My child attends Michaela community school - ama

[Starship74]

Name Changed for this but very long time mumsnetter.

My child is three years into Michaela Community School. Since it’s so heavily discussed on mumsnet I thought I’d make a post.

I won’t be posting any confidential information but can answer generic questions.

My child was allocated a place through the random allocation. I chose it because of the outstanding academic results and was very impressed at how focussed the kids were on the open day.

There is limited engagement with the headmistress at weekly assemblies, the heads of year are generally in charge from what I’ve seen.

They are allowed smart phones and know the kids have them. Of course phones aren’t allowed out of bags on school premises but I think that’s common in many schools.

Whilst it is a strict school i don’t think it’s as strict as they make out in the press.

Things I like:

• they really push the kids academically which is important to me as I didn’t want my child to coast through
• my child does complain about how strict the school is but I’ve asked several times if they want to change school and the answer is always no as they know they are going to get a better outcome so my child has bought into it too

Things I don’t like:

• communication isn’t the best with parents, no parents evening where I have 1:1 with a teacher
• they have a policy of 4 kids in a group at break time which I think limits friendships, it’s hard to get to know other kids
• dont have an issue with the vegetarian nature of lunch but what they serve seems extremely unhealthy every day - mostly processed food

Feel free to ask any other questions!

Do you post on every thread to let everyone know you have nothing to say? That must be neverending.

I’m a teacher and a senco in a mainstream primary and I find the whole Michaela approach fascinating.

Ive decided that I wouldn’t want to teach there or for my children to go there but I can also completely understand why some parents would want their children there. Look at the outcomes!

I do wonder how they make ‘reasonable adjustments’ for those 17% (I think someone said) with SEND. To a certain extent you can say if you don’t like it, don’t send your child there. But when it comes to the Equality Act and SEND law. I don’t think that would hold up.

A few questions from me OP, hope that's ok.

1. Do you feel the discipline strategy is actually effective? It sounds like detention is a "routine " punishment for minor infractions. Doesn't the fact that it's so frequently used imply that it is not actually an effective strategy? I've got 3 children, all adults now and none of them ever had a detention thoughout their school careers. It would have been seen as a really big deal if they had. One of my sons got an "orange card" for behaviour in primary school once and he still remembers it 15 years later. And he never repeated the misdemeanor. Surely if a punishment is something that happens to most children, frequently it ceases to have impact? The best teachers I ever had at any point in my life didn't need draconian measures to garner respect and used punishment sparingly, so that it actually meant something.
2. Are you not concerned about the limited curriculum? The absence of creative subjects for example? Virtually nobody taking 3 separate sciences?
3. Do you feel that the school is concerned about the well being of the pupils in a more holistic way, beyond getting good academic results? You've already mentioned the lack of sport and extra curricular opportunities as well as the poor, yet compulsory food options. Neither PE nor creative subjects seem to feature at GCSE. Is the physical or mental health of the pupils of any concern or is it all about exam results?

Looking at their GCSE results, it would appear they teach French, but then have several students who they enter for other languages (presumably spoken at home).

The thing is they do seem to be focussing on things that help a student to be successful later
. passing English & Maths GCSE opens the doors to level 3 qualifications and those passes are often screeners even for basic jobs
. conversation and discussion ability at lunch is good for getting on with people, learning how to put across your point of view
. eating what you are given without a fuss is again a useful social skill
. eye contact is expected in British culture; it is taken as a sign someone is paying attention and is respecting the other person

Yes there may be lots not to like, but they seem to be aiming to turn out 16yos with exam results and social skills, which is better than a good minority ofother schools that don't seem to manage either.

Is the discipline strategy effective?
yes - All kids can focus as there is no distraction in class and the teacher can teach without spending half the lesson trying to control disruptive kids.

Im not worried about the narrow curriculum and I compensate by having 4x non school after school clubs.

They only teach French and the extra languages are where the child speaks this language at home - the school offers no tuition for this.

The kids have form time am and pm every day and I believe they do care about well being. I have had a few calls from the head of year to check in if they spot unusual behaviour. In my case my child had a few more detentions than usual a particular period, no idea why, but we did get a call to see if everything was ok at home.

