“I accept your experience Mariner but surely the root causes go beyond what you say and I don't think I was inaccurate with them. The loss of 6th Form pupils is a huge financial loss too. The quality of the intake suffered from the 1990s when parents of bright children decided that out of town was a better option and the competition from Toll Bar impacted as well. Your points are certainly valid, though I remain to be convinced that academies can do much better than their predecessors over time. Their advantage is the "new start" and generally some new buildings and we all know that these soon lose their charm and effectiveness. It's what goes on in classrooms that counts.”

“Michael, although you are correct in stating reducing numbers impacts on funding, your accuracy halts at that point. I worked at Lindsey and have first hand knowledge of the ills of Lindsey. Several factors have contributed to this mess; promises made by NELC for financial support (tens of thousands of pounds) that never materialised, poor standards of teaching by 40% of staff, a very high absence rate by teachers at the first signs of stress or assessment, unruly kids but no worse than others at other schools, inexperienced staff in key areas, buildings repairs money that had been untouched for 2-3 years - a high level of supply staff on a daily basis - it goes on and on. the dwindiling numbers meant that high levels of teaching staff couldnt be removed due to very strong trades union representation that protected staff - personnel on management pay that had this element of salary protected for 3 years if a management restructuring to place to put the school on an even keel - a weak governors body - and so it goes on. The down side is that the taxpayer will take on the burden for the deficit following the failures of many, and the academy will remove from the records the poor Ofsted that was overdue. The academy should be ofsted reported within the first year to ensure that a good start has been made in my opinion. And, finally, give the concept of academies a chance as foundation schools operate under similar lines in many areas of the country and have proved to be successful.”

“Graham - the deficit is easy to explain. Schools get their annual income from the number of children and Lindsey's number fell dramatically a few years ago. Partly this was the loss of 6th Formers to Franklin, partly the move of cleverer children out of town and partly the marketing of Toll Bar. Every head since then has been faced with the maintenance of poor quality buildings and excess space but less money to do it with. They were on a loser from the start. This writing off of the debt will make a huge difference and if the school is not a great success then people will be right to demand answers. Everything is in its favour now. It makes you wonder. If the debt had been wiped off some years ago would all this present expense and reorganisation have been necessary?”

“My daughter and son both currently attend The Lindsey School and they are devestated by the idea of this academy. They both feel they are going to lose their identity as a school and be forced into being a "branded" school. I am 50/50 on this as I think the way Toll Bar has improved infinitely in recent years has to be a good thing but on the flip side it will still have the same teachers who can only teach the way they currently are. My daughter is due to take her GSCE's next year and currently she is having supply teacher after supply teacher and they are simply learning out of a text book. This is something that HAS to be looked at if they are going to re-brand because in this day and age, you have got to work so hard to get the results you need to go onto college/university etc.

Change is necessary but I also think the impact of this needs to be considered on those students who in particular will go into year 11 come September.”

“Tis a sad regret that the fathers who instigated the closure of the Boys and Girls Grammar schools in 1973 and instigated this school from the Girls Grammar School and the remnants of Ellison Street will now regret the fact that those of us who attended in the first year, September 1973, although never being allowed to take the 11 plus, were indeed given an education that enabled us to go through our land with pride.

As for the current occupants, I am sure that my Maths Teacher, Mr Smith could add up and our English Teacher (name escapes me) would recite Mr MCawber¿s words as he was carted of to debtors gaol. If I remember, the cost of the outlet was less than £200,000 new in 1973!

So what difference will the new academy do. Well for starters when I left Cleethorpes just over 30 years ago, the town was quiet and as I passed the West Marsh Industrial dereliction was abound. It seems the cancer of dereliction has now come to fruition.

I hear now that the old Girls Grammar School is in a shocking state of repair, near derelict. A sham to those who were the first boys to enter its vaunted halls in September 1973. No wonder the school has decried for years. The shabbily built Grainsby Avenue venue was falling apart when I entered in 1975. I am so shocked that it has taken a further 25 years to finish the job.

As for failing, I am sure the First Head of the Lower School, Mr Fee, would have seen it so differently. It did not fail in my time, only those without backbone have made it fail. The worse part is those who will blame the teachers. The real fact remained, the Comprehensive nature of the school and the way it was imposed is the reason why it failed. I was fortunate that we were and addition, and add on to the Grammar system.”

“Isn't it time you stopped turning the schools and their staff into scapegoats for the deficiences of their pupils?

I am not referring in particular to the Lindsey School, of which I have no knowledge, but I am simply amazed that people are still being fooled into thinking that a new start, and in particular a new head teacher, are the answer to the problem of failing schools.

As a former teacher I can say that the problems in "my" school had nothing to do with deficiencies of the teaching staff or incompetence on the part of the beleaguered headteacher.

There is no space here to catalogue the horrors the teachers were forced to endure, but the consequence was that the pupils who wanted to learn would drag their chairs to the front to try to hear what the teacher was saying. I left because I could no longer look these children in the eye!

I have learned recently that this is still going on, and I am writing this for the pupils involved, and for their parents. However must the parents feel, knowing that their child is in this position?

There is no room here to go into detail of what I saw and experienced. I kept a diary, hoping that one day I could expose the problems and make a difference, but it was a catch-twenty-two situation: to expose the school would simply have made even more problems for those students desperately trying to get on with their work, and lead to blame being placed on hardworking staff and head teacher.

Looking back, I might as well have spoken at the time, because the headteacher was "disgraced" and made to resign soon after, in accordance with current practice.

No amount of money thrown at the system, the teachers, or their training will solve the problem that the system (educational and social) allows young (and older!) people to get away with doing as they please.

Schools need more rights and powers, and resources should be directed that this. And think of the money that would be saved!

Fresh starts in these circumstances are like putting up a fine new building on a foundation of shifting sands and creeks...”

“So they took the easy option then. Shifted yet more responsibility away from the education department and from elected members, removed any possible embarrassment from more bad Ofsted reports and gave the future of our children to another private enterprise conglomerate. Our council now has no power to hire and fire staff and no control over wages so what is the point of an education department then? What good will a "scrutiny panel" do? Not a lot. This whole business of "academies" is simply a means of passing the buck and hoping that the vast amounts of borrowed money by the government for flash buildings will keep parents quiet for a year or two until the money runs out and the novelty wears off. It is surely ridiculous that a council now has no control over secondary education in its own area. Perhaps someone can explain how that actually benefits children, parents and teachers.”