Busy Mums

Now its a School Lottery?

Today the Busy-Mums Blog talks about the School Lottery.Visit http://www.helpforbusymums.com the website resource to help busy mums.

I feel really sorry for those parents in Brighton and Hove, who have suddenly found that the goal posts have changed. From next year (2008), the eligibility of the school they would prefer to send their children to is not the same as it was last week.

The sad thing is that although a computer may now be randomly selecting where a child attends school, there always has been clamor for children to get into the best schools. So its just the same war on a different battlefield.

Wouldn't it be nice if all the schools were "good". Then there would not be so much of a problem ....maybe. But what is the definition of a good school? for most of us it is the school which is top in the league tables. But is that really a true reflection of the success of a school or its pupils?

I am really lucky with the school that my girls attend in Ringwood, which is just on the Dorset Hampshire border. It has a good name. However parents who are just outside of Ringwood do struggle to get into the school.

Ringwood is a comprehensive. Dorset still has the old grammar school system, so it makes sense for those children who miss out on the grammar school to try and attend Ringwood. However it is a real shame they are not confident enough in their local schools.

Of course Ringwood Comprehensive does not have any where such good results as the Bournemouth Grammar Schools which has a strict selection process.

The selection process also happens on a less transparent basis in some parts of the country where the SATS become a "tool" in the process of selection, within some supposedly non selective schools. Guess what their results in the League Tables are also going to be good.

To me this is divisive. Any school which is taking children of lower academic ability, is not going to do so well in the league tables. Yet the child may have made significantly more progress than their opposite number in a selective school where the children have a higher academic ability.

Now I know of one school, which a friend of mine started teaching at a couple of years ago. She joined this school which is highly regarded, from having taught at quite a tough co ed school in a neighbouring town.

She was delighted to be moving to a single sex school which parents fought to get their children into. However her delight turned very quickly to horror. The lesson plans were non existent, the staff room moral was very low. Absence among teachers was high.

When my friend compared the two schools - the better school in terms of commitment to the children, positive ethos and quality of teaching was undoubtedly the tough co ed school. Of course its results were no where as good as the single sex school, which has been languishing on its laurels and past reputation.

As a school it may well be delivering beyond the expected standards set by the government - but that school maybe well be failing based on the progress of each child.

And lets face it , given the demographics of the school, it is likely the pupils which are attending are probably more academic and have more proactive parents in the first place.

All I can say is that I am really glad that my kids do not go there..

We should take far more interest how the children have developed throughout their school career. Lets face it, if you have a child who has always had a natural academic ability - of course you want that to be invested in. But equally if your child has been a slow starter - the teaching and school experience is almost more vital.

Kids being in a happy, enthusiastic environment is the one thing which will empower children to learn and enjoy school. To me that is far more important than basing how good a school is purely on the League Tables.

So lets start working hard to make all schools good and particular recognition for the schools where children are seem to improve the most because that is what makes difference between success and failure.

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Labels: best schools, children, school holidays parents, school league tables, selection

posted by Diana and Steve @ 21:01