East Dulwich Schools

[sew]

Hi James,

What do you mean by "a sea of green" in terms of Contextual Value Added stats?

Thanks

Sarah

[Dorothy]

James - I was addressing Tony Rabbit (the op). He started a thread purportedly about East Dulwich schools in general. But it seems what he actually wants to know is can he get his child into a school he likes better than Goodrich.

Your post was helpful.

[Havana]

James, your analysis of the results is questionable:

? Key Stage 2 results have declined year on year over past three years (the % of children achieving a level 4 in both English and Maths went from 77% in 2008 to 71% in 2010) how are these results convincingly positive?!!!

? Key Stage 1 results are below national average. Markedly improved? How many parents do you honestly think would be satisfied with results that are BELOW NATIONAL AVERAGE?

? I?m in the dark about the November report you refer to. Why don?t you share this with us, so that we can analyse it with you?

? You talk about the present head taking a ?coasting Satisfactory school up a notch or two?. Exactly which notches are those? The school remains ?Satisfactory? on Ofsted?s books.

It has never just been about results. Many of the schools' problems were raised in a recent parent/governor forum attended by over seventy parents. Now that you?ve spoken to the headteacher and Southwark, I would suggest you get down to the school and seek the opinions of those whose children attend it. Perhaps you should also talk to parents who have pulled their children out of the school and into other local schools?

Goodrich is not a good school by Ofsted?s standards. It is a satisfactory one. Surely our children deserve better?

[apples]

'Shirley Paterson looks to have taken a just Satisfactory coasting school up a notch or two'

James - you're being really unfair on the previous, very popular head and the senior team he had with him, some of whom have now moved on or retired but still remain involved with the school. I think your remark is unnecessary - I suppose you're a LibDem playing politics here - there was life before the LibDems ruled Southwark Council.

FYI I'm a Goodrich Dad, I have had kids there over most of the last ten years. It's been a good school and continues to have some very good teachers. It has given my kids a good start in life. I can't pretend to know what the future may hold but would recommend the School to any prospective parent (Tony Rabbit) based on my own experience.

[apples]

..

[Dorothy]

I totally disagree that the school is "beset by problems" and not all of the parents who attended the recent Governors forum have the same pov as you Havana. I question your motives in joining this forum simply to post on this subject. As BeccaL says above, it is a matter to be handled by the school Governors, in the first instance. Every single parent at Goodrich has the opportunity to have their voice heard by the Governors who do a good job in making themselves available. The Governor forums are well publicised well in advance. As you say, the recent meeting was well attended. What are you hoping to achieve by your posts on this forum?

[toast]

I know i am sticking my neck out way too far as usual but is it really a good idea to be so publicly critical of a local school trying to address its shortcomings. I suppose I feel a bit strongly about this as recently I would have thanked my lucky stars to have a local school place in a satisfactory school.

I don't want to make light of anyone's understandable upset, but i had hoped JB's post would put an end to this thread as there is a danger here of doing some serious damage to a local school and these matters may well be most accurately and best addressed by governors.

[samstopit]

I agree with toast. What are these parents thinking of? I can't be alone as a concerned mum whose child who will be starting school in September, reading these posts and thinking that maybe I should not have put Goodrich on our application form for Southwark. Is that helpful to your situation? Surely you would be better off getting behind the school and promoting it to other families who care about their kids' education, as the goose green contingent have done so successfully over the past couple of years.

[pebbles]

Hear hear Toast and Samstopit

[duchessofdulwich]

hear hear havana

[James Barber]

Hi Toast,

That's what I had also hoped.

Goodrich is already a fine school with excellent scope and opportunity to improve and evenutally become and be recognised as outstanding. But its a long path for such a large school with such a mixed intake.

Hi apples,

Supporting a school unfairly taking VERY public brickbats is not playing politics. Its being responsible as a community leader ? which is one aspect of being a local councillor. Their are no votes in telling parents they're wrong but I feel its the right thing to do in these circumstances.

