Yes - Jean should return. The School is in dire need of strong leadership. The sooner she is back at the helm, the better the school will be.

Whatever Jean is accused of doing wrong during her reign at Whalley Range didn't affect the school in any negative way. Students achieving 5 or more GCSE's went from 18% in 96 to 50%+ the last 3 years. There are signs that results have been affected - both the Maths and Science Key Stage 3 results have shown a fall of 6 - 8% this year.

It will be interesting to see what the GCSE pass rate will be for this year...

"YES " Dame Jean should return and as soon as possible the school is quickly becoming yet another failing manchester school ,the behaviour of the students has deteriorated during jeans absence and the school of excellence which she dedicated ten years into developing is being destroyed ,moral is very low already staff are leaving and those of us who are staying in hope of her returning shortly are looking for other posts as we feel when she returns she will be mortified at the changes which have been made and may not wish to stay,i have been proud to work there under jeans leadership and find it very depressing that although we were informed at the beginning that things would stay the same it is like they are trying to destroy everything as quick as they can before she returns,staff are no longer valued and the students education is suffering ,i am sure if the parents knew what was going on at the school they would be up in arms .
how can someone who has been awarded a dameship for her work in education be treated so badly
lets hope someone high up realises what a grave mistake has been made and demands her immediate return .so whalley range high can once again offer the students and staff the excellent leadership they have grown to expect,as the saying goes "you dont know what you have untill its gone "
as we are not allowed any contact with Dame Jean i would like to send her this message from all "dont let them grind you down fight to the end without you there would be no home of excellence whalley range is dame jean else "

i was a student at whalley range some years ago and i think that dame jean else should be able to return back to her normal job as comparing what the school has now (thanks to her) is extreamly better than what i had, when she was not head of the school. she has put so much into making the school one of the best in the city if not the country.

i am a member of staff at wrhs. I spend my day wishing for Dame Jean to come back before it goes completly and utterly downhill, there is absolutly no support or back up of staff. there is no discipline, respect or common courtesy. The LEA say they have put someone in place for continuity. But, standards have blatently dropped. It is interesting to note that Pauline Newman the head of Childrens Services hasnt bothered to set foot throught the doors. There is an assumption that the person they have put in place is perfect. For the 3 members of staff that are suspended there are now four people fromthe lea in place plus the senior assistant headteacher. Which the shcool is paying for and still it is going downhill rapidly.
A very concerned employee

The prolonged, often expensive, suspension of professionals in Health, Education, Social Services and other public service occupations is a national scandal. Only very rarely do these suspensions result in a judicial examination of the facts, the suspended person is publicly humiliated and disgraced without due process and in the absence of a fair trial often comes to the end of an unblemished, sometimes illustrious career, under an unjustified cloud, with drastically reduced pension rights. Contrast this with the chief executives of failing Public Companies who are given the push with a couple of million pounds to ease their "retirement". Wrong doing in any walk of life must of course be confronted and dealt with but the publicly announced suspension of persons who have not been charged with any offence is an abuse of human rights and a much fairer and more transparent approach is urgently required.

I have worked at the school since Dame Jean took up her post as Headteacher in1994, starting off on a voluntary basis to help with the school uniform purchase and supplies. I resigned from my post on 18th July 2005. Over the period of working in the school, I have witnessed first hand the changes and improvements made within the school. This has all come about through the vision of Dame Jean and the help of her team of dedicated staff. She has worked tirelessly to give the inner city children a first class education. She has often been working in the school late in the evening and sometimes in the early hours along with other members of staff. A school does not gain such an excellent reputation without a lot of hardwork and dedication.

I do not know what the end result will be, I have written to Tony Blair, Ruth Kelly and other people to no avail, just a brief acknowledgement has been received They scream education, education, but really do they just want our votes. They obviously do not think it is important for inner city children to receive the same standard of education as their own children, if they did they would have acted upon the information I sent them.

As stated previously, I do not know what the outcome will be but, I do know that Dame Jean would be heart broken to see the deterioration within the school.

