We have resisted the pressure coming at us from all areas (particularely from the LA) to convert to an Academy. The people of this community have worked extremely hard together to reach the very highest level. Along the journey, OFSTED raised the bar on us but we remained committed. Together, as a community, we have not converted (and will not) and as of yesterday I am proud to announce the school where I am Chair of Governors Brize Norton Primary has been judged to be ‘Outstanding in all areas’. The first school in Oxfordshire to make it under the new rigorous framework.

Support your local school, there are no limits if you stick by one another through thick and thin.

This year’s celebration took place at the Emirates Stadium and has expanded to include more secondary schools, a local primary and a Church of England Secondary*. Yvette Cooper, Shadow Home Secretary, spoke at the event stating “we want as many schools as possible to tackle LGBT equality. We want every student to be proud of who they are.”

The celebration came at the end of LGBT history month, when study of significant LGBT figures is integrated into the curriculum. Year 7 students, for example, from Stoke Newington School explained how they had studied Alan Turing in ICT. Turing, often referred to as the “father of computer science”. was prosecuted for being homosexual and subsequently committed suicide.

A year 10 student sang “Dead End Justice” in tribute to the 70s band The Runaways. She explained how lyrics of the band, whose two female singers had a lesbian relationship, had helped her in working out her bisexual identity. Another student moved those around me to tears with the song she wrote herself about dealing with hate.

A group of students from LaSwap repeated the assembly they had done on GenderBread person. This striking visual introduces a different concept of gender identity – that it is not defined by just  your physical attributes but is also based on what you think in your head, what you feel ion your heart and how you express yourself (eg, the clothes that you wear).

That the event took place at the Emirates Stadium felt a significant step, at a time when there are no openly gay professional footballers. Samir Singh from Arsenal in the Community talked of how proud they were to be hosting the LGBT celebration and indeed the club’s web site promotes its support for LGBT month. There has even been a ’gay gooners’ supporters club formed. Funke Awoderu, from the Football Association suggested that “football needs to come out of the closet on LGBT issues”.

When my previous article was published in 2011 it was mocked by Toby Young in his Spectator and Telegraph blogs. He particularly scorned the idea that there might be students grappling with a transgender identity in a comprehensive school. Since then Ofsted has issued new guidance making clear schools have a responsibility to improve the progress of ‘vulnerable’ students and that this specifically includes not just lesbian, gay and bisexual students but also transgender students – in line with the new Equalities Act. Britain has come a long way since the days of Clause 28**.

For governors like myself this is an important statement. It means not just that is is fully acceptable to carry out LGBT equalities work but that it is my duty as a governor to make sure such work is taking place in the school. If you are a governor you should ask the school to report on what it is doing to tackle homophobia, to deal with any related bullying and to promote LGBT equality.

Useful resources can be found at Elly Barnes’ site, including these lesson plans, and The Classroom.

I am very proud to be Chair of Governors of Stoke Newington School. I am proud that our GCSE results are rated in the top 20%, compared to similar schools, in the new Ofsted dashboard and that our sixth form is in the top 10% in the country for student progress.

But I am as proud, if not more so, that Stoke Newington School puts inclusivity at the top of its priorities and seeks to create a safe and supportive environment for all our students. A huge congratulations to Elly Barnes, to headteacher Annie Gammon and to all the staff and students involved for their great work here.

Notes

* The full list of schools involved is Ackland Burghley, Urswick, Willliam Patten, Stoke Newington, Regents and LaSwap.

** Clause 28 was introduced by the Thatcher government in May 1988  and stated that a school “shall not intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality” or “promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship”. It was repealed in Scotland in June 2000 and the rest of Great Britain in November 2003.

It is coming up to Christmas so I am going to allow myself a touch of sentimentality. A few weeks ago I felt a stab of pride, and momentary panic, when the sign outside our local primary school flashed up on the 10 O’clock news.

Pride because all our children were educated there, I was a governor for 18 years and chair of governors for ten. Panic because, over the 20 years since we first became involved with the school, I have got used to any media focus on state education being predominantly negative.

And in the case of Gospel Oak doubly so; it was probably one of the worst schools in the country when our children joined; named and shamed in one of the earliest Ofsted inspections, It bumped along the bottom of the league tables throughout the 1990s. I have written a longer piece about what happened at the school here.

I got used to being told we were sacrificing out children for political principles. It wasn’t a sacrifice. Many children in the school were happy and flourished in spite of its failings. Firm friendships were forged and carried through to secondary school, along with a strong sense of being part of a wider, diverse community.