The current head has successfully been a head at two previous schools. The independent report recently commissioned by the governors from an ex.HMI inspector was I understand glowing. The councils School Improvement Partner who is also an Ofsted inspector tells me with absolute clarity that the schools performance stats are fine ?a sea of green? ? in that the school is statistically adding real value at KS1 & KS2 to kids in those cohorts ? and getting better. On this basis the request from some for a new head is outrageous and not considering what is best for their kids or the school. If the head leaves it would be either wronglful dismissal if sacked or volunteers to leave claiming contributory dismissal with the school open to an unlimited damages claim at an industrial tribunal which based on the evidence I've seen she'd win.

Parents have to chose whether to get behind and work with the school or work to destroy it with public acts of vandalism on this forum.

Hi Havana,

I have spoken to several parents and I?m sorry if anything I?ve said made anyone feel patronised. But frankly on this forum some parents have been at best naive. I've spoken to other heads who feel Dulwich isn't a nice place to be a head.

Goodrich value added last KS2 results was 100.8. As per following Dept of Education website http://www.education.gov.uk/performancetables/primary_05/p3.shtml that places it in the top 25%-40% of schools. The range of value added for this is 100.6->101.0 so Goodrich being in the middle of this would be in the top 1/3 of schools in the country on KS2 results in terms of value added to the cohort of kids sitting the test.

Goodrich achieved more value added to its kids than Dulwich Hamlet Junior school. http://jamesbarber.mycouncillor.org.uk/2010/12/15/east-dulwich-key-stage-2-results/

The schools internal assessments of this years progress to KS2 shared with the council and which I've been shown is on track to do even better this year in terms of KS2 results.

I don't have the KS1 results to hand but will dig them out now you've raised concerns in peoples minds.

BUT I think Goodrich is not making the parents feel good about the school by appearing really organised. I know that Dulwich Hamlet Junior School ? from talking to their parents ? does.

I?ve made a list of parents concerns that I?ve received so far which I?m going to share with the head and asking how her team can address them.

IF anyone has any issues I'd be delighted to hear from you by email.

[apples]

James - if you read my post again you'll see that I didn't criticise the current head - only yourself for your implied criticism of her predecessor. And no 'public act of vandalism' was there also - you'll see I recommend Goodrich to prospective parents - my view is it's a good one. But I'm glad to see you are taking an interest - I hope you'll see the School doesn't suffer from Government 'austerity' measures.

[James Barber]

Hi apples,

Sorry for mixing a reply to your post and other posts up into one set of responses.

Goodrich will be receiving an extra ?58,050 pa of Pupil Premium from September.

[apples]

Kerching!! Well done James!

[Fuschia]

James Barber Wrote:

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

> Hi apples,

> Sorry for mixing a reply to your post and other

> posts up into one set of responses.

> Goodrich will be receiving an extra ?58,050 pa of

> Pupil Premium from September.

Which may or may not balance the effective freeze on pupil funding over the same period.

Extract from a professional journal:

"THE LEVEL OF the pupil premium has

been set by the government at ?430 per pupil.

The figure is less than many had been

hoping for as the ?2.5 billion which it was

promised the scheme would be worth to

schools will not apply until 2014-15. The

budget will rise each year from its starting

point of ?625 million in 2011-12 until the

higher figure is reached.

The initial level of the pupil premium

has also been reduced by the government?s

assumption that the numbers of eligible

pupils would rise by 15% this year.

The premium, which will be the same

for every deprived pupil in England, wherever

they live, will be allocated to all pupils

currently eligible for free school meals.

The DfE expected schools to try to maximise

the amount of funding they would

receive by encouraging all eligible pupils

to take up their entitlement before January

20, when the annual survey on which pupil

premium numbers would be determined,

took place.

