Harris Academy (new boys school for East Dulwich)

[the-e-dealer]

I like the lights

[duchessofdulwich]

utterly characterless...

[bonniebird]

Not keen either (td)

[new mother]

I'm very interested in Ligurosity's post - have I got your name right??- apols if not.

He/she said that the GCSE pass rate increased from 30 to 50pc with the previous academy. Now, setting aside the fact that stat can mislead and be manipulated, let us assume that these nos are reasonable ones.

He/she also made what I consider to be the critical point when judging academies - is the intake the same if they are just cherry picking the best ch locally, arguably leaving the rump in even worse sink schools behind, then I'm not impressed by increased pass rates. If, as Lig says is the case, the intake was substantially the same, I'm delighted.

[intexasatthe moment]

Regarding intake for Harris Academies - they operate a banding system for applicants .Personally I find this complicated to understand ,but do notice that the bands are based on national achievment levels rather than those of the entry group . So ,if oversubscribed ,some room for cherry picking I think .

But I do think the league tables and number achieving 5 A- C GCSE grades is a very misleading measure .

Many schools enter candidates for exams which are not GCSEs but are counted as equivalent .

This extract from the minutes of a Governing Body mtg a couple of years ago at the Academy at Peckham gives a flavour.

The small group of year 11 students following the new, level 2 qualification entitled ?The Certificate of Personal Effectiveness? have been making good progress and nearly all are expected to pass. This course, which is portfolio based, equates to two GCSE grades and is certificated by ASDAN.

A number of year 11 students who are being targeted to improve their chances of examination success were entered for the Adult on-line numeracy and literacy examinations. Each test lasts an hour and if the student passes both, they are awarded a GCSE at grade B.

I'm not arguing that schools shouldn't offer a range of qualifications ,just that I think it's misleading when the league tables and the overall GCSE pass rate for the school don't show that some of those GCSEs are other exams .

[Fuschia]

Penguin68 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>>

> The best way of abolishing private education is

> through market forces; when 'free at the point of

> use' education offers the same or better product

> than 'pay out through the nose having already paid

> tax' education, then the demand will whither away,

> leaving only those buying for snob, rather than

> educational, reasons. Until then, private

> education is filling a completely acceptable need,

> that of parents to ensure that their children are

> educated to achieve their maximum potential

I await the day when funding is equalised. Funding per head in a state school will be below ?7k, DC fees are almost ?15k pa, and that disregards all the other sources of funding (estate, charitable) available

[the-e-dealer]

hear hear.

[andypandy]

Debates about the design aside ( trees do a fantastic job of hiding the building - at least until the leaves fall off) The lights are nuts. Very bright and the flash and change colour. It feels like casino something you'd find in Blackpool. The lights are LED i think so will draw little power. but they are to bright. One thing to have lights but another when they are so garish. If they were just one colour and didn't flash / change colour that would be an improvement. Did the granted planning application really grant flashing multicoloured lights??

[ian_b]

.

[trevone]

my son goes there and they are not alowed out of the premises at lunch time or to go into the shops after school...and i hope all you local residents are gonna give our boys a chance!

[trevone]

p.s by the way the lights represent the house colours for the boys, i like them and so does my son who goes there, lets try and encourage the future generation to enjoy going to their new school

[the-e-dealer]

poor old shops

[andypandy]

trevone Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> p.s by the way the lights represent the house

> colours for the boys, i like them and so does my

> son who goes there, lets try and encourage the

> future generation to enjoy going to their new

> school

I have no problem in encouraging the boys. I don't want to get drawn into any other issues about the school. The lights are terrible even if they have some relevance. There are worse than the Foxtons shop front because they are in a residential area facing a lovely Park. Perhaps they could consider cycling through the colours (on different days of the week) and if possible turn down the brightness but above all stop the flashing.I'm not sure if they are on all night, but turning them off at say 10pm might also help.

[BB100]

Why don't you ask them to do that? A short letter may tell you whether they care much about the local community or not.

[hibbs]

I couldn't agree more, I nearly crashed my car looking at them at 11pm the other night.

andypandy Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> trevone Wrote:

> --------------------------------------------------

> -----

> > p.s by the way the lights represent the house

> > colours for the boys, i like them and so does

> my

> > son who goes there, lets try and encourage the

> > future generation to enjoy going to their new

> > school

>

> I have no problem in encouraging the boys. I don't

> want to get drawn into any other issues about the

> school. The lights are terrible even if they

> have some relevance. There are worse than the

> Foxtons shop front because they are in a

> residential area facing a lovely Park. Perhaps

> they could consider cycling through the colours

> (on different days of the week) and if possible

> turn down the brightness but above all stop the

> flashing.I'm not sure if they are on all night,

> but turning them off at say 10pm might also help.