Remember that free school with ultra strict behaviour policies in a deprived area - it has fantastic GCSE results

[chomalungma]

www.theguardian.com/education/2019/aug/22/controversial-michaela-free-school-delights-in-gcse-success

"More than half (54%) of all grades were level 7 or above (equivalent to the old-style A and A*), which was more than twice the national average of 22%. Nearly one in five (18%) of all grades were 9s, compared with 4.5% nationally, and in maths, one in four results were level 9."

Impressive. Congratulations to them. Only wish DS's school did as well.

I wonder what it is really like to study there and to teach there.

I was on the tube with a bunch from this school. Must have been returning from an outing. Most were sat reading a book, some standing chatting. It was rush hour. Two teenage girls got up to give their seats. I was very impressed. It makes a change to the usual mayhem.

I don't think strict rules = poor mental health at all. In fact I would imagine that for many children, the low level disruption and anti social behaviour that is the norm in so many schools will create more stress.

And also, this cohort of children have achieved something solid that they probably would not have done elsewhere. Imagine the sense of pride and achievement. Hardly spirit crushing.

Yes, a secure, consistent place where the boundaries are clear and enforced is good for mental health.

Chaotic schools with inconsistent management are far more damaging IMO

It’s about their intake. Self selecting driven parents who are very focussed on education. It would be a surprise if they didn’t get good results.

I sort of think this, but more to drive the wrong sort of parents away.

Families with English as a second language are usually the ones bothered about following rules or hard work.

Anyway, congratulations to all the DC who worked hard.

This post was edited at OP's request

If most parents who don't work in schools spent time in schools, I think they would be horrified at the behaviour, lack of respect and vulnerability and bullying of pupils in the average school. Leaving children to be 'free' to 'express themselves' leads to dangerous corridors, lack of learning in the classroom, pupils who make every excuse not to work, pupils who ruin it constantly for others and verbal and physical abuse of staff.
I am absolutely convinced that pupils in my school could learn better and get better grades if they had more respect and better behaviour. I work in a very academic school.
I have also worked in a strict school (not as strict as Michaela) and the children were much happier with fewer mental health issues because they felt safe to be themselves, knowing that the staff are fully in control.

Just ask yourselves this, would you prefer to go to work where you have a fear of being ridiculed and shoved and pushed or and environment which is calm and respectful? No adult in their right mind would choose the former. I know what would be better for my mental health.
I am absolutely convinced that these pupils will feel safe, valued and motivated.

I wonder how they look after children with SEND.

Another statistic collated about schools is the drop out rate from where they go next. I imagine the drop out rate of ex students will be extremely high. They won’t know how to cope in a normal sixth form or college.

Frith2013, what do you base this assumption on? I imagine that they will have learnt about the discipline and work ethos needed for further education and the world of work where being professional and working hard are essential if you don't want the ultimate sanction of losing your job.

I was quoting the post above.

@SacramentoMN the drop out statistic I based on the school i used to work in. Quite strict, quite “cosseting”. Drop out rate once in sixth form college or similar was very high.

Frith2013
No not that one, the assumption that the drop out would be high.

There rigid discipline policies simply aren't compatible with compliance with the Equality Act. Essentially they achieve their results by managing out pesky children with learning difficulties or who look likely to have an adverse effect on their stats. It'll be very interesting to see what happens if the government has the bottle to bring in the policy of making schools include former pupils' results in their stats.

Can supporters of selective education not grasp the simple mechanics of this?

If you systematically exclude all the difficult kids, of course your exam results will be good.

And if you dump all your difficult kids on neighbouring schools, of course their exam results will reflect this.

I wonder if all students actually took the exams. Or were they excluded before, or just not allowed to enter exams in which they wouldn't achieve 7+? Just wondering...

A friend of mine works at a similar style of school in London and the results are genuine- produced through a culture of very hard work from both students and teachers with no excuses and a total focus on literacy and numeracy at KS3. Also, the P8 will be high due the number of EAL students and the low entry points of their intake.

Instinctively this is not the kind of school I'd want for my kids but I think what they've done is terribly impressive. They deserve congratulating for it, it will have taken hard work, focus and dedication from staff and students alike.

Question about whether this is the best way to educate kids depends on how important you think exam grades are. I've read ofsted and apparently they are good with all kids including SEND but sport is table tennis and a basketball net

Only tangentially related but I thought this was interesting - it does talk about the grade inflation in schools too.

www.newstatesman.com/politics/education/2019/08/great-university-con-how-british-degree-lost-its-value

I also wonder (doing a lot of that this afternoon!) why it's the Michaela approach or awful behaviour, no discipline etc etc. I don't see why you can't have zero tolerance in the classroom, a focus on learning and behaviour which allows learning, but also let students be themselves around the school, ask questions, put their hands up if they need to. Basically be treated as individual human beings, not part of a data set. As long as there is consistency across a school and slt are on board, this would make sense surely?

Just to clarify my post above. The point I was making is that families with English as a second language are on the whole prepared to work hard and follow the school rules.

By "not bothered" I meant not antagonised by. I wasn't making a racist comment in any way and would like to apologise to anyone who thought I was.

Thank you to Anya for editing.