Page 11 - link magazine

EDUCATION MATTERS 11
Looking at Greendown

In our third 'photo visit to secondary schools designated to take West Swindon
children, we visit Greendown Community School in Grange Park. Although
only four years old, the approach to educating children taken by Greendown
is proving a success writes headteacher Ian Matthews
The education system at Greendown respond. Our attitude to discipline is
relies on two important principles. also a key element in the Greendown
Firstly, that school should be a pleas- system. We do not accept that chil-
ant and enjoyable place to come to. dren are some form of 'second class'
We try for example to maintain an at- citizen. We try to treat them in an
tractive environment and are proud adult manner and then expect appro-
of the buildings and the care which priate behaviour from them.
we all take of them, in spite of the fact This notion of self-discipline' is
that they are made of modern, less perhaps very difficult for outsiders to
durable materials! Secondly, we try understand. It is very easy to enforce
to treat each student as an individual. a too rigid discipline for eleven year
We assess each student very carefully old students with the almost inevi-
when they enter the school and then table result that as students get older
build on the good work started in they will resist this rigidity with the
Primary School, giving work geared resultant major problems. Encourag- Left: Using a computer is an everyday activity for all students
to meet the needs of each individual ing self-discipline and respect for Right: Bina Patel operates one of our Apple Macintosh computers whilst Beverley
student. others prevents the lowering of stan- Watts and Lee Joyce look at a page which has been designed on screen. The Mac is
The traditional '3R's' are as impor- dards which is so common with many used in many design studios, on national newspapers and for producing The Link
tant now as they always were, but in older students. magazine. We use them for graphic design, statistics and spreadsheet work.
addition to these basic elements, and Such a system assumes involve-
together with the subjects in the Na- ment of parents and our regular, six
tional Curriculum we also look to weekly personal reporting system Reduceyour
make connections between the sub- keeps parents in constant touch with
jects, rather like the world beyond the progress of their children.
school. In fact the application of Greendown is new and as such has mortgage payments
subjects is given a high prority, with very many advantages. It also ap- p
pears
much of the the theory then being ap- pears to operate very differently from
plied in 'real world' situations. This is other schools and is therefore re-e
emphasised in our use of technology. garded garded with some suspicion by some
We have deliberately put consider- adults. Our confidence and our suc- by
able resources into the purchase of cess is indicated by the way in which 30 70o I
computers and other equipment so we allow parents to visit and feely
that our students become totally enter classrooms. We have confidence
familiar with the type of applications in our students and in our methods,
to be met when they leave school. sufficient confidence to allow open
We demand 'excellence' and high access to anyone who is interested How? With an Abbey Life Executive
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Above: A typical language lesson. French and Spanish are offered. Please contact me to discuss in detail how / can reducel
Below: In the Craft, Design and Technology area, work is designed in a studio my mortgage payments by 30% in the first year
situated next to the workshops, similar to what you would find in industry. Ul ss/2550
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Advertising in The Link gets
results. Ring Elizabeth Wood
on 871793 for details.