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[scarlettilly2]

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[newboots]

I hope you won't be offended by this, but I'm surprised to see from your post how contributions to the Good Schools Guide are made. So you will meet the head and tour the school and ask for opinions from a few current parents ... and is that it?

Can any schools be included in The Good Schools Guide or is it only for schools who currently have a Good or Outstanding rating from Ofsted?

[newboots]

Oh, I do seem to have offended.

[sillywoman]

How strange?

newboots, what was the gist of the original post? Very odd to just remove it completely, and you were quite polite with your questions too. From what you've replied it sounds like the OP could have sparked an interesting debate had it been allowed to stand :)

[newboots]

I really didn't want to upset anyone! The op said she was a writer on a guide book about good schools and she wanted opinions from a certain school's parents about the school to supplement her visit and tour, on which I think she was going to base her review. I just thought that seemed a rather surprisingly small amount of research to go into a guide book about schools - but then I remembered that I have never and would never read such a tome, so perhaps my expectation of the amount of research involved is a little high! But my comment wasn't a personal criticism of the op, it was more about the way the book is produced than anything else.

[sillywoman]

No, it didn't come across as a criticism to me newboots, I didn't read it that way at all. Maybe scarlettilly2 realised that it was a little ....umm, dubious to do her research that way and so withdrew her post for that reason? Like you I've never read one of those books, but I can't imagine the publisher would be too thrilled with their researchers if it got out that they were asking for personal opinions on a public forum - or maybe they would & it's all ok, I dunno? I guess we'll never know - until scarlettilly2 comes back to tell us why she removed the post it will remain an EDF mystery! :D

[Belle]

I know a bit about the GSG, although I do not write for them - this is how reports are written, the idea being I guess that Ofsted provides the objective view, and these are more subjective/anecdotally based - that's very clear when you read sample reports. I think writers usually go and visit the school and talk to the Head plus parents, spend time in the school too. In fairness to them, I don't think they pretend to be anything else. Not sure if it's just good/outstanding schools - not heard that before.

[sillywoman]

A two pronged approach seems reasonable enough - user review and all that, so I wonder why the OP deleted her post completely and hasn't come back to explain that? That's the mystery .... :D

[peristalsis]

The OP is cached here: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1410611

[sillywoman]

Thanks peristalsis, that's really useful. Particularly as I'm a parent of 3 at the Charter and could have contributed, however as the OP has withdrawn her post It feel inappropriate somehow to PM her. It's not clear to me whether she'd still value user opinion?

[peristalsis]

scarlettilly2 wrote on Ocober 16: (as previously cached on http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:www.eastdulwichforum.co.uk/forum/read.php?29,1410611)

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> hi there

> I'm a writer for the Good Schools Guide and I'm writing a new review

> of Charter School tomorrow. Although I will be meeting the head and

> touring the school, the thoughts and views of current parents are

> often the most revealing. If any of you have current experience of

> Charter, whether good or bad, please could you PM me. I'm interested

> in quality of teaching, pastoral care, SEN, and happiness of children

> most of all. All information will be treated in absolute confidence,

> and will enable me to build up a balanced picture.

> I hope to hear from you

> Many thanks

(I really meant to edit this into my first post rather than bother people with a fresh one. Apologies.)

[LondonMix]

If someone wants to delete a post, shouldn't they be able to? It feels wrong to repost it in the way you have peristalsis.