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.

You really don’t know this do you?

I didnt say that at all. 🤷‍♀️

Having the students face the teacher, calm movement between lessons, high expectations of behaviour, clear standards, coming down hard on bullies, no phones etc are all great. I actually really liked the idea of the behaviour bootcamp new students take!

Being told to just quote Shakespeare and say "yes miss, no sir" but dont dare do anything else seems to be the schools modus operandi and that does not equip children for life.

Schools are not the place for autonomy. When did this become a thing? You go to learn and follow rules for 6 or 7 hours a day. The rest of the time it is for parents to teach children how to adult.

You dont need a GCSE in textiles and it's one of the easiest there is.

You dont need a gcse in food prep to know how to cook.

These things are just fluff to boost grades.

Better to focus on the hard subjects than the rubbish.

I live near a school modelled on Michaela which takes pupils from a large catchment. It has been about 70% oversubscribed every year since it opened seven years ago. It's GSCE results are outstandingly good, especially for SEN pupils, of whom 80% achieve a pass in English and maths against the national average of 18%. This year, it will have had its first A level results. It also places great emphasis on enrichment.

Clearly it works for many pupils. I worry about the deskilling of teachers (lessons are planned centrally before the start of the academic year), how A level students will fare at university (the 6th form only accepts ambitious pupils aiming for Oxbridge, Ivy League etc), and the impact on neurodiverse pupils of teacher tracking (pupils have to follow the teacher with their eyes for every second of every lesson).

Two of my neighbour's children go, including one who received his GCSE results today. His brother tells me the GCSE brother receives several detention a week. It's hard to conclude that a discipline policy is changing behaviour if the same pupil is breaking the same rules for five years.

For typo

I think all teaching (in any school) from yr 7 is designed to prepare pupils for GCSEs. I doubt the children in KB's school are studying the GCSE syllabus from the minute they get there! Surely every lesson in school aims to teach children the skills they will need to pass exams.

Ok autonomy was the wrong word. Apologies.

I meant more about initiative and thinking for themselves. For instance, if it's dark thinking "how can I fix this?" instead of relying on someone else to tell you.

If the pupils are turned into (academically brilliant) robots, then they wont have the common sense or experience they need outside of school.

People on here talk about teaching kids to cook a few easy meals for when they go to uni. Same thing.

Sadly, for most of us, teachers see our children much more than we do. So we cant just separate school and parents tasks. There has to be overlap. Parents help with school work, school helps with life skills.

ETA- someone mentioned "enrichment". I guess that's what Im trying to say!

Exactly. We start them from Y7 with the skills they will need to develop to be successful at GCSE. You scaffold them.

They are given problems to solve. They have to solve problems every Science lesson. They have to question source materials in History, they have to evaluate in Geography etc.

There are ways of selecting without selecting.

Church attendance, particularly for a long time and/or volunteering being one.

Overly complicated admissions procedures and forms.

Locking doors/removing signs fron SEN rooms on open evenings. Head suggesting to parents that their children might be happier at another, neighbouring school.

Setting up ‘friends of xxxxx’ table at open evenings and inviting parents to set up direct debits.

Zero tolerance for bad behaviour, respect for teachers and supportive parents. I can’t tell you how much of a difference this makes. I imagine their SEN cohort isn’t high, but I guess parents who know their children wouldn’t cope in such an environment, wouldn’t send their children there.

I can’t even begin to explain how much of an impact lack of respect, parental support and bad behaviour has on education. I’d be here for days. Been teaching 16 years, so this is not an outsider’s view!

But ultimately that is a parent’s job to teach that not a schools. Teaching children to use their initiative starts at the home. If it is dark you have failed as parent if your child doesn’t know how to turn on a light!

I would, however, expect project work as part of a school’s curriculum, plus working in groups, presentations and debating - all of which I am sure Michaela does in abundance to get those results.

and just because a school is strict doesn’t mean people can’t think for themselves or the army would not produce capable and cool under pressure soldiers.

