What do you look for in a school?

sandiep

Children spend 85% of their time not in school. There are other things equally important, and not all children will get the most out of life by having simply a load of a grade results.

Raising well rounded people is every parents goal, and although school is a bit part of it, there is more.

I have just moved. And my girls have just left a school where the parents greeted their kids in the playground with bottles of Iron Bru, standing smoking fags. It was also know that the odd drug sale would be made in the playground too. And I would say that probably only about 5% of kids had families where both parents worked, and over 50% came from families where no-one worked.

But the school had outstanding grades, it dictated best practise for the region, and was one of the most inclusive, modern and forward thinking schools out there. Most teachers that left that school went to their next position as head teachers.

Is that a good school??????

Oldernotwiser

sandiep wrote: »

But the school had outstanding grades, it dictated best practise for the region, and was one of the most inclusive, modern and forward thinking schools out there. Most teachers that left that school went to their next position as head teachers.

Is that a good school??????

If it was that good, why did you take your children away from it?

Milky_Mocha

sandiep wrote: »

Children spend 85% of their time not in school. There are other things equally important, and not all children will get the most out of life by having simply a load of a grade results.

Raising well rounded people is every parents goal, and although school is a bit part of it, there is more.

I have just moved. And my girls have just left a school where the parents greeted their kids in the playground with bottles of Iron Bru, standing smoking fags. It was also know that the odd drug sale would be made in the playground too. And I would say that probably only about 5% of kids had families where both parents worked, and over 50% came from families where no-one worked.

But the school had outstanding grades, it dictated best practise for the region, and was one of the most inclusive, modern and forward thinking schools out there. Most teachers that left that school went to their next position as head teachers.

Is that a good school??????

My answer would be "no, that is not a good school". If those are the sort of homes the children come from then I would imagine some of those influences would manifest themselves in pupil behaviour which would more likely than not, be apparent to a visitor. That aside, academic grades are not most important. Extra-curriculars and grooming are equally important and are the sort of qualities that win scholarships.

I have heard of a similar school to the one you describe, actually. I believe it was described in an ofsted report as being a "centre of excellence" and I've always wondered what that means. This was not in Essex though, but in SE London. Yet I know of more than 1 male pupil from there who shortly after studying was sentenced to prison for one thing or another. That is not necessarily the fault of the school as academic results from there appear to be above average and there have been high profile cases of Oxbridge graduates going to prison for drug related offences!

What put me off about that school is that in the case of four individuals I know personally, esp in one particular case, his reading is rather poor, he often confuses his left from right and he says 'haitch' instead of aitch (for the letter "h")! I find that particularly annoying. Having said that he is successful in life and earns 50% more than I do.

Back to your point, a "good" school to me would have addressed the issues in the playground as well as the issue of parents 'misbehaving' on school premises.

thorsoak

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

What put me off about that school is that in the case of four individuals I know personally, esp in one particular case, his reading is rather poor, he often confuses his left from right and he says 'haitch' instead of aitch (for the letter "h")! I find that particularly annoying. Having said that he is successful in life and earns 50% more than I do.

QUOTE]


In your first post you stated as a criteria of a good school a "nice uniform" - and when I read that I resolved to read no more of this thread. However, like a moth drawn to a flame, I have returned - and I have to comment that I do find your reasoning to be particularly shallow in all instances ... the quote above being a case in point. Whilst you still labour on such inconsequential points, I do not see you making any successful decision on behalf of your child. My commiserations.

Savvy_Sue

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

What put me off about that school is that in the case of four individuals I know personally, esp in one particular case, his reading is rather poor, he often confuses his left from right and he says 'haitch' instead of aitch (for the letter "h")! I find that particularly annoying. Having said that he is successful in life and earns 50% more than I do.

Just possibly, he's dyslexic / dyspraxic - and yet

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

Having said that he is successful in life and earns 50% more than I do.

So I would say he had had an excellent education which had enabled him to overcome his natural limitations.

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

Back to your point, a "good" school to me would have addressed the issues in the playground as well as the issue of parents 'misbehaving' on school premises.

I can't begin to formulate how that post makes me feel ...

