Forest School Snaresbrook

MarkHemmings · 2022-08-20T16:25:28+00:00

Well, the A-level results are out and it will be interesting to see how well Forest School have done this year. After all, over the past three years the School have conjured up some truly dreadful results. I mean truly awful. Let's wait and see.

shalom1 · 26/05/2023 00:40

Sorry I am a bit late but OP you are a bit weird

tonicwaterparty · 25/08/2022 16:20

MarkHemmings · 25/08/2022 12:52

I don't particularly like the notion of league tables because they are a form of modernist, neo-right, managerialism. However, they exist and are supposed to assist readers in choosing between options. In our case parents between schools in relation to the criterion of academic success. Plainly, we don't agree about how best to interpret the DfE league table in question. That doesn't really matter too much because parents can read it for themselves - can't they.

True, we don't agree. But then if I agreed with you we'd both be wrong.

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 25/08/2022 15:32

I don't like them at all ... but I accept they're real ... I would prefer the moon to be made of cream cheese but I accept it's not ... that's the problem with the obdurate nature of reality isn't it

OP posts:

aletterfromseneca · 25/08/2022 13:49

So you don’t agree in tables but they are the data by which you are proving Forest underperforms?

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 25/08/2022 12:52

I don't particularly like the notion of league tables because they are a form of modernist, neo-right, managerialism. However, they exist and are supposed to assist readers in choosing between options. In our case parents between schools in relation to the criterion of academic success. Plainly, we don't agree about how best to interpret the DfE league table in question. That doesn't really matter too much because parents can read it for themselves - can't they.

OP posts:

tonicwaterparty · 25/08/2022 12:32

MarkHemmings · 25/08/2022 12:13

I agree it's a 'weird thread' as you put it. Of course, parents consider the whole package a school can offer. However, presumably this will include academic performance unless their children don't need to work for a living. My point is really quite straightforward - exam results are a bit of a problem for Forest School and have been so for a number of years. Other commentators can claim what they like using phrases such as the School are a 'stellar performer' and 'top-flight'. But these descriptors are simply not accurate. The most recent DfE data show the School are 'below average' in relation to A level results.

No, the (2019) data clearly don't show that the school is "below average" in relation to A-Level results except in the single and specific context of progress relative to other children. Even Eton College also has a negative progress score, but is similarly not "below average".

T

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 25/08/2022 12:13

I agree it's a 'weird thread' as you put it. Of course, parents consider the whole package a school can offer. However, presumably this will include academic performance unless their children don't need to work for a living. My point is really quite straightforward - exam results are a bit of a problem for Forest School and have been so for a number of years. Other commentators can claim what they like using phrases such as the School are a 'stellar performer' and 'top-flight'. But these descriptors are simply not accurate. The most recent DfE data show the School are 'below average' in relation to A level results.

OP posts:

CJFJ1 · 25/08/2022 12:03

tonicwaterparty · 25/08/2022 11:29

Well Forest's GCSE results are out today: 41% of GCSEs were Grade 9 and 86% were 9,8, or 7. Which seems pretty decent.

Yes - highest ever GCSE results, surpassing the teacher assessed grades of 2020 and 2021: www.forest.org.uk/best-ever-gcse-results-at-forest-school/

tonicwaterparty · 25/08/2022 11:29

Well Forest's GCSE results are out today: 41% of GCSEs were Grade 9 and 86% were 9,8, or 7. Which seems pretty decent.

CJFJ1 · 25/08/2022 10:37

aletterfromseneca · 25/08/2022 08:23

So, if I am reading this correctly: you found your time at forest to be bad because of the answer you felt they implied you should give during your law interview that didn’t go down well? And then, despite your own exam results being good, you think this school specifically needs a thread to criticise them as they have charity status and your tax money goes towards them?

Which other fee paying schools are listed as charities and are below average? Average implies a median, and so there must by definition be more than just Forest. Should you not list all of them to dispel the notion that you are on a very pointed, personally motivated mission? Yet you haven’t.

As another poster has mentioned, Westminster for one, had a below average progress / value added score from the DfE in 2019.

But as I've already mentioned upthread, a negative or below average progress / value added score from the DfE does not mean a school is failing - as the DfE points out itself: A negative progress score does not mean students made no progress, or the school or college has failed, rather it means students in this school or college made less progress than other students across England with similar results at the end of key stage 4.

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 25/08/2022 08:38

I really don't know what you're talking about and suspect neither do you. I was (of course) using the Kent interview as an exemplar of a broader argument. Yes, most private schools receive handouts from the state in the form of very generous tax-breaks. But for heaven's sake I'm focusing on Forest School because I went there. It surely can't be that hard for you to understand the context to my thread.

OP posts:

aletterfromseneca · 25/08/2022 08:23

So, if I am reading this correctly: you found your time at forest to be bad because of the answer you felt they implied you should give during your law interview that didn’t go down well? And then, despite your own exam results being good, you think this school specifically needs a thread to criticise them as they have charity status and your tax money goes towards them?

Which other fee paying schools are listed as charities and are below average? Average implies a median, and so there must by definition be more than just Forest. Should you not list all of them to dispel the notion that you are on a very pointed, personally motivated mission? Yet you haven’t.

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 25/08/2022 08:08

I'm sorry to hear how your son was treated. Still, whatever school you finally chose will probably have better exam results than Forest. Hopefully, that's some consolation.

OP posts:

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 25/08/2022 08:05

Presumably so the therapist can puzzle over your reply ...

