First free school failure

Brighton_belle

sassyblue wrote: »

That's a bit strong, the majority 'fail' the 11+ don't they?

If you were made to feel a failure the fault lies with those who should have been supporting you.

I personally didn't take the 11+ but I have read and heard much of the generations who did. Catastrophic sense of worthlessness/being put in their place viv a vis aspirations, for quite a lot of children from a much less touchy feely period.

maman

securityguy wrote: »

So there will be free schools which are roaring successes, for the simple reason that there's no reason they shouldn't be. After all, a group of governors, some buildings, some teacher, some parents and some pupils is pretty much the structure of all schools.

I'd guess the majority will be successful as they have, in the main, the pupils of interested and supportive parents. I agree with an earlier poster that many have been set up because parents want a 'private' school but with the taxpayer picking up the tab. It's a similar principle as the parents who drive their children out to village schools in my area. They have the time/inclination/transport to choose an out of catchment school so they do.

I wouldn't be so naïve as to claim that all schools are full of good teachers. But there is an alarming co-relation between the 'good' schools at the top of league tables and the postcodes they are found in.

While I wouldn't recommend that any parent plays politics with their own child's education the system does need addressing. Parents were given the freedom of choose other than their catchment school and more recently this might include a free school. That's all very well for individual parents and pupils but has caused huge problems both organisationally, academically and socially. So the pupils whose parents have the wherewithal get the best and the schools they've left sink further as they no longer have a balanced pupil intake.

lavandergirl_2

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/10173790/Free-school-under-fire-Weve-made-a-difference-to-the-childrens-lives.html

FBaby

The problem is when they are free to establish themselves wherever they want. My town has 5 secondary schools. 2 were failings some time ago. The worse was totally turn around and despite being in the poorer part of the town is now rated oftsed 1 and best results until last year (now equal with another). The other was also doing quite poorly until a new headmaster took over last year and again, all signs are that it is turning it around. Many parents are chosing this school as their first choice this year. It means that all secondary schools in the area are oftsted level 1 or 2. We are incredibly fortunate and didn't need at all for another school to open up and potentially destabilised the other schools. What is especially pathetic is that they picked their location (a mile away from on of the other secondary school) not because of a local need for a new school but because it had the perfect building on offer at the time. Great start, looking at what suits the needs of the school rather than the needs of local kids....

maman

Interesting that head of Ofsted has commented today that increasing grammar schools would not improve he situation. IMO all it does is increase the divide.