My sons went to primary schools where the staff CARED about their pupils more than they cared about the 'image' of the school, and some of the parents and the children were a bit 'unrefined'. Very high levels of unemployment among the parents, more single parent families than not, etc etc etc.

A friend, living within the catchment area for what you'd probably have found a "good" school, had to help another friend fight for her child's right to attend Assembly - head teacher found it too much trouble to arrange for a wheelchair to be pushed around the school to use the level entrance into the school hall so was asking for child to be picked up early.

Which was the better school?

dizziblonde

One of the "best" schools I go at to work in (I see all sorts being a supply teacher) is in the most utterly deprived area of town, where many of the children have special needs - but the staff have such enthusiasm and the buzz about the place and joy of learning is such that the problems that come with this kind of catchment melt away - it's also got pretty poor appearance-wise buildings... but Ofsted rated it outstanding because of all the other stuff.

I've also gone into some schools with phenomenally gorgeous new buildings - but where the staff hate what they're doing, the behaviour is awful and the kids have the attitude of teachers being game to "crack" or "terror" (a lovely experience to be on the recieving end of attempts to do this) and I'd never go back to those ones.

There's more to a school than a shiny uniform and nice buildings. There are some schools near here (I live in a good part of town) that I wouldn't send a kid of mine to, despite them being superficially wonderful, and some I'd push tooth and nail to get into - and they're not always the ones rocking the top of the league tables. The way some unscrupulous schools will push to manipulate their league table ranking is wrong - I worked at one school which made it into the top in the country list - they did that by completely writing off the kids that wouldn't make the grade at about age 8 and only concentrating on the rest - to me, that seems fundamentally wrong and shortchanging those children who have the same right to make progress at a level appropriate to them - but they went soaring up the league tables, parents fight to get their kids in there... shows how messed up the situation is.

Go for somewhere that "feels" right... it might not be the prettiest building, the uniform might not be the right colour - you wouldn't buy a washing machine based on the glossiest brochure (I assume not if you're on this site) - why would you do the equivalent for a school?

Milky_Mocha

thorsoak wrote: »

Milky_Mocha wrote: »

What put me off about that school is that in the case of four individuals I know personally, esp in one particular case, his reading is rather poor, he often confuses his left from right and he says 'haitch' instead of aitch (for the letter "h")! I find that particularly annoying. Having said that he is successful in life and earns 50% more than I do.

QUOTE]


In your first post you stated as a criteria of a good school a "nice uniform" - and when I read that I resolved to read no more of this thread. However, like a moth drawn to a flame, I have returned - and I have to comment that I do find your reasoning to be particularly shallow in all instances ... the quote above being a case in point. Whilst you still labour on such inconsequential points, I do not see you making any successful decision on behalf of your child. My commiserations.

Hi, moth, thanks for returning to this flame:D

Apologies if my posts offend you. That is not the intention at all!

You would notice I stated in my first post that that list was in order of priority and nice uniform was bottom of the list. This means, all other things being equal, I'd choose the nice uniform over the not so nice one.

As for the 'shortcomings' of my friend which you describe as inconsequential, he wasn't the only one from that school with those traits. I'm friends with most of his friends who he grew up with and attended the same school and pretty much all of them have similar issues to varying degrees, including his sister. Maybe they are all dyslexic but its unlikely.

I also find that as far as his success in life goes, he is a survivor as the same cannot be said of all his friends. The school is 'good' in ofsted reports and academically but unfortunately its not a school I would choose for my child because I have options.

A 'good' school is relative. I've had a work colleague recommend a particular nursery which others rave about and which is rated 'outstanding' by ofsted. When I visited I didn't like it, for reasons I won't go into for fear of offending people like you:D.

The most important factor in my humble (or not so humble in your estimation) opinion is the first point because even if all other criteria are satisfied, an unhappy child is not the way to go.

sandiep

Oldernotwiser wrote: »

If it was that good, why did you take your children away from it?

Because we moved 40 miles away, and devoted though I am to the school, I didn't want to unnecessarily add 3 hours a day travelling time onto my wee girlies school day