St Bede’s, Manchester – A School Going in the Wrong Direction

Something tells me that the new regime at St Bede’s College, the Kearney/Pike putsch, which wrestled control from its erstwhile and commendable head, Mr Michael Barber, in June 2011 after months of infighting, is running scared.

Recent well reported incidents show that the imbecilic behaviour of the new commandant, Mr Daniel Kearney in pulling down the portcullis and lifting the drawbridge are a sign of a man demented.  A man besieged.

The pupils, themselves, consider they are in a place more akin to a stammlager than a premier educational establishment in a leafy suburb of Manchester.

Certainly there is a war on, the poor administration of the Catholic Church against the powers of good and decency.  So Kearney in his wisdom is keeping the enemy away by closing any known loophole in his defences.  He sees St Bede’s going in the direction of St Benedict’s in Ealing.  In fact St Bede’s historically is in a far worse place than that.

These ridiculous defences that Kearney has put in place are too late and facing in the wrong direction.  The horse has bolted.  The problem for Bede’s and throughout its last 60 years and probably beyond, was that the enemy was from within, the outside world were mainly friends if they had been allowed proper access.  This enemy, this evil, was contained inside the establishment and because of its containment, propagated itself.

The list of propagators, of suspected offenders, is getting longer as the weeks go by and nothing Kearney can do will stop the murmerings of the disaffected.  The school is clean now and has been for a few years since the last recalcitrant left the staff roll.  He has yet to be named but most or any of the female ex-pupils in the 25 to 37 age bracket will tell you if you approach them clandestinely.  These ladies are now mothers, mostly in high income households and the last thing they want is dirty linen.

To get back to my point, Kearney’s misdirected outrages have to stop, the gates of the school have to be flung open, fresh air needs to invigorate the place. This was happening under Barber, then the stutter and back to square one.  This present day enclosure is so reminiscent of Duggan’s dark days it could lead to worse perpetrations.  In a prison the most evil of crimes are committed.

This hopefully will not happen, the staff have more, pardon the word, spunk in them than that.  Since June and Kearney’s Grecian sphinxist rise to the top, there have been skirmishes and almost blows, but the Bedian teacher is too mature for that.  There are other ways of skinning a cat and the majority of staff have that skill in spades.  Beware Mr Kearney, your days are numbered.  This is not the 19^th century but the coup de tete will be the same.

A short one today but I hope it gives encouragement for those who need it and advice to those who need it also.