When you're in a hole...stop digging

The Education Welfare Officers reported back to the Deputy Director of Education on their visit to Tyndale and from this point onwards it became clear that there was confusion in that department. This confusion was with regard to whether we were, in fact, providing full time education and whether or not School Attendance Orders could be served on our parents. During December the Director concluded that "the school should not be registered". However, following his Christmas Break he concluded that the hours offered to the over eights "might be sufficient to justify a claim of full time education." This was translated by the DfES to say Newham was "of the opinion that it does provide full time education and should be registered."

The upshot of all of this was that the DfES again wrote to us telling us to register Tyndale as an independent school while helpfully reminding us that "anyone who conducts an independent school which is not a registered school is breaking the law and may be liable to a fine or imprisonment." After protracted phone calls and letters from Tyndale the DfES wrote to Newham again, on 11 March 2004, concluding (how many conclusions does that make??) that "The Academy does not appear to offer full time education and cannot therefore be registered as an independent school. I propose to write to Mr Lindsay confirming the position but feel that I should give you the opportunity of commenting before doing so."

In apparent desparation Newham wrote back on 17th March (never seen them move so quickly) and said that they could not approve of any parent educating their child with Tyndale because the Authority had "no right of inspection of the Tyndale Academy". The desparation of the Authority to have us registered is clearest in their opinion that "in view of the ... difficulties which will arise from any attempt by it to pose as an establishment providing part-time tuition only, I believe that the Tyndale Academy should be expected to register and an independent school". This reasoning threw the DfES into the kind of Yes Minister panic that spells trouble for all (especially for us). The hole was well and truly dug -but there was yet more digging to be done (in the land of metaphors anything is possible).