But there were principles involved. We wanted to help make the school better for the children who didn’t have the advantages ours had, which probably insulated them against its shortcomings. And as the effects of the incipient education market became clearer, the school’s intake changed dramatically – in the first few years after our original Ofsted the number of children eligible for FSM rose from 27% to almost 60%.

However its recent nano second in the limelight was for a different reason. Gospel Oak is now a successful, popular school. It is also situated in the London Borough of Camden – which topped Ofsted ‘s new LA league table for having a higher percentage of good and outstanding primary schools than any other part of the country. Earlier this year I pointed out that inner London boroughs like Camden were also outperforming many leafier, more affluent authorities in the government’s primary performance tables.

True to form, the positive story that is Camden was glossed over in the full news report, in favour of a negative story about the most poorly performing authority in the country. Which is a shame because looking more closely at Camden would be instructive.

In spite of being a borough with huge inequalities and high fall out into the private sector – around 30% of pupils are in the independent sector – there is still a strong commitment to local state schools by parents from all backgrounds so we have genuine comprehensives at primary and secondary level – most of which is also good or outstanding. This provides a virtuous cycle – the herd instinct is a powerful one when it comes to schooling.

It attracts and retains good heads, teachers and governors, possibly drawn by the rich and varied intakes of the schools, but maybe also by the strongly collaborative ethos. One of the first things the local authority did in the wake of the coalition reforms was to launch an education commission chaired by Sir Mike Tomlinson. Several areas for improvement emerged but an over-riding theme was pride in the Camden “family of schools” and a wish for this to continue in the face of national policy pulling in the opposite direction.

And the local authority has been well led, achieving the right balance of challenge and support. Some years ago a decision was taken to differentiate the way this was managed. Schools causing concern would receive more help, and earlier. Those schools already flying would get much less but their expertise would be used to help those that needed it. ‘No surprises’ was one of the watchwords.

But there was one surprise, to me at least. In spite of topping the Ofsted table, Camden wasn’t mentioned anywhere in the Chief Inspectors Annual Report. But then again, should we be surprised? The Camden story doesn’t fit the script. It hardly has any academies and no school has yet converted in spite of the considerable financial inducements. In this piece on the Guardian website, Kate Frood, the head of an outstanding Camden primary school explains why she thinks that is they case.

The fact that some local authorities have failed to improve their schools is inexcusable. But the appearance of the new Ofsted rankings suggests an expectation that they must still strive for this, even though in some cases their powers, and resources, are limited.

Ofsted is now planning to work at a regional level to understand and share good practice. I suggest they start by coming to Camden.They will see that local authorities can work, parents and communities can help to make existing schools better and that good teaching leadership and governance are not the preserve of any one single ‘type‘ of school.

Professor Robin Alexander, director of the Cambridge Primary Review, recently met Chile’s Minister of Education in Santiago and gave an extended television interview introduced by the Chair of the Senate Education Commission. Robin’s two-part Nuevas Miradas interview can be downloaded here. Below is a summary of some of the issues raised in part two.

Collaboration, sharing resources and building supportive networks between primary schools and the primary and secondary sectors will increase the expertise of existing primary teachers, Robin said. But an emphasis on high stakes testing and league tables works against that. Such measures encourage competition between schools – competition reduces collaboration. But collaborative schools meet the best interests of the child more effectively than when schools compete.

Information technology (IT) is a powerful tool when used appropriately, Robin explained. IT supports learning and teaching – teachers collaborate on-line and exchange ideas. IT encourages professional development. But it’s important to stress that children shouldn’t spend their lives staring at a screen. The most important tool in learning, Robin said, was talk. Talk helps the brain develop, helps understanding develop.

The most effective teachers, Robin believed, were those who had deep subject knowledge combined with enthusiasm, a capacity to provide constant assessment which informs their teaching, and who interacted effectively with their pupils. Robin complained that questioning in the classroom was often restricted to “closed” questions which only have one right answer. Such questions don’t test understanding. What is needed is more open discussion which probes answers to reveal misunderstanding and encourages deeper understanding. Talking underpins literacy – oracy and literacy go together. It was a tragedy that talk in the classroom was seen as something to be discouraged.

Successive government policies which concentrate on curriculum, assessment and pedagogy are misdirected, Robin said. The focus should be on reforming teacher training and inspection. Teacher training needed to recruit from a higher standard of graduates . It should ensure trainee teachers develop skills in teaching their subject and understand the methods and principles of education. Inspection in England was heavy-handed. Questions needed to be asked whether inspection should be punitive or supportive. Punitive inspection created a climate of fear but supportive inspection helped schools improve.

