What does Katharine Birbalsingh do different?

[User2346]

I can’t say I like her but I am intrigued as to how she gets the results which are remarkable.

I know the model of zero tolerance etc but this is copied in a lot of academies without the resounding success.

Is there something different with the teaching methods? Is there an element of selection weeding out children with SEN and EHCP’s?

I would love the perspective of parents who have their DC at the school.

Why doss that matter? What matters is that her children all passed their GCse’s and many got 8/9s. For most of them this has changed the course of their futures. The children are the only thing that matter and I’m sure they are very grateful for the opportunity they have been given.

I think a lot of it is jealousy too.

I have no idea what Birbalsingh is like to work with (I hope she's a great leader and colleague) but there is no doubt she has fought for something she believes in and made a huge success of it. Phillipson has shown herself to be very arrogant in refusing to show interest in what Michaela is doing. She's also wrong to remove freedoms from academies. There's plenty of research that people work best when they have control over what they are doing.

In the SW there are 3 very successful non selective state schools which get the middle class students (mainly). One of them doesn't have a uniform. Mercia is not appealing to all of these parents, so they don't really take exclusively from this area.

Isn't it? I doubt this term would be applied to a man.

I'm pleased it takes from other postcodes. There are plenty of south-west ie largely middle class parents who wouldn't want their DC to go there, and plenty of DC who wouldn't want to go there. A family I know well have sent their two younger (of four) children there. They have really struggled with discipline at home but the children are very accepting of the sanctions at Mercia.

Because it's much easier to get good results from children in a selective school than a non selective one that takes anyone, including children with SEN or from chaotic backgrounds. It's not a valid comparison

That's interesting, isn't it. I doubt it's competing too much with Tapton, High Storrs or Silverdale, but it'll suit some students. I know a member of staff there and she says they take from the North of the city as well.

Michael is non-selective, it doesn't have control of its intake. It 100% has kids from disrupted and deprived backgrounds, including kids at risk of ending up in gangs

And yes I know it's not a selective school in name, but if some parents are put off ever applying it is a type of selection.

I have close family links with the non-uniform school. It's ironic that the pupils have devised their own and are barely distinguishable from one another on the way home. Arguably, there are four non-selective stare schools in the south west, and one faith school that prioritises pupils of that faith.

Yes, Notre Dame is fairly city wide. It's funny how they wear the same thing when there's no uniform - it's like non uniform day!

Same as most schools then. You make it sound as if Michaels cherry pick, they don't and can't.
They do have engaged parents who support the school. That's probably their #1 strength and should be something our so called SoS shoukd be engaging with Michaela about to learn how to do it across all state schools, but instead all she bangs on about is soggy toast and blazers!

regardless, the children who do end up attending are not selected on academic grounds which is the definition of ‘selective’ education

That's an important point. The head of Mercia talks about having built the school culture from scratch, as KB did. In both schools, parents attend compulsory sessions where they learn how the school does things and what's expected of them. Changing a culture is a tougher call.

All schools are selective in that sense. It’s inherent in the process.

At the moment, the non-uniform school is in the ascendant, performing better at GCSE and A level than Silverdale and Tapton.

When I was at university, a relative with three children with very different characters talked about the importance of choosing the school based on the child and not by trying to give your child the education you wish you could have had. It's noticeable that Mercia attracts parents who see rigour and strict discipline as a given good. It would stifle some children.

Choosing a school that suits your particular child is not 'being managed out' of the other schools that don't

Yes, different strokes and all that. My friend who teaches at Mercia is a former colleague, we taught in Haringey together. She's finding it a better experience.

This!
And even more so now that you can learn about anything from real experts because of all the much better quality resources available on the internet rather than one random teacher b snd one textbook.
My bf and I love history and learn now way beyond anything else could we have learned in any school.

That's really great, history is fascinating! It does annoy me when I hear the cop out "I never learned that at school". It's so passive.

I don’t know much about the school other than what’s in the media. But I can honestly say I’d have traded places there in an instant away from the violent, shitty secondary school I went to. Strange how there’s so much to say about this one school and very little about the many many awful schools where children (and the good teachers) are bullied and have a terrible time. Where’s the outrage about schools like mine?

I don't agree with all of her political views, but it can't be denied that she hugely boosts the life chances of disadvantaged DC.

Sadly her methods wouldn't work everywhere, as she expects DC to behave and work hard. She also doesn't tolerate the attitude that GCSE grades don't matter.

As another poster mentioned, many are quick to criticise her but there are schools with similar demographics which have been failing for decades.

I'm not convinced attending a school where behaviour is terrible, DC assaulted and results appalling is particularly conducive to good wellbeing, but that is not the trendy view.

I don't agree with the parts about skin color and ethnicity, but I completely agree with the rest of your speech.

Parental support is vital. There is a limit to what schools can do. Sure we can give a detention but that’s about it. If schools put kids in isolation or suspended people kick off. Parents though can take devices off teens or stop them seeing friends etc.
The vast majority of kids do behave but a significant minority piss about continuously as their parents don’t support the school. I really don’t think parents of kids who get into trouble realise that they aren’t just being teens because most teens behave.