Schools

The news that Edenham High head Jacey Downes has been suspended took me by surprise.

I don't know her personally, but the newsdesk have always been impressed with the way she would come out fighting whenever her school was in the headlines for the wrong reasons rather than hiding behind a 'no comment'.

Ironically, it's a 'lack of communication' that's been cited as one of the reasons for the school governors' move, so make of that what you will.

I guess I should point out that the governing body insists Mrs Downes has not been suspended, but that her absence is the result of an 'arrangement'.

I have absolutely no idea what that is supposed to mean, but what is indisuputable is Mrs Downes' deputy is currently running the show.

As well as the Edenham story, we're continuing to give extensive coverage to the ongoing schools review.

The Advertiser's stance on the overhaul hasn't changed since the start. Some of our schools clearly need a lot of attention, and you can't fix things by tinkering around the edges so brave decisions are needed.

Whether the detail of the proposals is correct isn't for us to say - that's an issue for parents, councillors and education experts to debate. Our role is simply to provide a forum for all points of view.

This week the attention seems to have shifted from the detail of the proposals to the non-appearance of Maria Gatland and Mike Fisher at recent public meetings.

It's a tricky call - if they do turn up, the meetings could easily descend into a slanging match and do more harm than good.

On the other hand, if you are in a position of responsibility you have to be prepared to front these things out sometimes - I have to go to the occasional council and police meetings in the full knowledge I'm just going to be moaned at for an hour. You take it on the chin and carry on.

Elsewhere in this week's paper, I think Aline has done a fantastic job interviewing teenage killer Adam Eastmond.

Eastmond stabbed Gavin Brown to death at the age of just 15, and is back on the streets just 16 months after being jailed for manslaughter.

I finished reading the article with mixed feelings. It will never seem right that you can take somebody's life and then walk free in less than two years.

But if you want to know why teenagers are carrying knives, this is about as clear an insight as you are going to get - even though it doesn't paint a very optimistic picture for the future.

Finally, this may well be my last blog entry for a couple of weeks as I'm going somewhere where the default weather setting isn't grey and drizzly. By the time I come back our website will look completely different and we'll hopefully have recruited a couple of new reporters.

In the meantime, news editor Jo Wadsworth has started her own blog - you can read it here.