Kingsdale being investigated for malpractice

[BB100]

Anyone seen the front page of the SLP today? Kingsdale is being investigated for exam malpractice by 3 exam boards. Apparently the exam boards have received allegations by 'anonymous persons'. It would be very sad if someone is maliciously trying to damage the good reputation the school has built.

[Townleygreen]

I agree BB, unless of course the school is cheating in some way!

[Otta]

If the school is cleared of wrong doing, I hope the SLP (rag that it is) will put that on their front page.

Equally, the school could be doing wrong, in which case, I hope that are punished.

[maxti]

Good and hopefully they can "audit" their selection process.....lottery my big backside!

[Fuschia]

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23973072-exam-cheat-investigation-at-school-hailed-by-cameron.do

[Mrs Integrity]

As one of the whistleblowers, I can say that this was not done maliciously. There are a large number of staff that have had concerns regarding cheating in exams and coursework for sometime. The Headteacher and Governors have been aware of this and have taken no action. The only course of action to put a stop to this was to involve the exam boards. It was not a decision taken lightly. Many of us who have given evidence feel that we did not enter teaching to achieve good exam results through cheating and that the actions of the school undermine the whole exams system.

If any parents, pupils or staff wish to add evidence to the investigation, they should contact the exam boards. Contact details are on their websites (OCR, Edexcel, WJEC and AQA are the main ones).

[grame78]

No smoke without fire.....could this be the return of the old Kingsdale, or will there be a Kingsdale after all this?!

[ianr]

Mrs Integrity, can I get just one point clear? The OP quotes the SLP as reporting allegations by 'anonymous persons'. I assume that the truth, and perhaps what they mean to say, is simply that the names are being withheld, and not that the complaints were made anonymously. Is that so?

[KalamityKel]

Is it not somewhat unfair to have gone running (whoever reported it) to the press before such allegations have been investigated by the proper channels?

Slanderous/libellous comments are damaging and counterproductive at the best of times.

[Otta]

Kel, for all we know, it was the exam board who told the press.

Good point ianr, it does seem more likely that this group voiced their concerns, and their names have been kept out of it, rather than an anonymous tip off from phonetic on a country lane, on a dark rainy night.

[maxti]

Congratulations Mrs Integrity....I have heard a few mumblings from teachers who are friends of teachers at Kingsdale....lets hope the "truth" comes out

[Mrs Integrity]

Our names have been withheld rather than being anonymous. The exam boards have chosen to keep us anonymous to protect us.

It was the exam boards who leaked this to the press. None of the whistle blowers did. We had all agreed amongst ourselves that we would rather the exam boards investigated without it being made public. It is unfortunate that the exam boards did not see it this way.

We made a report to the exam board at the beginning of last week. It was only after a meeting of all the exam boards that it has been publicised.

[womanofdulwich]

lets hope this scares all the other schools that have similar practices into cleaning up their act.

[toast]

Ms integrity can only live up to her name if she stops posting about such a sensitive issue on a public forum. We have had situations like this before, a school cannot defend itself on this medium and it can only further the damage to a local school.

[Loveday]

My son has just completed year 7 - so i have no experience about the exam system at the school. But i have been so impressed with the quality of the teaching, the commitment of the teachers, the standard of the music, dance, sports etc.

[Curly]

Ouch. Six complaints is certainly not just down to a malicious, disgruntled ex-employee or parent.

[MGolden]

My son has also just completed Y7 so like the above poster I cannot comment on exam techniques in the school. He has been taught by teachers who appear committed, dedicated and genuinely interested in the students. I, too, have been impressed with the quality of education that he has received in the last academic year.

[KalamityKel]

Why would an examination board "leak" it to the press?

[BB100]

I wanted to believe it was a malicious person but after reading the Evening Standard article I have to admit that my child kept telling me during exam seasons that the classes kept having supply staff because the teachers went into the exam halls instead of teaching. When I complained about it I was told the subject teachers like to be in the exam hall because the children get so nervous and need reassurance!

Despite this, there really are some brilliant teachers at the school and if it's true then they really didn't need to do this. I feel very sorry for those new soon-to-be Year 7 parents who will now not know what to think about sending their child there for September. All I can say in reassurance to those parents is to look at the posts from Kingsdale parents above who are very happy with it and those anonymous teachers who care about the school and the children.

[Debi]

Full disclosure: I am a parent of a child in Year 11 and one in Year 8. I am also the secretary of the parents' forum.

To take one small point: in the comments on the article, Ms Integrity (sic) says parents of older children rarely attend the forum. This is one point which I can categorically deny. Unfortunately, I don't have the evidence needed to prove that all these allegations are vicious and malicious in my opinion. I am absolutely confident that the investigation will exonerate the school.

I have complete and utter faith in the school and its management team who have been subjected to despicable personal attacks in the comments on the Standard article. If this alleged cheating was going on, I would have known about it from my son. I expect there will now be a flood of posts telling me I'm being naive or worse. Time will tell but I do believe justice will prevail.

[tiddles]

But why wait until the end of term to report these allegations, as everyone leaves for the summer break, rather than straight away when these transgressions were supposedly taking place? Seems a bit strange to me especially as it might impact all those children who sat their exams actually get their results at the normal time and how that could screw up their path to further qualifications. Surely better to have acted immediately so that kids sitting these exams could be invidulated by an outside body if deemed necessary.

I have a child at kingsdale so obviously interested, however my child has said that School are 'stupidly strict' (their words) during the exams - that you cannot even touch the paper before or after the allotted time etc - you get the gist!

I will watch this with interest.

[BB100]

I agree Debi some comments on the Standard article have gone too far, are too personal and is fast becoming a witch hunt. The exam board will easily get to the truth if cheating is widespread. We need to let them investigate, as innocent until proven guilty.

[grame78]

I just hope he is sleeping as well as I did, during the time he made my Gfs life unbearable there. She was lucky to have such great friends/teachers there that supported her during the bad times(some have left, some haven't)....karma is a fantatastic thing..

[Debi]

So the children at the school deserve bad karma? Those kids who have slogged for years and taken their exams with no hint of cheating deserve bad karma? Those staff who are loyal and who would never seek revenge for perceived hurt at the expense of their colleagues and the pupils deserve bad karma?

[grame78]

T