Wrexham ‘Super Schools’

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  • #54387

    Steve
    Participant

    Just looked over the story on Wrexham.com….

    Option 1
    Improve standards and do what they should be doing.

    Option 2
    Create 2 through schools, and hope the standards will improve. :rolleyes:

    Option 3
    Create 1 huge through school in the hope standards will improve.

    I went to Bryn Offa as did my wife, my son went to Clywedog and thankfully did well with his results, I’ll be happy when my daughter leaves (hopefully with good results).

    I am sure a number of the teachers at the School do work extremely hard
    but some thing has gone wrong somewhere with standards.

    Estyn……
    However, current performance is judged to be unsatisfactory because:

    • the school’s performance at key stage 4 is generally well below expectations, particularly when compared with that of similar schools;
    • too many pupils have not developed their reading and writing well enough to support their learning across the curriculum;
    • around half of teaching is not good enough;
    • around half of pupils do not make enough progress in their learning;
    • assessment information is not used effectively to monitor pupils’ progress or support pupils in their learning; and
    • attendance figures are below expectations.

    http://www.estyn.gov.uk/english/provider/6654049/

    #65931

    johnhoppy
    Participant

    I notice that one of the categories for unsatisfactory performance is reading and writing. Is this something secondary schools should have to be doing? I would have thought that children would have mastered this at Primary School. Perhaps some of the report is misdirected.

    #65893

    wrexview
    Participant

    I agree children should be able to read before they leave primary school. Parents also have a huge part to play in helping their children become fluent readers, by reading aloud to them and engaging them in incidental reading of instructions ,road signs and the like. It is when a child gets to secondary school age without being a fluent reader that they face real problems and the gap in achievement opens up and they often fall behind.

    #65911

    Alunh
    Participant

    @johnhoppy 10697 wrote:

    I notice that one of the categories for unsatisfactory performance is reading and writing. Is this something secondary schools should have to be doing? I would have thought that children would have mastered this at Primary School. Perhaps some of the report is misdirected.

    You are quite right…this should be the case in an ideal world. Indeed, similar Reports on Primary provision in Wrexham actually indicate that this largely happens and it is in the Secondary schools where the problems begin.

    The Estyn Reports do actually factor in the various social difficulties that might affect a school and throughout the Report there is reference to the school doing badly compared to similar schools.

    What this Report actually does is make the case that Clywedog (and not just this school) has failed its pupils at the time the Report was undertaken (January). It actually details many of the failings but it was interesting that Maths learning was broadly reasonable whilst learning in English and Science was not. The Report also mentions the fact that “in a few lessons, pupils respond very well to challenging activities and acquire a very good understanding of their work. However, in over half of lessons, pupils, often the most able, do not make as much progress as they should because activities are not matched well enough to their ability. As a result, they have a limited or incomplete understanding of their work”

    This is tragic. The brightest and the best pupils are under shooting their potential.

    What all of this indicated back in January was that either the system of provision itself was unsatisfactory OR the personnel implementing it were. I guarantee that if it was the latter, Education has an amazing ability never to move people on. I also guarantee that if it was the former, little will be done to change it. Until all lessons in Wrexham Secondary schools are set according to ability, until there is less of a child centred approach, and until standards and thoroughness are emphasised, little will alter

    #65894

    wrexview
    Participant

    All parents need to beware of the “Through School” option that would put children from three to sixteen on one site. How would that stop the Secondary Schools from failing?

    #65932

    johnhoppy
    Participant

    @Alunh 10699 wrote:

    You are quite right…this should be the case in an ideal world. Indeed, similar Reports on Primary provision in Wrexham actually indicate that this largely happens and it is in the Secondary schools where the problems begin.

    The Estyn Reports do actually factor in the various social difficulties that might affect a school and throughout the Report there is reference to the school doing badly compared to similar schools.

    What this Report actually does is make the case that Clywedog (and not just this school) has failed its pupils at the time the Report was undertaken (January). It actually details many of the failings but it was interesting that Maths learning was broadly reasonable whilst learning in English and Science was not. The Report also mentions the fact that “in a few lessons, pupils respond very well to challenging activities and acquire a very good understanding of their work. However, in over half of lessons, pupils, often the most able, do not make as much progress as they should because activities are not matched well enough to their ability. As a result, they have a limited or incomplete understanding of their work”

    This is tragic. The brightest and the best pupils are under shooting their potential.

    What all of this indicated back in January was that either the system of provision itself was unsatisfactory OR the personnel implementing it were. I guarantee that if it was the latter, Education has an amazing ability never to move people on. I also guarantee that if it was the former, little will be done to change it. Until all lessons in Wrexham Secondary schools are set according to ability, until there is less of a child centred approach, and until standards and thoroughness are emphasised, little will alter

    Isn’t this a case for the return of Grammar Schools?

    #65912

    Alunh
    Participant

    @johnhoppy 10701 wrote:

    Isn’t this a case for the return of Grammar Schools?

    I think that children should be taught in classes where the teaching matches the ability of the child. This allows the teacher to stand at the front and use a form of langage that (broadly) each child in a class understands. If the teacher wants to use a ‘child centred’ lesson where the student initiates his/her learning on a day….fine.

    The problem with Grammars is that they make a huge decision about children at a given age (normally 11) and places a child in one environment or another irrespective of the various skills they possess.

    I prefer something more subtle and which has the size and curriculum flexibility to let children be placed in classes according to their ability in each subect. Someone might be top draw in languages but not sciences, art and craft but not maths, etc

    There is no reason that the Superschools could not have set from the very beginning because their size when they opened would have allowed that. This will no longer be so easy because they have leaked bodies to anywhere and everywhere

    #65910

    locallad
    Participant

    Children should be able to read & write before they get to Secondary school.I suppose this is what the pressures are on our primary schools in having foreign non/speaking English/Welsh children in our schools.Our own children are being let down by these Super Schools.People of Wrexham new these Super Schools would not Work,but the Mighty Council just Ignored them.

    #65895

    wrexview
    Participant

    By filling the vacant space in the two Super Schools with primary aged children they would then have some valuable real estate to sell. Acton, Barkers Lane , Borras, Watts Dyke schools are all sitting on valuable residential land. It couldn’t happen could it?

    #65896

    wrexview
    Participant

    I hope the Executive Board today decide to sort out the quality of education in the Wrexham Secondary Schools. They have a Lead Member, Chief Executive Officer and Statutory Education Officer all with extensive experience of working within the education environment. Surely with all that combined knowledge they must be able to identify the root problems and have the power to put an action plan in place. They can also involve themselves in the delivery of such an action plan to make sure this time it succeeds.There is an element of history repeating itself , Bromfield was closed , followed by The Groves and now after a substantial investment of some £22 million we find a similar situation. Perhaps the two sites should be shared with other schools like the Faith School and Welsh Language school making for a more integrated system. Throwing primary aged children into the mix is not the answer.

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