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS)

calculated that the pupil premium could

have been worth at least ?100 more per

pupil if there had been no increase in the

number of pupils on free school meals. It

has calculated that, if the number of pupils

does rise by the anticipated 15%, the overall

schools settlement for 2011-12 will

imply an average cut in funds per pupil of

0.75% in real terms.

The IFS believes that less deprived

schools will see larger cuts, amounting to

2% in real terms for at least one in six

pupils. Although schools with higher levels

of deprivation will see slight increases

in their budgets even after allowing for

inflation, the IFS expects no more than

one in 25 pupils to be in schools with

increases of 2% or more in real terms."

So I think on the contrary, James, our local schools will most likely be facing an effective budget cut, even after the pupil premium.

[James Barber]

Goodrich School is holding a parents meeting 1 March 6.30-8.30pm.

I believe the head and others will present, discuss and answer questinos about how the school is doing.

Fingers crossed I can attend.

[Emily]

la la la

[James Barber]

Hi Emily,

I'm afraid I don't know the circumstances of what has happened to a democratically elected parent governor you've referred to.

I can see that the KS2 value added has for the last 3 years indicated that Goodrich is doing really well with its KS2 results. Clearly that's not the total story but its results are not declining it value added has gone up. That's what the independent expert brought in by the governors is saying and what the council expert is saying. That's what other heads are telling me.

But as I've said before I think other non results issues need to be worked on quickly.

I'd be really greatful Emily to have a private chat to talk through all the issues you've obviously got with the school so I can try and understand what else you feel is going on.

I'm also sorry if my conclusion that some parents are frustrated the school isn't classified yet as Outstanding or KS2 results are above the national or London average. But the value added for the intake means its doing really well.

Hope we can arrange a private chat.

[Emily]

Goodrich has fantastic, committed parents and many lovely children and some inspirational teachers. They deserve better than 'below average' results.

[mrs.lotte]

Sorry to side track this thread but I would be most grateful if someone could explain "value added" to me, I had always thought that it was a measure, not of what pupils parents did for a living or the like, but of the progress made by children between the end of KS1 and the end of KS2 which would seem to me to reflect the quality of teaching and therefore be rather valuable.

Am happy to be educated otherwise if this is wrong.

[Fuschia]

Mrs Lotte, that is value added, yes, but there is also a measure of CONTEXTUAL value added which compares pupil progress with pupils nationwide with similar demographics (ethnicity, SEN etc)

[Fuschia]

http://www.teachernet.gov.uk/teachers/issue46/secondary/features/10thingsaboutcontextualvalueaddedyoualwayswantedtoknowbutwereafraidtoask/

[mrs.lotte]

Thanks for the info.

[Tony Rabbit]

I made this original post. I was rather hoping that we could fly the flag and blow golden trumpets for those schools, Goose Green, Heber and Rye Oak who now seem to be progressing extremely well after a long period as the underdogs. However I was also interested in the forum's opinion of any schools available to Dulwich residents which were not performing perhaps as well as previous.

I seemed to have inadvertantly opened a can of worms in respect of alleged issues at Goodrich.

However this post now seems to be firmly entrenched discussing Goodrich.

I feel sorry for James B. who obviously is standing on one foot as regards the issues there.

It would have been most helpful to all, now that this discussion has evolved thus far, in particular to James B, to be in possession of the minutes of the most recent 'Parent's Forum' held at Goodrich which had an extraordinarily high turnout of parents representing more than 10% of the school. (normally these meetings only attract about 14 parents (Governing Body figures)).

The official reason for withholding the minutes is stated:

"In addition and unfortunately, you will notice that there are no minutes from our meeting as promised. Governors took advice on the circulation of these minutes linked to a problem raised regarding the advertising and invitation to the forum. At this time, we have been advised not to circulate the minutes.

Jim Robinson

Parent Governor & Vice Chair

For and on behalf of the Goodrich Governing Body"

If I were an investigative journalist I might use the word suppressed.

What does the forum think?

[Emily]

la la la