OP posts:

winterrabbit · 25/08/2022 00:21

Regardless of results, they treated my 10 year old son like dirt during his interview for the 11 plus. The Geography teacher who interviewed him couldn't have been more patronising or snide. Apparently his maths was't up to scratch and he only scored 70% in their rubbish online exam (he applied in 2020) despite getting full marks in maths in SATs and 137 is his CATs in Year 7. Horrible school. They also seem to have a strong preference for Asian kids.

declutteringmymind · 23/08/2022 20:06

Please show this thread to a therapist OP.

CJFJ1 · 23/08/2022 19:59

MarkHemmings · 23/08/2022 13:30

I won't bother to respond to detractors who seem to be committed beyond reason to defending the School - almost to the point of being a bit pathological when faced with factual information they don't like. Plainly, they have personal issues with which to deal.

Anyway, all this talk about the supposed benefits of receiving a holistic education to produce a rounded person has reminded me of when I left the School and applied to Kent to read law. I duly turned up for the interview with the School's advice ringing in my ears to present myself as more than just an exam-passing machine.

The interviewer who was a barrister, asked me why I should be accepted for the course. I could see he had my application form open in front of him and so knew I'd passed 5 A levels with good grades. Given this, I decided to follow the School's advice and twittered on about my sporting interests (although I dislike sport and so didn't have any). I was about to go on to invent some musical interests when the interviewer interrupted me saying, 'I'm not interested in that middle-class bollocks. I want to know how you plan and complete academic work to show me you can read for law'.

And that's the reality. All talk about the wonderful benefits extra-curricula activities is just that - talk. Lessons in street-dancing, playing in the cricket 1st X1 and being a success in the School play are just fripperies and indulgences. They count for nothing in the competitive world just outside the School's gates. That's why Forest School's position in the DfE league table is so important - isn't it.

Wow. You passed 5 A Levels with good grades. What a good school you must have attended.

numberthirtytwowindsorgardens · 23/08/2022 14:55

Plainly, they have personal issues with which to deal.

😂😂😂

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 23/08/2022 13:30

I won't bother to respond to detractors who seem to be committed beyond reason to defending the School - almost to the point of being a bit pathological when faced with factual information they don't like. Plainly, they have personal issues with which to deal.

Anyway, all this talk about the supposed benefits of receiving a holistic education to produce a rounded person has reminded me of when I left the School and applied to Kent to read law. I duly turned up for the interview with the School's advice ringing in my ears to present myself as more than just an exam-passing machine.

The interviewer who was a barrister, asked me why I should be accepted for the course. I could see he had my application form open in front of him and so knew I'd passed 5 A levels with good grades. Given this, I decided to follow the School's advice and twittered on about my sporting interests (although I dislike sport and so didn't have any). I was about to go on to invent some musical interests when the interviewer interrupted me saying, 'I'm not interested in that middle-class bollocks. I want to know how you plan and complete academic work to show me you can read for law'.

And that's the reality. All talk about the wonderful benefits extra-curricula activities is just that - talk. Lessons in street-dancing, playing in the cricket 1st X1 and being a success in the School play are just fripperies and indulgences. They count for nothing in the competitive world just outside the School's gates. That's why Forest School's position in the DfE league table is so important - isn't it.

OP posts:

TheYearOfSmallThings · 22/08/2022 13:45

The issue for this thread is Forest School's academic performance. I can't put it any simpler than that.

Except we all know that's not really what it is about.

I'm glad someone reported it, I was wondering if I should - on the one hand it's none of my business, but on the other hand Mumsnet should be aware that they are giving someone (albeit with obvious issues) a platform to attack a named school.

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 22/08/2022 12:29

I think you mean libel not slander ... I've repeatedly said what the issues are and they really should be clear enough. All these personal attacks on me supposing me to be suffering from some sort of trauma are as childish as they are irrelevant. The issue for this thread is Forest School's academic performance. I can't put it any simpler than that.

OP posts:

twilightcafe · 22/08/2022 11:39

I've reported this thread. It's going round in circles and is verging on slander.
OP won't say exactly what has triggered his unhappiness about the school. We can't put any comments into context without that key piece of information.

TheYearOfSmallThings · 22/08/2022 11:38

let's focus on the issue

The issue is whatever has gone wrong in your life - that is what you should focus on.

Original poster

MarkHemmings · 22/08/2022 11:17

What an extraordinary outburst. It's almost as if you cannot entertain any criticism of the School - presumably due to some sort of personal resistance to information you consider to be discordant. In answer to your personal attack, I did well at A level, have a string of degrees after my name and have been successful in life (whatever that means). For heaven's sake, let's focus on the issue and not these trivial irrelevancies.

OP posts:

lickenchugget · 22/08/2022 10:30

MarkHemmings · 22/08/2022 08:59

My 'interest' in the School is really not that complicated to understand. When I was at the School academic standards were pretty dreadful. I remember Joe Scott who was one of the longer-serving teachers bemoaning to me the 'lamentable' academic standards at the School, rolling his eyes and remarking, 'Why would any parent pay for this'. He added that he 'deplored' the 'rubbish" the headmaster of the day used to obfuscate the School's very poor exam performance.

Anyway, after I read (with only a vague interest) one of the current headmaster's newsletters I was pleasantly surprised to see him extolling the School's top-flight exam results. I thought I'd just quickly confirm this by checking the most recent DfE league table but then couldn't find the entry for Forest that I supposed to be somewhere near the top. Half an hour later I did find the entry but only after ploughing through the entries for more than 2000 other schools. There was Forest School languishing in the 'below average' category. I thought about Joe and supposed parents might want to know about this reality. Is that sufficient explanation for you?

Maybe your cohort just wasn’t that bright… school can’t put in what isn’t there