The appointment of a Principal Status: Gerard L. Flynn School Improvement Partner and Advisor to the Board of Trustees of The British School of Alexandria from 2013 to Present. Qualifications: Head Teacher in three separate International Schools from 1987 to 2013. Last post Head Teacher Maadi British International School Cairo,1998 to 2013. Qualified International Schools’ Inspector (Independent Schools’ Inspectorate, ISI) Qualified School Improvement Partner (Council of British International Schools, COBIS) Awarded a Membership of the British Empire (MBE) in Her Majesty’s Queen Elizabeth’s Birthday Honours List 2010 for services to Education and Charitable Work in Egypt. I have been asked to record my thoughts on the appointment of Mr. Scott Preston by Mrs. Mona El Ahmer as Principal to replace Mr. Justin Blakebrough at the British School of Alexandria(BSA). • • • • • • • •
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Mrs. El Ahmer has no authority to appoint a Principal. It is clearly stated in the constitution of the BSA that the appointment of a Principal is in the hands of the Trustees. Mrs. El Ahmer’s claim to be the legal representative of the school was originally granted by the Board of Trustees to enable her to sign documentation in respect of the proposed new school buildings and this has since been revoked. She has no support from the present Board of Trustees and is making highly dubious decisions which are not in the interest of the school. Mrs. El Ahmer claims to have dismissed the present Principal but has adhered to no recognised disciplinary or performance management procedures. As an experience recruiter and schools’ inspector it is my professional judgement that Mr. Preston is a poor candidate. If I was involved in a sift he would not be considered for a long list due to a curriculum vitae (cv) that presents too many anomalies. It has been past practice at BSA to create a shortlist of three strong candidates and invite them to an extended period of interview in Alexandria. This interview process is extremely thorough and involved a sizeable panel of BSA stakeholders. While a school leader in the United Kingdom his record with inspections by the Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted) was quite frankly poor. Comments from the Ofsted reports of 2013 and 2014 included the following “the school has serious weaknesses”, “Overall effectiveness; Inadequate,” “the school under a former leadership had gone from Good to one with Serious Weaknesses”. The leadership and Management was described as “needing improvement” All of these comments can be followed up and verified on the Ofsted website www.gov.uk On April 21st 2015 The Hunt Post a local UK newspaper report the following “Scott Preston has left Ernulf Academy by “mutual agreement” according to a statement released by the school’s governing body and the St Neots Learning Partnership”. There is no evidence from his cv that he has qualified teacher status (QTS).