Most of this is taught outside school. Schools don’t have time for that kind of learning. That comes from the “allowing children to be bored” ie giving them unscheduled time and allowing them to develop a curiosity.
Creative thinking also comes from reading, putting puzzles or Lego together, cooking, arts and craft.
When children are able to develop that part of their brain, that’s reflected in their school work.

More power to KB's elbow I say. Whatever outsiders might think happens in her school, she's doing those children a massive favour by helping them out of the poverty trap and becoming socially mobile. Perhaps this is what offends some people the most.

I definitely think there's merit in this "no fucking about tolerated" model.

My DSis is adamant that's basically what she's paying for at her DC's private school. Not necessarily the best teachers in the world, but they are given a clear mandate from the school and parents to teach, as opposed to being crowd control. There's no pupil self expression at the expense of the rest of the class's learning.

Ironically, this is also what our 80 year DM's experience of state school was like, in a deprived East London Borough in the 1950s. She had a narrow curriculum based on the 3 Rs and left school at 14 with a good education, which other kids weren't allowed to disrupt with their "free thinking". DM's subsequent broad interests and rich life experiences were her own responsibility, not her school's.

I find constantly dealing with disruptive behaviour so wearing. Students contradicting me, arguing, refusing to sit down, complaining they're "bored". So many seem to have such a strong level of self absorption that no-one else's learning matters.

Excellent points.

Being good at parroting information doesn't mean you understand the content, or that the school has fostered a desire to learn.

An education based entirely on learning to pass exams doesn't prepare a child for the real world.

I've only ever been inside a UK school in passing, maybe twice in my life.

What you're describing sounds like a normal school to me in the countries I attended (Denmark, Germany, Italy). You'd address teachers with their titles and last names, during breaks you would probably stand and talk to your friends or study/ revise for the upcoming lesson/ sneak in homework, you'd dress relatively formally but not like a mini office worker (no uniform) and actively participate in lessons in a positive manner. I had a stage of wearing very inappropriate outfits to school (teen girl thing) and got spoken to by an older popular boy, kindly, why I don't need to put my body on show like that to get attention. Parents wouldn't participate in the study process, e.g. homework, projects, beyond year 3 or so, the kids would do it themselves.

Is that not normal in the UK/ not something that most parents would culturally encourage?

I've heard comments from my friends about not trying to do too well to avoid being bullied, for example. In my past schools the sure fire way to get bullied would have been if you were put on the spot by the teacher and gave a daft answer, the popular kids would have been the high achievers who also had some social skills and original thought.

I just don't understand how the schooling culture seems so different? Or is that the reason why parents seek out private schools?

So not passing gcse does? Not even being able to parrot the information and not pass equips you for the world right.

They're learning to memorise, which is slightly different. We all know that developing good memory is essential, that's why they are successful with revision. However, you can't do well in GCSEs with just memory, you have to apply the knowledge appropriately. You have to have cognitive flexibility.

You ve pretty much hit the nail on the head here.

It's cool to be thick. It's cool to dress in skirt so short, you can see a girl's knickers and backside. Don't try and tell iher she shouldn't dress like that you ll get an earful.

It's all about being an individual innit. It's all about clowning and fooling around and being arsehole on the street and in school, without the teachers being able to do anything about it.

Don't pass too many gcse with great grades.You might get accused of just learning to parrot information back and be unequipped for the world.

Yes, in a nutshell. Not all schools have the practice I've described. Therefore often bad behaviour dominates and teaching staff are undermined.

@Daboomboomas a parent I can teach and model initiative, problem solving, empathy. But I can’t teach maths and science. This school would have really suited both of my kids and I feel they would be privileged to learn alongside children of people newly arrived to the UK who have amazing committment to education and teach their children ambition, resilience and self reliance. Indigenous population could do well to emulate.

you have to understand to be able to answer the questions. That is what distinguishes the children who get 4s from those that 9s. To get the higher grades you have to demonstrate very clear understanding of the information and use it correctly.

children only attend school for about 75% of the year. They also only attend for about 6/7 hours a day. They have plenty of time outside of school to learn about the real world.It is parent’s responsibility to prepare them for it. a school will always be a closed of bubble insulated from the real world.