Is the Belt Tightening ?

Mrs C. · Post by **Mrs C.** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:19 pm

And most of the staff aren`t around when the pupils are away - the majority seem to manage to get away , so it`s hardly as if they want to act like they own the place.

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:26 pm

Mrs C. wrote:There has also been a problem of boarding houses being "trashed", which is not an easy job for houseparents to get sorted on their return from their summer holiday - especially when it all needs doing at the same time.

I`ve been told, but please don`t quote me on this, that QE has been making barely Â£30,000, and it just wasn`t cost effective. Whether that is clear profit - or amount BEFORE deducting repairs etc, I don`t know.

My friends were told that overnight stays were no longer an option for that very reason.

Fair enough, you wouldn't want the place getting trashed, but it still seems very surprising that the rest of the facilities couldn't be used to provide some much-needed (allegedly!) income.

And, (please excuse my ignorance here), why would the houseparents have to sort out the mess? If Quadrant Events were responsible for the event in question, surely THEY should sort it out?

Deb GP · Post by **Deb GP** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:28 pm

Â£30k - that is pathetic, but not surprising though if mrs manicure is still there - but it's still two pupils... From an accounting point of view, it would be odd to report Â£30k before damages. One would report turnover or profit - not something in between.

As for the trashing, yes it happened. But CH kids are actually just as bad - not that that's an excuse. When I was there, we took quite detailed weekly inventories and even videos of the houses before the groups moved in and then weekly when the groups were there so that they could pass on charges to repairs to the culprits there and then. I can remember one Matron's muted indignant silence when we showed her the evidence that it wasn't one of the groups that had trashed a study. It was quite funny when another tried to pass off obviously school grafitti as external. And then one younger housemaster opted *not* to have any repairs done and was quite disappointed that more damage hadn't been done because he wanted estates to re-decorate for free...

Better facilities would have brought in better groups. Better management (or rather some management) in the early years would have eliminated many issues and bad perceptions.

But hey ho. There we go.

Mrs C. · Post by **Mrs C.** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:43 pm

From my own experience I am aware that detailed notes, videos etc have been taken, but it seemed to be down to the houseparents to do a thorough check of the premises and to report all damage. It is not always possible to make good the house before the pupils return after the summer break due to too much pressure being put on estate workers at the last minute. After all, who wants to start the new year , with new pupils, in a house which has been damaged since the end of summer term?
Perhaps if houseparents didn`t leave it to the last minute to return to CH.............

Mrs C. · Post by **Mrs C.** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:47 pm

Deb GP wrote: Better facilities would have brought in better groups.

I have also been told recently that a lot of groups didn`t want to use the refurbished houses..........

Deb GP · Post by **Deb GP** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:50 pm

Ah well - it's all a thing of the past now. I'm sure the idea will get revisited at some point.

Mrs C. · Post by **Mrs C.** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:51 pm

You`d hope so - it is such a waste to have the place standing empty.

sport! · Post by **sport!** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 4:57 pm

how about Nostalgia Breaks for OBs

mind you, each generation would demand worse facilities and food.....

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:01 pm

sport! wrote:how about Nostalgia Breaks for OBs

mind you, each generation would demand worse facilities and food.....

And some might even want a good thrashing!

Cynthia Payne to inherit Newsome's old canes? (I'm sure Shoz will tell us how much they all weighed.....

).

Deb GP · Post by **Deb GP** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:02 pm

Mrs C. wrote: I have also been told recently that a lot of groups didn`t want to use the refurbished houses..........

Several groups said that when Lamb opened (my last summer working for CH). They didn't like the way A & B sides linked (they only usually wanted one half). They preferred the old day rooms. The new rooms weren't good for supervising more junior students. The keys were a mare to administer for molly coddled kids who couldn't look after themselves (unlike CH's independently minded reasonably intelligent pupils).

On the flip side - the bunk beds weren't good enough for the higher paying grown up guests. There hadn't really been a broad enough consultation when they were designed.

Mrs C. · Post by **Mrs C.** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 5:13 pm

darthmaul wrote:We recieve EMA on this basis:

We attend every lesson and active
We are not late for a lesson more than twice a week in any one subject.
We are doing AS-A2 levels.

per week if your parents earn:
Â£19k or below - Â£30
Â£25k or below - Â£20
Â£32k or below - Â£10

hehe

big bribe

As my elder daughter quite rightly points out - it`s unfair on those who DON`T receive the allowance - after all, they`re doing EXACTLY the same but receive no "incentive" . If the money went to the parents that would possibly be a different matter.........

sejintenej · Post by **sejintenej** » Fri Nov 18, 2005 9:13 pm

Deb GP wrote:Sorry to DP

As for draining resources - it became no longer viable to have a commercial reprographics company for CHE with the advent of desk top publishing.

But QE - someone must have got really upset for that to close - although admitedly - the facilities weren't actually that good on the whole.

FWIW the company I worked for had in-house printing facilities. They were required to have all work priced outside and the company was charged VAT on the cost that the department would have had to pay if they had put the work out.

I'm sure this would have applied to the repro company on work they did for the school and CHE.

Richard Ruck · Post by **Richard Ruck** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 10:01 am

Off to a Christmas Fair at C.H. this morning.....

What will happen to this sort of thing, and the wedding fairs / antiques fairs / dolls house thingies?

J.R. · Post by **J.R.** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 3:59 pm

Richard Ruck wrote:
sport! wrote:how about Nostalgia Breaks for OBs

mind you, each generation would demand worse facilities and food.....
And some might even want a good thrashing!

Cynthia Payne to inherit Newsome's old canes? (I'm sure Shoz will tell us how much they all weighed..... ).

Oh Dear ! Richard's getting all nostalgic again !

Houses trashed ?

Perhaps they need a PROPER Security force at Housey, then.

Does that answer your question Debs, or is THAT too cryptic for you ?

shoz · Post by **shoz** » Sat Nov 19, 2005 11:02 pm

Richard Ruck wrote:Off to a Christmas Fair at C.H. this morning.....

What will happen to this sort of thing, and the wedding fairs / antiques fairs / dolls house thingies?

How was the Christmas Fair if I may ask? Could you describe it please?

As all the students go home well before Christmas, does the school bother to decorate?

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Is the Belt Tightening ?

Re: EMA