Experts from the worlds of art and industry had much to offer schools, Robin said. Out-reach work brought pupils into contact with enthusiastic specialists – this enhanced learning. However, this did not mean that anyone could teach. Good teaching was not easy.

The most effective reform, Robin explained, was gradual and incremental. It built on the evaluation of previous reforms and didn’t just throw the whole system up in the air where it would end in pieces.

I am a 16 year old girl, at the start of my AS Levels. I have been going to a comprehensive school in Caerphilly, South Wales for the entirety of my secondary education, and am staying there to do my A-levels. I love the school, the teachers, the staff, the ethos, however the school took a big knock a few months ago when it was rated the 5th worst in Wales.

The school now has a bad reputation, but for no just reason. The school’s A*-C percentage including English and Maths is improving, the year that included my results (2012) over 45% of girls achieved that standard. I’m pleased to say I am part of that group, and was thrilled with my results of 11 A*s, 1A and a Disitinction in Additional Maths. I am not here to blow my own trumpet, I am here to celebrate my school, and I hope my results are a testament to it.

One of those A*s, in Geography, was an after-school class that was put on every Wednesday and Thursday after school by my brilliant Geography teacher specifically for 11 of us who wanted to study the course (mostly because the teacher is so brilliant), but were unable to because there was not enough of a take-up across the school. The teacher put in a huge amount of time, and we all really, really appreciated it. My Additional Maths qualification was also done after school, with my inspiring maths teacher, who agreed to teach 10 of us the work that she believed was good preparation for AS-level (now that I am studying for my AS-level Maths, I quite agree!). For a school with below average results in maths, 7 out of the 10 of us received Distinctions, with the other 3 receiving Merits, another testament to the commitment of teachers in the school to push the academically able as well as putting huge amounts of effort into improving the A*-C %, which the government puts so much focus on.

Another reason why I am incredibly proud of my school is our amazing commitment to charity. The catchment area is very deprived, but we still manage to raise a huge amount of money for Children In Need, Red Nose Day, HIV/Aids charities and a variety of others. One that I am intimately involved in is the Anti-Bullying team within school who have 30 trained pupils mentors ranging from Years 9-13 who offer counselling and support in our special mentoring room every lunchtime. It is initiatives like this one which make our school a community, and a place where pupils can grow into young adults, I feel I certainly have in my time.

The reason I feel so passionately about the subject is I have not always been in state education, and neither have my siblings. From the ages of 4-6 I was educated in an ex-pat school in the middle east, and my sister (whom is the same age as me, as I am a triplet) has just received a scholarship to go to a prestigious boarding school, something I have very mixed emotions about.

She is amazingly intelligent with a thirst for knowledge, she has done incredibly well at GCSE level, also receiving a string of A*s and As. Her decision to go to boarding school was based around her wanting to do the International Baccalaureate, and her education is being funded by the Girls’ Day School Trust.

She is enjoying many elements of the IB but finds the style of teaching and learning very different. It is the mixture of people she misses, she says. She finds the pupils to be insular without understanding for those less fortunate themselves, essentially all of the suspicions one has about boarding school girls confirmed.

Though I am saddened that she is now in such an elitist institution, I am glad that she spent most of her secondary education at my comprehensive school I watched her benefit from all the different people that you have to learn to mix with, I saw her make great relationships with staff and pupils alike, generally a great foundation of people skills and a knowledge of society that will stand her in great stead, something I fear her boarding school counterparts will never gain.

I think this bit of his speech matters a  lot. We all have our characters formed by our schooldays to a certain extent so, as a potential Prime Minister, it is legitimate for him to spell out crucial formative influences.

In fact he is probably the only possible future PM we have ever had who has been to  a comprehensive school. I believe all previous PMs who were state educated went to grammar schools.

And Ed is symbolic of the comprehensive generation that is now breaking through.  The comprehensive revolution got going in earnest in the 1970s and the young people educated then and in the subsequent three decades are starting to make their mark. Think of the great Olympians Mo Farrah, Jess Ennis and Bradley Wiggins, Shadow Health Secretary Andy Burnham, even new schools minister Elizabeth Truss.

When I look at my own children and their friends I can see that the myth of the downtrodden, low achieving comp school pupils, perpetrated by the media, is just that  - a myth. Ed Miliband is right to stand up for all those young people who are following in his wake  and have had  their characters formed not by Eton or Harrow, but by their local schools. Their time has come and it is long overdue.