I am not trying to be an arse - I really don't see many large groups at our place. the only one would be people doing sport.
I wonder what the rationale is

her ethos is that you have to have one culture at school - she likens to a football team., If youdon't then you have division, not diversity. Once you have that at school you can do what you like outside those 5 hours a day

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002f1gb

Lots of school have ' tracking' as a concept. Its not direct eye to eye ' eyeballing' but politely looking at someone when they are addressing you.
I say to kids that they need to sit up not fiddle and look at me when I am teaching them in the same way I would behave in a meeting with their parents, not swinging on a chair, chewing a pen looking into mid distance

My child has detention 1-2 times per month not per week! Sorry I don’t know why I wrote per week earlier. 1 or 2 times per week would indeed be extreme.

They also have a finite number of spaces in detention so there may be on occasion where a child breaks a rule but doesn’t get detention because the detention room is full.

I am surprised the level of children with SEN is even as high as it apparently is. With no PE offered, my son with ADHD would really struggle, and I imagine children with autism face all sorts of challenges with the food rules, eye contact rule etc.

My daughter has rarely found a school rule she won't follow ruthlessly and is still furious about a late mark she received earlier this year. She would be horrified to get a detention, but if they are applied as regularly as it sounds, either her anxiety would be sky high or she would stop caring about them, which seems to defeat the purpose a little.

But maybe Michaela isn't really for children like my daughter. They can apply themselves and get on anywhere. The desire for such strict rules and narrow curriculum is clearly there, so having a school like that is no doubt a good thing, provided everyone there has chosen it rather than being randomly allocated, which it sounds like is the case.

Is critical thinking encouraged or quashed with a detention/sanction? As a teen I would have been outraged by some of the rules with seemingly little purpose and would have been actively mobilising protest, writing letters etc. Would I have just been expelled?

How do students find the transition to uni where greater freedoms, self driven learning and critical thinking are part of the game?

The one thing we will never know is if we took the same cohort of children (ie from families who support their children academically and are keen for them to be high academic achievers) and put them in a typical school (ie mutual respect over crazy rules, plus a wider curriculum) whether these children would still get the same results? I personally think they would. What makes it different is that people don't choose this school if they don't like the ethos, the teach through discipline and punishment I think does little for the students' education.

They transition to uni the same way most Asians transition, I guess.

Michaela's student population is mostly first gen Asians.This is not a great thing to be in this climate where anyone with brown skin is called a leach, a benefits scrounger, a diversity hire or whatever. They need basic skills in Eng and Maths and high grades so they can clamber up the ladder. Rebelling, writing letters, protesting will be the furthest thing from their minds. It was the furthest thing ftom mine as an immigrant.

I didn't think you were, genuinely! It's interested me too, because I've worked with and been i/c of various behaviour strategies and I've not come across this one, but it seems - anecdotally - it has reduced bullying, although I'm not totally convinced by the number 4!

Those are very good points.

Yes, we have "tracking the teacher" as well, I think it's quite a mainstream thing now.
I agree with your points.

Some of these things make Professor Umbridge seem tolerant and reasonable.

Honestly this sounds really similar to my DC’s secondary apart from a few quirks like the max four people in a group rule (bizarre) and the veggie lunches with teachers.

I thought this was fairly par for the course in secondaries these days (though I don’t have direct experience of many TBH).

We’re in a mixed moderately-deprived area of London.

Is that the comparison though? Or is the comparison involved parents but kids in a shite school with gang issues (like the one I went to). At least in this school you don’t have the other kids ruining your eduction.

I think I’d have loved a school like this - yes I’ve done ok but I could have done so much better if my education hadn’t been disrupted by significant behaviour issues.

I think many schools are adopting some of these measures, because behaviour has become such a significant issue.

So does the school not do PE at all??

What is the thinking behind allowing smartphones.? As far you know..

I agree, you can supportive parents, and be a child that wants to achieve, but if there are disruptive pupils obstructing you from learning at school, and lots of bullying/violence, then your chances of doing well can be very seriously affected.