Harris Academy (CP) - interesting snippet

[Fuschia]

http://www.educationbynumbers.org.uk/2010/03/17/what-ofsted-inspections-miss/

[new mother]

Yes, interesting.

Streaming will, of course, generally get better results as the academic children are encouraged to work to their potential as opposed to resting on their laurels in a mixed pool.

[Fuschia]

The point I found interesting was more that the OFSTED report on the school was pretty shallow, non-critical and didn't make reference to the green route/yellow route approach. Most schools do set by ability in many subjects, but they don't have a blanket categorisation of students into academic and non-academic early in their secondary school career.

[new mother]

Yes it is a sort of unilateral grammar/ comp set up. weird.

I can see why the inspectors don't want to draw attention to that....

[Fuschia]

new mother Wrote:

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.

> I can see why the inspectors don't want to draw

> attention to that....

Well actually it's the sort of thing you might expect an inspection to notice and comment upon...

[sillywoman]

Charter does this too. Not at all weird. Actually seems quite sensible and plays to the strengths of a very mixed ability yeargroup - I assumed it was standard practice in a lot of state secondary schools now?

[Dulwich_ Park_ Fairy]

Yes it is a sort of unilateral grammar/ comp set up.

I visited it last year and got a really bad vibe, it just felt like a grammar school which is where most of the teachers I spoke to used to teach. The Head's presentation was little short of insulting, and everyone I spoke to was very evasive about the Admissions Policy which the school seemed to have almost total control over (banding is meaningless unless you know where the bands are set).

[new mother]

SWoman, I agree with you. That wasn't my point. Let me make it clearer - the point is that the (obviosuly Labour party appointed) educational inspectorate will not draw attention to this type of thing when views on any form of selection within education within the Labour party are so polarised.

[sillywoman]

Ah, gotcha.

[EDmummy]

I think this shows that children are far too pigeon-holed. Sadly, I find this is happening from the point they join any state primary school (my only experience). I refuse to allow them to under or over estimate my children. They are talented individuals in their own right. The system straight-jackets them but with good parenting this can be overcome. I never wanted to feel at odds with the education my children are receiving and want to support them in achieving want the system allows but I also want them to be individual and sadly this can only be overcome at home. It is all so complicated!

[Fuschia]

sillywoman Wrote:

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> Charter does this too. Not at all weird. Actually

> seems quite sensible and plays to the strengths of

> a very mixed ability yeargroup - I assumed it was

> standard practice in a lot of state secondary

> schools now?

But not to put a child just in one group or another, surely? Isn't there a place for a child to be struggling a bit in English but gifted in Maths, or music, or Art, for eg? I think I'd want my child to be taken on his merits and placed in the best group for each of his subjects, not labelled "academic" or "non-academic" at the age of 13?

[Fuschia]

new mother Wrote:

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> SWoman, I agree with you. That wasn't my point.

> Let me make it clearer - the point is that the

> (obviosuly Labour party appointed) educational

> inspectorate will not draw attention to this type

> of thing when views on any form of selection

> within education within the Labour party are so

> polarised.

I see it a bit differently... OFSTED not keen to properly scrutinse the govt's flagship academies.. to quote the original article I likned to:

"However one feels about the policy of the yellow route/green route, surely it deserves a mention: it would seem to have a big impact on the experience of a group of pupils going from year nine onwards, and yet it is not covered at all. ...

Instead, the report simply celebrates the ?Harris Way?, without explaining properly what this is. Some passages of text are repeated verbatim later in the report. And it culminates in a gushing, almost Soviet-sounding conclusion, in the letter to pupils: ?We hope that you will work closely with the staff so that there will never be a glitch in the glorious history of your academy.?

"

!!

[katgod]

just to pick up the grammar/comp point, these seems the opposite of how a good comp should work. It is more like grammar and secondary modern. I went to a school just like this with a grammar stream and a secondary modern or 'non selective' stream. The grammar girls did O levels and the rest did CSEs. But when GSCEs came along the system really struggled. At the 'proper' comprehensive schools where I grew up there were sets for every subject and you could be top set for maths and bottom set for biology and the system was flexiblle. Am a bit worried that Harris are going back 25 years.

[BB100]

Firstly, Harris CP are no longer doing the green and yellow route. They have a new system more suited to children's individual needs. Secondly, they only set children in the core subjects (with same sex classes). All other subjects are mixed ability and sex.

This is in contrast to Kingsdale and Harris Boys who set children in all subjects right from the begining. So who is pigeon-holing?