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.

What have exam results got to do with parents not paying their bills for the food their children order?
Do you think some groups shouldn't have to pay for things they have?

When you say “drill for gcse’s” @missrabbit1990 , do you mean “teach”?

The school I worked in had 4 problems; severedisruption from.a handful of troubled pupils, poor attitude to.learning from a significant majority of untroubled pupils, denial.of managers that there was an issue with behaviour and lack of parental involvement. If these issues had been resolved then pupils would have been.more successful and would have received more attention from the teachers. My guess is at her school these are not issues. Education is in crisis.

Teach?! In a school?!!! Where's the trigger warning @Tutorpuzzle, you know that'll give the vapors to some!

and they drill for the GCSE exams in every lesson from Year 7 onwards so the kids are well prepared for those exams. However, they lack breadth and how well prepared the kids are for life beyond school is another matter..

does not drilling for exams prepare you better for life beyond schools?

And more to the point, what is wrong for ‘drilling’ for exams? Practice and Repetition is how you learn and commit information into memory.

This is very true. I taught for 30.years. I.loved working with children and building positive relationships but I was in despair about the severe disruption caused by a few.

And more to the point, what is wrong for ‘drilling’ for exams?

Indeed

It's this.
The marketisation of education is what leads to this kind of segregation in outcomes.

The worst thing about it is in a work environment you would be protected from that. Anyone disruptive gets fired, anyone who assaults you can be arrested. Anyone who bullies you can have a grievance raised against them and disciplinary action taken. I wouldn’t tolerate someone’s behaviour impeding my ability to do my job so can’t understand why it is tolerated in schools and the children have to just out up with it. If KB takes a harsh line on bad behaviour then I don’t have a problem with that.

Nothing wrong with drilling to some extent but covering the GCSE curriculum from year 7 means they are not getting access to broader knowledge existing beyond the curriculum , opportunities for communication and self expression etc. drilling is fine but not if it’s ALL you do.

It would be interesting to know what happens with those who aren’t going to make the grades.
I know it’s completely different but I know of a ‘high performing’ school in a different area who off rolls or insists on parents paying to enter privately so results aren’t affected.
Theyre not supposed to obviously but it absolutely happens

Exactly, the idea that's its "drilling" in place of wonderful artistic expression is ridiculous. In reality its drilling in place of wasting 1/3 of the lesson waiting for a select few to sit down and shut up. The poor behaviour and parents who don't care about it has a huge effect on how much time everyone else spends learning.

Thanks, it's only resolved as the other child left the school after a proper assault on another child, serious injury, but their DM has absolutely no idea of personal responsibility and blamed the school for not allowing her Child to 'express themselves'...

Yes, that doesn’t surprise me @PamIsAVolleyballChamp , I was out of teaching for around a decade until last year. There were always the naughty ones, often absolute pains in the arse, but the actual day to day violence in mainstream schools (I did some supply, so saw a few schools,) has been astonishing.

Can you imagine if you were at work... a colleague then came at you from behind, smashed you to the floor, then sits on your chest punching you in the face, giving you a black eye and burst nose... and your hr department says 'what did you do.to make them do that'?! You need to go and ask to be their friend and say sorry for upsetting them!'

One of my children is diagnosed ASD. Strict, clear rules are way, way better for her because, like most children, she wants to know what she should do. If the rules are clear and enforced she knows where the boundaries are and that reduces stress on her and helps her do her best.

I reckon a lot of playing up by children is frustration about lack of clear rules, so it wouldn't surprise me at all that a school that has them wouldn't have as many SEN issues: the SEN kids are happy and know what's expected of them.

I get you my SEN ds likes to know what’s expected of him and hates a disruptive classroom.

Exactly @TomPinch but some don't want to see that sadly

How can you loftily say ‘she will never get job satisfaction like yours’? Rather arrogant! I would assume that her job satisfaction (in a job rather more difficult than yours as a class teacher) may come from seeing successive cohorts of disadvantaged pupils achieving highest results of school in England giving them a massive foundation to higher studies than those schools where only the strongest survive the mayhem and the weakest are left to wither.

I didn't know about this school until today. Shes full of herself. 🤣

Whilst some children thrive with rules, giving them no autonomy means they are not prepared for life. For instance, if you've always been told to just do as you are told, then you dont learn the skills to think or stand up for yourself or how to use your initiative etc.

My Dad works with school/college leavers. He says that they might be academically clever but increasingly they've got no personalities or sense and need to be told how to do everything. His last intake were working in a dark room and when he asked why they didnt turn on the light they said they no one had told them too. These are top performing students.

She has a huge amount of charisma and I imagine she's an excellent leader who inspires loyalty from the children and their parents. It's a small school and I think she's built it into a very strong community where the children all want to do their best.

It doesn't suit everybody - it wouldn't have suited my kids and I don't like all her methods - but there's no reason there couldn't be different kinds of schools with such strong, inspiring leaders. That's the key I think - smaller schools with great leadership.

That's not far though. Getting those children through exams give them a whole future that was denied them previously. I imagine she sleeps very well indeed knowing her students have a career ahead of them.

@Daboomboom so schools where the pupils run the school because #feelings is best.
Because some kids don't like rulezz. There should never be rules?

I didnt say that at all. 🤷‍♀️