An intriguing, yet worrying, episode has been played out at one of Medway's flagship academies in the last week or two. Since the Bishop of Rochester Academy 'opened its doors' in September there have been concerns about discipline and the continuing concern about the wisdom of merging Medway Community College with Chatham South School. In these days of social media it is increasingly difficult for a school not to wash its dirty laundry in public. Therefore we get to hear quite a bit - like when the police are called to a playground bust-up. It just needs one straightforward story on a website and the  issue mushrooms into a debate about the running of the school. We took some of the comments being made about BORA with a slight pinch of salt because after all, which school hasn't been accused of being 'rubbish' with inadequate teachers and a head out of control? It's never the children's fault - or for that matter the parents who are far too quick to criticise rather than praise. But the disquiet about BORA wouldn't go away and our attempts to get to the bottom of the matters were met with a stony silence. Principal (head) Christopher Sweetman was always in meetings and no 'sponsor' (ie governor) was available for a comment. We get wind that Mr Sweetman 'has gone' from a reliable source on Wednesday and then suddenly the council, one of the sponsors, is spurred into action, spiking our exclusive story by releasing a statement. The debate rages on. But the chaotic online discussion aside, this is a school which clearly has big problems. Our job to report fairly and accurately about what is going on is a challenge.

To be a clergyman cannot be easy. Imagine dressing up in all those heavy robes on a hot summer's day.

Nor is it easy for many people to accept that 'neath the fancy gear is an ordinary human being.

Adrian Newman, the very reverend Dean of Rochester, has succeeded in doing that from the day he was unveiled in 2005 as Medway's Number Two.

The Dishy Dean quickly earned the accolade as his various badges of office failed to disguise a sporting physique (he has competed in the London Marathon and ridden from Land's End to John O'Groats in the most appalling weather conditions).

What has endeared him most of all to the people with whom he has increasingly come in contact has been his ability to understand the community, to talk with them without pontificating, and to have a superb sense of the ridiculous.

His lone ride around the back lanes of Britain to get to the extremity of Scotland was to raise funds for the Cathedral's choirs. He recorded the pains, the blisters and the occasional terrors from heavy traffic and of failure, with a human touch.

Chatting with him on a regular basis, he has been a fund of humourous tales, deep insights into the community and an overpowering concern for the underdog.

Now he is off to face his biggest challenge yet. He is to be the Bishop of Stepney. His patch includes the three boroughs with greater child poverty than anywhere else in Britain.

been influenced by Faith in the City, a report that considered the way the church needed to work in the inner city. When it was published it shook the church to its roots.