Nearly 10 years as a governor have failed to tarnish my natural sunny optimism. Pedalling my bike uphill against a head wind, I hear this irritating, chirpy, little voice inside my head telling me how easy it will be on the way back. Being a governor under the Tories was like that - it was worth the pain because, come the dawn and a Labour government, sanity would be restored.
But the past two years have been something of a disappointment: like starting for home only to find the wind has veered round and you have a puncture.
There is no more money in our budget, grant-maintained status has been abolished through full delegation under Fair Funding and every week brings an educational initiative.
The only really sensible thing they’ve done is to slim down the primary curriculum. Or so I thought. Now we are told this was just a two-year reprieve to allow schools to put the literacy and numeracy hours in place. From September 2000 fresh directives will re-introduce the full national curriculum and OFSTED will inspect schools on all subjects -just as we have to introduce the new performance pay system.
Time for me to pedal off into the sunset?
