Mergers, meetings and marking

This morning I attended my first governing body meeting at Notre Dame and I was pleasantly surprised by the level of genuine debate that happened. As a teacher you get the impression that gov bodies still together and "no through" a lot of policies. The standard of thought was quite reassuring. A long meeting though after which I turfed out to teach two lessons and then into a Tutor Team Meeting. My Tutor Team are a quite remarkable group of professionals but stick them in a room together and the buns start flying. Trouble is, I agree with most of the directions of the buns! Planning assemblies maybe not the most gripping topic in the worl but it keeps us entertained.

Straight after that it was onto City Hall where I took the opportunity to meet with Norfolk's Chief Constable and Central Area Commanders to discuss, amongst other things, proposed mergers of police forces and the new neighbourhood policing strategy. I am naturally conservative and feel that the mergers are a political tool of a Home Secretary who isn't "fit for purpose" but you have to take seriously the warnings of senior police officers who say that the whole system of policing in this county could collapse by 2009 if action isn't taken. Apparently Cambs have ruled it out and Suffolk want to join with Essex, so the whole thing could take some time to resolve.

The neighbourhood policing plans look excellent if they go through. Dedicated teams, directly accesible to the public holding morning and evening street meetings - it could just work, you know!

The home for the World Cup Match and a passing regard for my wife. Lovely day.