This is a sign for the Board of Governors that something is seriously wrong.

    ReplyDelete
  17. Lord Kensington6 April 2019 at 09:03

    When old Kensington transferred to a celestial White's loyal old family solicitor, Quirk, gave young Kensington some sound advice, "Kensington? Never forget 'Noblesse Oblige" So it's heartening to see that Old Labour's leading lights have embraced the idea of leading the workers to the sunlit uplands of Stalinism et al.
    Our MP, Emma Dent Coad educates her children privately and descends from the Medici(makes Kensingon's pedigree seem rather parvenu!) She was once an Hon too...
    Young Mr Milne with the matinee idol looks and and a Winchester and Oxford education is always at the side of Pooter Corbyn making sure he's not being too thick. Milne is a scion of the Aberdeen Milne clan. And then there's another posh Scottie, Andrew Drummond -Murray of Mastrick who prefers to be called 'Andy' Murray in deference to his newly found working class roots. And his his gorgeous, pouting daughter, Laura, the great grand daughter of Lord Aberconway who is beavering away working for Pooter and the Common Cause.
    Should it not be the Uncommon Cause?
    They are so grand that they make poor Kensington seem rather common....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The truth about the motley bunch of near do wells Toad, Milne, Andy, Laura and Corbyn is that they have no track record of actually doing anything. Of actually making a difference. Just a collection complex sprogs of high achieving fathers that they have been unable to live up to. Ballast in modern
      Britain that normally remains harmless. But we are living in dangerous times and they could become a pox.

      Quirk gave the Borough's Peer good advice

      Delete
  18. Standards at the school are falling while the candles are burning and Colin and Dave are canoodling. The teachers are fiddling while Rome burns.

    ReplyDelete
  19. The way to put a stop to all this nonsense is to get the Hornet Blog into the kids social media. One hit and it will spread like wildfire around the school.

    Action, please Dame!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Is there a school Facebook page, or Instagram, that the Dame could introduce the Hornet Blog into? This would be a great public service for the long suffering Campden Ward Residents and it might save the students from further academic declines

      Delete

Comments are your responsibility. Anyone posting inappropriate comments shall have their comment removed and will be banned from posting in future. Your IP address may also be recorded and reported. Persistent abuse shall mean comments will be severely restricted in future.