Okay, its silly season again, when politicians come out the woodwork and start claiming as successes things that have nothing to do with them. The latest (I’m assuming it was actually an April Fool’s joke that someone believed) is that the new MP for Walsall North is somehow responsible for turning around the fortunes of Willenhall EACT Academy!!!???

So all the reasons I’ve learnt at two Education Scrutiny meetings (including one at EACT) – about why and how the school has improved recently, including a newly appointed senior leader with responsibility for attendance and safeguarding, a newly appointed senior leader with responsibility for culture and ethos and a new leadership team with relevant experience and expertise to address the Academy’s priorities – are not the true cause of the school’s turnaround? Strange, considering how most of these appointments were made over three months before our new MP got elected!

I’m afraid anyone who believes the new MP is responsible for the school’s progress really is an April Fool.

I could laugh it off were it not for the fact that such assertions do not put any credit where it is due: the hard-working staff who day by day have been doing their best to change things for the better. From what I’ve seen and heard, the school still has a long way to go, particularly in terms of building bridges with the local community, but any improvements it has recently made are down to those who work there, not to a politician or party scrambling for any votes they can get!