Comments on: Of left and right hands…

By: ChampagneSocialistNetwork

ChampagneSocialistNetwork — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:59:22 +0000

Again, Melissa just like Fiona you completely erase out facts & fudge statistics with regards to this school. I should know I use to go it!
Why don’t you mention how much money was invested to “rebrand” the school since 2006? Due to the fact it was not a very popular school choice among many in the area.
Why do you think Michelle Obama was asked to visit that school? in 2009 & 2011? when there are better schools in the Capital.
When I was there the uniform was basically on the level of being a maroon P.E uniform but with the choice of skirt or trousers of course.
Majority of the students there are not locals! since most the middle-classes in Islington specifically that catchment don’t want to send their children there even working-class families try to avoid inner city schools like EGA by using the Church as a safety valve. I don’t blame them.
The irony is it’s not even that bad of a school (there are worse) but still that only shows the standards of state education is not very high. No shiny expensive buildings is going to change that.

By: Andrew Old

Andrew Old — Sat, 04 Jun 2011 12:41:37 +0000

I would believe you. After all, you wouldn’t have bothered inventing the straw man position that all teachers send their kids to private schools, if you then had to lie to argue against it.

With regard to my actual point of whether teachers in urban comprehensives send their kids to their local comprehensive: I don’t expect anyone to believe they don’t just because I say so. I would expect anyone to have found this out for themselves before they start spouting forth opinions on the quality of comprehensive schools or making crass generalisations about the gullibility of parents who don’t send their kids to the local comprehensive.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 15:06:42 +0000

I would be interested in seeing your evidence, Andrew.

After all, just as you assert that teachers are ‘desperate to get their kids out of the local comprehensive’, I could equally easily assert that none of my teacher colleagues or relatives have had their children privately educated. What I say would be true but I don’t expect you to believe it just because I say it.

By: Andrew Old

Andrew Old — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:54:59 +0000

Can’t resist pointing out what one of the founders of the Local Schools Network said about the reliability of OFSTED reports:

“…if a school has been wonderfully politically correct, it can get away with a good report – but it may be a hotbed of bad behaviour and indiscipline.”

By: Andrew Old

Andrew Old — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:52:01 +0000

So? As I said, teachers are very good at getting their kids out of the local comprehensive. If they manage that without going private then they are unlikely to say they would go private.

By: Janet Downs

Janet Downs — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:21:39 +0000

From the 2010 report of Ofsted’s Chief Inspector:

“Overall, 13% of schools were outstanding, 43% good, 37% satisfactory and 8% inadequate”

Tom’s assertion that 40% of the country’s schools are poor does not hold up. Satisfactory means the schools satisfied the criteria. That does not equal poor even though the Chief Inspector herself lumped the satisfactory and the inadequate together to produce a misleading figure. Only 8% of schools inspected in 2010 were judged inadequate. It should also be remembered that Ofsted took a more “risk-based” approach to inspection in 2010 – choosing to inspect fewer good or outstanding schools.

http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/Ofsted-home/News/Press-and-media/2010/November/The-Annual-Report-of-Her-Majesty-s-Chief-Inspector-of-Education-Children-s-Services-and-Skills-2009-10

By: Janet Downs

Janet Downs — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:10:10 +0000

Objective research is difficult to come by but the TES did a survey in 2005 which showed that one quarter of the respondents (who claimed to be state teachers) would send their children to private schools. That would mean three out of four would send their children to state schools.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article737604.ece

By: Andrew Old

Andrew Old — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:47:11 +0000

In my experience the middle class people most desperate to get their kids out of the local comprehensive are teachers who have taught in comprehensives. You can’t blame the media for that.

By: Sarah

Sarah — Tue, 31 May 2011 10:12:33 +0000

As someone who has spent 20 years of her life teaching in comprehensive schools (only 2 admittedly) I also get sick and tired of having our work and efforts rubbished. I am also based outside London and find the endless media (and political) focus on London education particularly depressing. The London/big city experience is simply not shared by the majority of children and parents up and down the country.

By: Fiona Millar

Fiona Millar — Tue, 31 May 2011 09:13:29 +0000

Thank you for speaking up for your state schools Marina. There are many parents out here who feel the same way but whose views are rarely heard in the media, which is dominated by editors and columnists who have NO first hand experience of state education.