Looking on the bright side, I have no job now, but I can now contact someone I hold very dear and have the greatest amount of respect for all of her achievements which have been solely to benefit children.

Well after reading that the school standards are dropping since Jean's departure and pupils are mis-behaving, surely staff cannot do their jobs. It's not a one man job running a big school so come on all the staff!! start sorting the pupils out and make the school good again, surely Jean doesn't want to read about the school deteriating in her absence, she wouldn't want to come back to chaos.

COUNCIL HAS DUTY TO END SCHOOL SAGA b�" COMMENT 4/8/2005

When are Council officials and LEA's officers held to account for wasting valuable resources to witch hunt headteachers publicly. Who audits the Authority and the LEAs regards the costs of such witch hunts?
When I tried to have Trafford LEA District audited in 2003/04 with regards to their unsuccessful witch hunt of Denis Sweeney, headteacher of Lostock Community High School, Stretford, (1997-2002) who had been suspended on full pay for 13 months, I was told that the Authority's accounts were now closed and that they District Auditor was not minded to re-open the books b�" so how much money was wasted to destroy a man's professional reputation and damage a community? Much needed money that should have been spent on the pupils and the school and not to keep a good professional from doing his job.
It is shameful that Dame Jean Else, Maureen Rochford and Stewart Scott are still suspended on full pay after some 8 months. What is the real cost here? What is the human cost? What exactly did they do to deserve their untimely and public removal from Whalley High... did they run away with the kitty? Did they molest a child or a member of staff? Did they behave so grossly unprofessionally as to merit this exposure and punishment? NO, it seems that Jean Else is guilty (of something?) until proven innocent b�" surely that is a travesty of English Justice. Why is it taking Manchester Authority/LEA so long to adjudge the situation and bring it to a close? Or is the real reason that success (nationally recognised) that undoubtedly was Jean Else's, had to be punished rather than rewarded. Why are authorities frightened of innovative and creative hardworking achievers in education? I would have thought that these positive attribute in a head were exactly those to be furthered b�" for what is education, if not that it pushes and supports pupils to become autonomous and responsible adults b�" our future.
Did Manchester Authority take a leave out of Trafford LEA's book when they started their witch hunt of Jean Else? The suspension and treatment of Jean Else, as was that of Denis Sweeney (2001-2002) is none other than corporate bullying. The elongated and protracted process employed has no other purpose than to demoralise the individual as well as again and again moving the goalpost in an attempt to find a 'wrongdoing' and until they (the Authority) can make 'something' stick.
Shameful! When will it stop?
Having been involved with education for over 30 years b�" I am saddened that again and again the sound bite 'education, education, education,' is meaningless when a Local Authority is hell bent on destroying good individuals who really care for our children.
Local Authorities and LEAs seem to be a law on to themselves. Can we stop them? I wrote a book on Denis Sweeney's and my experience at the hand of the LEA officers and the politicians in Trafford. - TILTING AT WINDMILLS b�" a scenario not unlike the one which is currently affecting Jean Else. I am glad Jean has spoken up. The fear and loneliness experienced when in such a situation is absolutely awful and inhuman. I wish more people would speak up to protect the rights of teaching staff and heads and support the pupils and their community.
www.bullyonline.co.uk deals with many cases of bullying of teachers and heads by authorities as does my book 'Tilting at Windmills' which can be directly purchased (B#8) from Berwick Press, 17 Berwick Avenue, Urmston, Manchester M41 9QS b�" 0161 865 1733. www.berwickpress.com

I hope Jean Else will be allowed to get back to her school soon to continue the good work she started.

Justine Williams

I have been working at WRHS for only from the star of this academic year. Before I started I looked at the history of the school over the last few years. I was really looking forward to working there under the leadership of Dame Jean Else. I read the ofsted report from 2004 especialy the comments about how the students were respecful and eager to learn. How things must have changed since Dame Jean was suspended! I have been really dissapoitted. The general behaviour and attitude of some of he girls is appauling.