INVESTIGATION: Chaos at Shirley Warren Primary School and in Southampton Labour

Investigation

UPDATE (Friday 13/3/26): LABOUR IN REDBRIDGE IN CHAOS, SHIRLEY WARREN PRIMARY IN CHAOS, LABOUR-RUN COUNCIL IN CHAOS

1. We have offered Councillor Sally Goodfellow the right of reply to our article.

2. The claims made by the Labour-run Council do not seem to add up. The Daily Echo is standing by its headline that the Council sacked the governors.

3. The Bridge Education Trust have taken over a week to provide any minutes of the governor meetings, despite promising to get them to us by the end of this week. The Acting Headteacher has promised them to us by the end of Monday 16th March.

4. We have offered the three Shirley Ward councillors the right of reply to our article, and pointed out to the Leader of the Council Alex Winning who is a Shirley ward councillor that his own Cabinet Member and senior officers seem to contradict the Echo headline that the Labour-run Council sacked all governors including Labour Redbridge Councillor Sally Goodfellow.

 

Investigation

 

 

 

 

Another Southampton Redbridge Ward Labour Councillor Removed - First Lee Whitbread Now Sally Goodfellow

 

Redbridge Labour Councillor Sally Goodfellow
Photo: Southampton City Council

Labour Losing One Councillor Is Bad... 

First it was reported by the Daily Echo that Southampton Redbridge Labour Councillor Lee Whitbread has been suspended by the Labour Party. At the time of writing, it is one of the most popular posts on our website. 

And at the time of writing, Whitbread is still listed on the Southampton Labour website as a Labour councillor. Is he or is he not? Will he be standing in the local elections when his seat is up?

The Southampton City Council website lists him as "Independent". As we've said before, he is nothing to do with us. He is nothing but a fake independent and a suspended Labour one at that.

Another Redbridge Labour Councillor Loses A Council Role 

Now, it is reported by the Daily Echo that another Southampton Redbridge Labour Councillor, this time Sally Goodfellow, who is in the news. 

She has been removed as a governor at Shirley Warren Primary School. This school is not in the Redbridge ward. It is in the Shirley ward, where Labour have just lost two by-elections in a row.

Who is Responsible? Labour Councillors

The Leader of the Council at the moment is Councillor Alexander Winning. He is a Shirley ward councillor and is up for election in May 2026. The Cabinet Member for Children and Learning is Councillor Amanda Barnes-Andrews, a Bitterne Park ward councillor who is up for election in May 2027. Under collective responsibility at least, they would have both had to agree the removal of the governors.

UPDATE: A response has been received from Councillor Barnes-Andrews. She says that Cabinet did not make the decision. Her response will be communicated in a future article. 

Who Else Was A Governor? 

Councillor Goodfellow has been removed, along with all other governors, including the Chair Andy McHugh who is mentioned in the Echo article. The register of interests document on the school's website shows the following list of governors was in place:

• Zoe Newton, the now ex-headteacher and Governor
• Andy McHugh, Trust Governor, with interest registered as Shirley Warren Action Church
• Sophia Ship, Deputy headteacher and Trust Governor, with interest registered as Southampton City Council
• Aby Adekoya, Co-opted Governor, no interests registered
• Sally Spicer, Co-opted Governor, with interest registered as Southampton City Council. Spicer is Goodfellow's married name. In the Echo report, she is quoted as being "angry".
• Shannon Wannell, Parent Governor, no interests registered
• there are four blank rows in the register of interests, one parent governor, one Council governor, one staff governor, one co-opted governor 

All of these governors have been removed by the Labour-run Southampton City Council.

What Have Southampton Independents Done On Behalf of Parents and Residents? 

Southampton Independents has written to the Bridge Education Trust to express its concern about the situation and ask a set of questions on behalf of parents and the taxpayer. 

We have a response, to which we have also expressed further concern. So we await a further response. The Bridge Education Trust is also responsible for other schools in Southampton.

Southampton Independents has also written to Councillor Amanda Barnes-Andrews with a set of questions on behalf of parents and the taxpayer, and also to Councillor Alex Winning.