I know all schools are unique in their make-up and ethos but Amesbury Archer is seriously unique. Just six years old, the building of the first half stage of the school was delayed by two years because of the discovery of the grave of a Neolithic man as the foundations were being dug. In the four thousand year old grave was discovered the oldest gold ever found in this country and over a hundred artefacts including copper knives and flint arrow heads. Analysis of his teeth revealed his origins to be in the region of the southern Alps. The story of this very important find was one to be savoured.

We crafted a learning ethos based on the life of this remarkable discovery. Named ‘The Amesbury Archer’ by the national media, he became our learning hero and his qualities have been shared with and embraced by the children in many varied and creative ways.

The children who have passed through the doors know that courage, persistence and ‘stickabilty’, focus, responsibility, support, co-operation and self- belief shaped the world of the Amesbury Archer and through stories, learning assemblies, and forums these seven words of learning formed the bedrock of how learning was tackled at the school.

I was always a fan of Guy Claxton and Alistair Smith, Shirley Clarke but knew there was an inherent problem in embedding belief in teachers and children that these models and theories of learning would survive the stage of a passing fad and become part of the long-term school ethos of the school. BLP [Building Learning Power] seemed so very complicated. Then I discovered Carol Dweck and the Theory of Mindset and her groundbreaking work has underpinned our simple model for learning.

I think, at Archer, we found something that would impact on the mindset of the youngsters that pass through the doors simply, effectively and extensively. Learning is not easy. It’s frustrating, annoying, and anger-inducing as well as rewarding and engaging and for most pupils it doesn’t happen without effort. Our words of learning acknowledged that and empowered the children with values, actions and language which enabled them to see, hear and feel these words in action on a daily basis. Only time will tell if we can go one better than Guy, Alistair and Shirley. For further information, click here.

The top UK school was Colonel Frank Seely School, a community comprehensive in Nottingham, which came 37th in the world. The top UK student was Sohini K from Wallington High School for Girls, a converter academy in Sutton, who came 18th in the world. And Iroda A, from Burnholme Community College, a community school in York, came first in the world for Russian. ALL writes, “This is proof not only that British students love languages, but that we have some of the best linguists in the world!”

The names of the top ten UK schools and the top ten UK pupils are here. The schools comprise private schools and state-maintained further education colleges, academy converters and community, foundation, and voluntary aided schools.

The achievement of UK language learners shows that innovation and good practice is found in all types of UK schools – it’s not necessary to be a free school, convert to academy status or be members of FASNA to be “pioneers of excellence”.

UPDATE: The original heading for this thread was “UK language learners finish top of European league for second year running”.  This was taken from information on the ALL website.  However, the full list of competitors shows that only one European country outside the UK (Germany) entered.  The schools that took part were overwhelmingly from Australia, New Zealand and England with a tiny number of schools from USA, Thailand, Singapore, Scotland and Wales.  The full list of competing schools is here.  Nevertheless, this does not diminish the achievement of the schools and pupils that took part.  The headline has been changed for greater accuracy.

Highbury Grove has a model staff team, who, under the inspirational leadership of head teacher Truda White, have consistently enriched the lives of their students, of whom 50% are currently claim Free School Meals (71% in the last five years) – an indication of the need there is within our community for a school that can offer a top class education to all students. Highbury Grove occupies a new building, one of the last Building Schools for the Future projects in Islington, architecture that inspires learning, fit for purpose, with a running track and a swimming pool, which is made full use of after school hours by the local community.

Our year seven children are the schools’ first substantial intake who have attained level 5 in SATS, and first intake which is fully co-ed (the school was a boys school which had been converting to co-ed but as unpopular as it already was with local parents of boys, was still more unpopular with parents of girls). This intake represents a choice, made in a few cases by those who could afford independent schools for their children but have begun to think differently about education.

Truda White, the retiring head teacher who is credited with turning this school around, is an extraordinary leader whose vision was for the successful fully comprehensive local community school which she believes every child has a right to attend. She has achieved this by creating a curriculum that allows staff to flourish as well as students – which has ensured staff loyalty – and by simply sticking to her vision throughout this government and the last’s increasing demands on school leadership teams to implement an ever-narrowing curriculum and produce ever more measurable outcomes.

