Page 15 - link magazine

EDUCATION MATTERS 15
Letters on Greendown School

The dangers of inconsistent reporting Choosing a School
From the staff of Greendown School From Mr TAxon, Headteacher, Ridgeway School
We were distressed by the recent Now it is entirely possible that in It is with disquiet and alarm that I the school be able to stretch my
adverse publicity in the Swindon the quest for readers in a shrinking have observed the way judgement child right up to his / her limit? Will
Evening Advertiser article about market, the Evening Advertiser has appears to have been made of he/she be encouraged to study?
Greendown Community School conceived a crude and hackneyed Greendown following the recent What demands will be made on
headlined "Parents Cane School headline in the hope of catching a publication of GCSE results league my child - and are they the kinds of
Results." few more casual readers. But it is tables. It is for that school, with its demands I want? What experi-
also possible the Evening Advertiser hugely committed and enthusias- ences and activities will there be at
The report gave a partial and may have forgotten that it still has tic head and staff, to make its own the school? Locality and age of
misleading account of the events a few regular readers with good response to what has been said. I building may also be important for
at our recent Governors' Annual memories for headlines. would suggest, however, that par- some parents as well as less tangi-
Meeting with Parents. Partial be- ents looking for a school for their ble things like friendliness or the
cause not all of the views of those Greendown is an open school - children would be unwise to base kind of care taken when things go
parents who were present were open to the community and to the their choice on any one set of pub- wrong.
reported, and because the views parents of our students. It has never lic examination results. Choosing a school is not an easy
which were reported were not nec- attempted to conceal anything from A good school is far, far more task. West Swindon parents have
essarily the views expressed by public scrutiny, including its first than a set of results at the end of a choice from three very different
those same parents by the end of set of results, and it regularly in- one year-an exciting fact of human schools; each school is right for
the meeting. vites reporters from the local press variety means that some pupils are some children but no one of those
to cover public occasions.
Be that as it may, the report was going to achieve so much more schools is suitable for all children.
also misleading in that it may have Whatever the reasons why some than others, however hard others The choice is there, but it could be
conveyed to a casual reader that a boys did poorly in their GCSE ex- may try. Parents would not go far thrown away if it is based solely on
large number of parents are dissat- aminations (and we continue to wrong if they ignored totally any the results of one year of examina-
isfied with our "teaching meth- consider those reasons), we should exam league table but went to some tions taken by pupils who joined a
ods". Nothing could be further like to reassure your readers that trouble to base a choice of school school five years ago.
from the truth. In the (literally) thestaffatGreendown remaincom- on the real factors that matter will
thousands of consultations with mitted to the school, its systems,
parents over the last five years, values and "methods". We are
Greendown teachers have been also committed to the continuous Ex-students comment
heartened by the support received professional taskof developingour Sukhy Sunner, BinaPatel Louise Wilkes, Catherine Voyce, New College, Swindon
and the positive views wecontinu- teaching skills, materials, methods
ously get about the school, the cur- and systems with a view to helping As four ex-Greendown students tential. They were not only dedi-
riculum and our "teaching meth- our students become happy, confi- we were appalled and disgusted at cated in the practical sense by set-
ods". dent, articulate and well-rounded the biased attitude that taken in the ting up extra sessions for students
citizens who obtain the best results front page article of the Evening in their own free time, but also
And parents are not the only possible. We know that the vast Advertiser of Thursday 10 October. helping us on a personal level by
ones who have praised us. Eight majority of our parents support us The sweeping generalisations givingus emotional and moral sup-
months ago, the Evening Advertiser in this task. about the males' exam results were port all the way through.
ran an article headlined: "New not only unfair but also offending. Throughout our five years at
Style School is Dubbed Top of In conclusion, we would like to The article gave the impression that Greendown we not only developed
the Form". The article was based draw your readers' attention to an all the results were of an embar- academically and learnt to develop
on a Wiltshire Education Author- article which appeared in The Ob- rassingly low standard. It did not our personal strengths, but perhaps
ity Inspectors' report, which con- server recently. The article, entitled take into consideration the fact that most important we thoroughly en-
cluded that at Greendown: "The Good School Guide," gave a even though a number of students joyed our time there. This would
list of some ten questions for 'wise
"Vision and commitment parents' to ask of a school, other may not have gained grades A-C, not have been possible without en-
combine with sheer hard work than what are its exam results like. they still might have exceeded their thusiastic and friendly staff atti-
to create positive opportuni- The list includes the following expectations and achieved their tudes.
ties for the students. It has Are teachers enthusiastic? Arepar- best. In our opinion Greendown de-
kept pace with the recent far- ents and pupils allowed to com- It was also disturbing to read the serves more credit for the progress
reaching changes which have ment on school reports? Are you accusations that the staff did not of the students, and beneficial at-
come into education and in- encouraged to see all parts of the encourage pupils to their full po- mosphere it has created.
deed is at the forefront of many school? Are staff and students
of them."
friendly to each other? A parents view
Coincidentally, the BBC Educa- The paper concludes, rather sur-
tion Unit also agreed with these prisingly perhaps, that the acid test From Arthur Riley, Woodchester, Westlea
judgements when it came to make of a good school is nothing to do It was with some considerable dis- cant part in developing confident,
a film, for national release, about with exam results or "teaching may that I should have to read an well adjusted, responsible mem-
our recent National Curriculum- methods"or discipline or rules or article in the Evening Advertiser bers of society capable of accepting
based theme week, People & the uniform. Like all large complex which took one set of exam results and dealing with the pressures of
Planet'. The film featured students organisations, the key to success is, and by selective reporting created work and adulthood.
learning and teachers teaching. a totally misleading impression of Greendown can be rightly proud
apparently, all to do with "good
But the Evening Advertiser must leadership". Staff who have "con- Greendown School, its staff and of its many achievements in the
developmentof their students, with
already have reached this same fidence in this become teachers de- students. examination success to come
I fully accept that the exam re-
conclusion much earlier (and, of termined to make a success of their Greendown will be responsible for
course, independently of the in- jobs." The answers fromthe staff at sults were notas good as one would playing a major part in providing
have expected. It should be recog-
spectors), when it ran a full page Greendown is "Yes" to every ques- nised however, that exam results, wellrounded adults forour future.
profile of the school in 1990 head- tion; and "yes" again, we do have although important, are only part I wish to congratulate the staff
lined: "School is the Scene of a confidence in the school's leader- of a student's development whilst and students at Greendown for
Quiet Revolution". Thearticle was ship. they are at school. Good schools their successes and long may they
fulsome in its praise of our "teach- such as Greendown play a signifi- continue to grow.
ing methods," How odd!