Page 14 - link magazine

14 EDUCATION MATTERS
Balancing biased views

A reporter from the Swindon Evening Advertiser was invited to the parents, as they prepare to choose which secondary school to send their
Greendown School governors' annual meeting with parents in October. children to.
Regrettably she left half way through the meeting after listening to The number of people who actually read the article is probably
criticisms voiced by eight parents out of the thirty-five in attendance. quite low, but those who have heard the rumour and innuendo arising
At a time when education is in the spotlight nationally as well as being from itcould well be quite high. So, in response, we give Greendown's
a sensitive issue in West Swindon, the resulting front page article headteacher Ian Matthews the chance to put the controversy into
Parent's cane school results' may be having a misleading effect on perspective, and publish a number of letters on the issue.

Greendown headteacher Ian Matthews answers the critics

"Thank youfor showing me round the school. Iwas impressed by the standard ally aware individuals who de-
of work and the atmosphere of the school." (Visitor from industry) velop a sense of the critical im-
portance of education. To run a
"The student showed real applica- school which has these high aims
tion to work and was prepared to use on a policy of covering up weak-
DIAL A BOOK his initiative when it was needed. If ness or problems would be gross
all your students are like this, you
hypocrisy - and would almost
should be proud of the school." certainly harm the school in the
FICTION (Local employer) long run. Publicly to admit to
ACADEMIC "My child is very happy at the school. parents however, that some as-
CHILDRENS As far as I'm concerned, this is the pects of the school will be im-
best type of schooling to set her up for proved may be a high-risk strat-
NON FICTION egy,especiallywhenthepresswant
the future." (Parent)
to seize upon admitted difficul-
We deliver FREE to These quotations about life and ties and present them as failure.
your door (evenings) work at Greendown Community
School have, of course, been se- Greendown will continue to
Pay by Visa. Access, lected to show positive aspects of Ian Matthews be an open school which invites
cheque or cash. the school - although it would be and occasionally bad behaviour criticism from all quarters. With-
8,000 hardbacks true to say they are fairly typical in public. In the nature of things, out a debate between all parties
of the comments people make schools often take the blame for concerned about education and
50,000 paperbacks can be
when they visit the school and the poor public conduct of their schooling, our educational sys-
obtained In 48 hours
see it in action. students out of school hours. All tem will decline.
Book orders taken for Unfortunately, such selective neighborhood schools suffer the The debate at local level how-
ALL publishers quotation can be made to prove same fate at some time; so we ever must be based on facts and
almost anything and I could have make strenuous efforts to remind not on myths; on first hand expe-
Cbildrens publishers our students about standards of rience, not hearsay. Facts such as
a speciality Including provided a few quotations which
gave a completely different pic- correct behaviour and back it up the general improvement in
Puffin, Walker, Usborne, ture of the school. with actions. GCSE results for Swindon schools
Dorling, Ladybird, But most importantly, the stu- over the last few years, for in-
Heineman So what, then, is the reality of stance, as teachers have gained
Greendown and how do we go dents work in a controlled, civi-
Orders taken for about convincing people that a lised environment inside school, more confidence and knowledge
true picture of the school is re- e where the work ethic is always of the new examination. Green-
Christmas delivery insisted upon and individual tal- down will be part of this general
flected in the quotes printed
flected improvement, as our staff gain
Telephone above? ent is recognised and developed. confidence and experience.
(96) 652024 days First, an obvious observation. This is not to say that we do not Given the huge number of
Greendown is anew local school. have some problems. But they
or 875825 evenings People see a lot of our students are those all large organisations changes which schools in gen-
and they see a mixture of good and schools face as they grow eral have had to make to curricu-
larger and more complex. We lum, teaching methods and test-
mayeven have created additional ing over the last few years, it is
TUESDAY 26 NOVEMBER problems for ourselves by being actually quite remarkable that
6.00 — 9.00 P.M.
open and honest about the school local schools are continuing to
and about education in general. produce better results. Green-
down, too, has experienced all
We have acknowledged, for in-
pr
1110 these changes, whilst at the same
stance, that there are some weak
time growing into a fully-staffed,
COOS students and some inexperienced fully-built school!
40 teachers at Greendown; we also For the future, let no-one doubt
recognise that there are some par-
ents who care little about the edu- that we at Greendown have the
Swindcnc ucesstul
CHeee. cation of their child, and we ad- will and the determination to suc-
eflo re.'' or quo u
mit that sometimes the combina- ceed.
tion of these three factors can pro-
Helston Road, Education is about helping stu-
'he oolreqe duce difficulties.
'e tcurlrtres Park North, dents become morally aware,
Swindon,
SN3 PLA But at Greendown, we have well-educated citizens. We are
Tel: (0793) 611470 always tried to tuna school which sure we are already succeeding
encourages students to be mor- with this aim.