One of Truda White’s innovations and a factor in the school’s success is that Highbury Grove offers its year 7 students an unusual curriculum choice – when they arrive at the school they opt for a Friday specialist school, in which they participate in years 7, 8 and 9, which gives them the opportunity for in depth study at a high level in a subject that especially interests them. This promotes a high level of engagement. Students can choose from science and engineering, catering, music, sport, drama, art, and business. My child is in the music specialist school, (so I can ony talk about music with authority) – this means spending 4 hours every Friday playing in the orchestra, singing in the choir, using the practice rooms, having free orchestral instrument, singing and music theory lessons (with a free instrument thrown in). Its the best day of the week.

But any child, regardless of their specialist school choice, can play in several music ensembles in addition to the school orchestra, and all pupils learn a musical instrument whatever specialist school they opt for.

Secondary transfer students take their CAT tests in year 6, ensuring that they are in the appropriate band when they arrive at the school. Attainment levels are raised whatever they are on intake. See the end of this post for what students have achieved. Students enjoy a broad and challenging curriculum, including studying French in year 7 and two languages from year 8 – French and Spanish or Latin. As part of the enrichment (after school) programme, students can attend among many other choices, attend philosophy classes, use the school gym and learn sailing on a local reservoir.

HG nurtures its feeder primary schools and has developed partnerships with them, already providing specialist music teachers for these schools. Primary school pupils attend Music First sessions at HG and maths sessions for those in need of extension work. Similar partnerships for language teaching and sports in feeder primary schools are planned.

The school is in its second year of running the Highbury Grove Cricket Academy which aims to make HG the top state school cricket team in London. This year the team did exceptionally well.

HG is rightly proud of its students success in gaining university places. A teacher at HG started The Access Project, which is now a charity which helps motivated students from disadvantaged backgrounds win places at top universities. This is achieved through specialist one-to-one mentoring and coaching to help young people prepare for university interviews – a key support because a child on FSM is 22 times less likely than a privately educated pupil to enter a highly selective university. Highbury Grove is one the schools working to change this statistic.

There is so much on offer at Highbury Grove – this is what persuaded so many local parents to make the school their first choice. We believe that Highbury Grove will continue to provide experiences for inner city young people which ensure they don’t just take their place in our global society but they become active contributors who will make the world a better place for all.

If you want to find out more about Highbury Grove, read on:

Here are some facts about our school:

• 1150 young people speak more than 50 languages
• Over 50% are currently claiming free school meals, but in the last 5 years 71% of those currently on roll have claimed this benefit
• Students make exceptional progress with the school in the top 7% nationally
• HGs Ofsted grading was outstanding in May 2010 with the Science department similarly outstanding in all areas in September 2011
• Leading Edge Partnership – HG was invited to join this small group of high performing, outstanding schools
• Artsmark Gold – 3 times
• HG is an Outward Bound Centre and from 2012 HG will be a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme centre
• For 2012, 39% of the Upper Sixth have an offer from a highly selective university, including Oxford and Imperial

Our Students

Case Study 1
Jesse – went to Oxford University to read Chemistry, 2011.
Jesse, who lives with his mum on Essex Road, Islington, earned the right to study chemistry at the oldest university in the world with an exceptional set of A level results; A*s in maths, biology and economics, and an A in chemistry.
He said: “I feel proud, really good about myself, although it wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be. I phoned my mum to tell her and she was just shouting down the phone at me saying congratulations.”
Jesse, enjoys chemistry and wants to study for a PhD in the future. Jesse was a member of the Access Project at HG.

Case Study 2
Brook Tewelde, Year 13, (FSM)
Brook attended Highbury Quadrant Primary School Islington. His ability on entry was well below average and his behaviour in Year 9 was so poor he was at the point of permanent exclusion. Brook attended Saturday School at HG every week and his GCSE results were significantly above average. Brook was a member of the Access Project and is aiming to study medicine or physics.

Case Study 3
Sheldon Merritt, Year 12
Sheldon joined HG in Year 7 after being asked to leave a well known Hackney Academy and was subsequently excluded from HG for 5 days for aggressive behaviour.He is one of an extremely challenging group of young people. Sheldon is very involved
in sport – football, athletics, basketball and fitness and is now coaching these. He is the fastest boy in the school.
Sheldon was predicted to attain Ds and Es, but achieved 3 Cs and 2 Ds at GCSEs. As a sixth former he is employed as a lunchtime supervisor and he accompanied Year 9 on Outward Bound as a leader. Sheldon is currently at West Ham Academy but his aspiration after school is to become a PE teacher, not a footballer/

Cyan Koay Year 13
Cyan has an offer to read Music at Oxford 2012. Cyan had never picked up a musical instrument before joining Highbury Grove but she achieved Grade 8 with Distinction on flute after only 3 years of playing.