School recoups £2,881 after Marbella trip fiasco
A SCHOOL shelled out up to £30,000 on a trip to Marbella for staff training – and got a £2,881 refund after cancelling it in the wake of negative publicity.
Edensor Technology College, in Longton, sparked a furore earlier this month when The Sentinel revealed almost 80 teaching staff were due to jet off to the Spanish resort for a school conference.
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School recoups £2,881 after Marbella trip fiasco
The school had booked the four-star Andalucia Plaza Marbella Hotel, which comes complete with a poolside bar, Turkish baths and a casino.
Parents branded the trip a waste of money and even Schools Secretary Ed Balls condemned the move.
At the time, headteacher Richard Mercer would not reveal how much the four-day excursion would have cost, but claimed it was more cost-effective than booking a venue nearer home.
Now Edensor has finally bowed to pressure and released some of the figures, which show a quote for £404 per person was obtained for accommodation, meals, travel and conference facilities in Marbella. This worked out at £30,300 for 75 delegates.
The school then negotiated a lower price with the agent, which has not been disclosed for "commercial reasons".
Edensor got a further nine quotes for hotels as far afield as Madrid and Prague, as well as in Stoke-on-Trent and Crewe.
But one Potteries venue was ruled out because a dozen staff had come down with food poisoning at a previous training event there, triggering an environmental health investigation. And another Stoke-on-Trent hotel was described by the school as having "poor service and attitude".
Two Crewe hotels were also considered, but governors decided they would have worked out more expensive than flying abroad.
Edensor Technology College staff ended up having their conference in school after the trip was cancelled on the day they were due to leave.
Mr Mercer said he made the decision because he feared the intense media coverage would have led to "severe disruption" of the training event in Spain.
The school used two out of its annual allocation of five training days to cover the conference. The other two days of the trip abroad would have been in teachers' own time. Pupils were given work to do from home to make up for missing lessons.
Mr Mercer said: "The quote for Marbella was seen as being the most cost-effective, taking into account the number of delegates, the need for twin-bedded shared rooms and the specialist conference facilities we required."
The final figure included all travel costs, accommodation, meals, soft drinks, the training area, and internet connection.
Mr Mercer added: "The insurance policy the school use is one from the local education authority.
"We were unable to claim for cancellation via the insurance policy. We have to date received funds amounting to £2,881.
"It would appear that no further refunds will be forthcoming.
"We did not incur any cancellation charges in connection with the visit."
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by Anthony, At Home
Thursday, October 30 2008, 1:56PM
“Warren some schools were closed for polling (when less than 20% of stokies bothered to vote) Training for staff did take place on that day it was only the pupils who had the day off. I think you should do some training in your holidays, you should learn to spell and puntuate correctly. Teaching already struggles to attract good graduates, training in their holidays would not help recruitment.
A daft idea.”
by J, stoke on trent
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 3:50PM
“A Reader
I'd give up my own time for my job if my company were paying for me to go to sunny spain for training as I am sure most people on here would!”
by Warren, Stoke on Trent
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 11:40AM
“Schools are closed this week, could it not have been done now, like as Teuseday to Friday, so as to not disrupt the childrens education. In fact why can't all training be done at half term, its the kids that need the time off, not the teachers. No doute the school was closed on polling day to so one or two locals could cast there vote and lets face it the amount of folks who bothered to turn up, they could have held it in the caretakers hut.”
by Gemma, Staffs
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 10:18AM
“I don't understand why training days should be scheduled in term time anyway. Do teachers not get enough days off as it is? I too work hard, sometimes working 6 or 7 days a week for no extra money, I still only get 20 days holiday per year! If you have no homework to mark stop the whingeing and enjoy the rest of yet another week off!!!”
by Warren, Stoke on Trent
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 9:46AM
“A Reader.... Stoke, you sould give it up as a bad job, Mercer sould be sacked for this and the board of governers sould resine. Its an outlandis waste of public money. As for your remarks about folks giveing their own time to their jobs , anyone with a bit of pride as done this meny times.One more thing teachers are payed a salary, not payed by the hour, and indeed get the best holaday entiltlement of anyone in this country, and good for them.”
by A Reader, Stoke
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 9:05AM
“E.B. of Stoke, Saturday and Sunday constitute the weekend; it was a 4 day trip. And private companies are only private when they're making profit; when they lose it, we bail them out to the tune of billions - haven't you been watching the news. And Stephen from Fenton, one man's pontification is another man's reasoned argument. Parents can't get compensation for training days; they are training days and schools are meant to have 5 of them a year by law. I'd thought someone with your calibre of intellect would know that!”
by stephen, fenton
Wednesday, October 29 2008, 8:24AM
“Good on you E.B. Stoke. A Reader is probably a govenor himself, so he allows himself to get personal with other readers!!idiot!! What about the parents having to make other arrangements for the children? If a child is taken out of school in term yime the parents are "fined". why can't parents get compensation from the school for this inconvenience??
Surelt A Reader must have the answer??pontificating idiot”
by E.B., Stoke
Tuesday, October 28 2008, 8:41PM
“A Reader.Since when did Thursday and Friday become a weekend you blockhead.You also bring up the fact that, private companies do it and we don't get to hear about it,thats because they are PRIVATE companies they pay for their jollies out of their profits, Schools jollies are paid for by the tax payer,Schools don't make money they just waste it.
As for your comment that it was just a small amount in the big picture of waste by this council,
I think you are probably in the system with them.”
by A Reader, Stoke
Tuesday, October 28 2008, 5:53PM
“The only mistake Richard Mercer made was to pander to the press and "Outraged of Stoke" and cancel the trip. How a school chooses to spend its training money is up to its management team. The fact that some blockhead here dismissed my explanation of supply costs just goes to show how little regard the public in this area has for teachers. 75 staff were prepared to give up their weekend to train for no pay; does that mean nothing to you lot? Marbella was chosen for a number of reasons, I expect: motivation and cost were top of the list, I would think. For me, the fact that staff were prepared to give up their own time shows that they are loyal to the school and that can only be a good thing for students. Overseas training is something the private sector do all the time, and without any come back from the public, mainly because we dont know about it. And to those who hold up the "don't waste my taxes" banner: grow up! This was only a tiny particle within the big bang of money squandering that goes on within the council every day!!!”
by Dave Smith, Stoke
Tuesday, October 28 2008, 5:37PM
“Nothing will be done about this. No one will be held accountable for this fiasco. The Headteacher will not lose his job and the Chair of Governors will not resign.
As it usual in Stoke on Trent, this will be swept under the carpet and will be forgotten. The Headteacher will go on to employment at the Parkhall Academy, and everyone will quickly forget his ridiculous and ill thought out actions regarding this trip.
I expect the Education Department at the City Council will reimburse Mr Mercer and Edensor's budget to ensure the status quo at Edensor High School, whilst other schools are facing an uncertain future through no fault of their own.
This is another fine example of unaccountability and maverick behaviour by certain people in positions of relative power, where the officials at the city Council will paper over the cracks and hope no one notices.”