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.

My understanding was that the catchment covers the south-west and north-west of the city but doesn't extend to the east, so some areas of disadvantage but also plenty that are affluent or quite affluent.

I approve of schools having the right to expect and demand good behaviour and respect from pupils. But that level of obedience seems creepy to me. I can't stand pointless rules. Why total silence in corridors? Is it not natural for children to quietly chat as they move between classrooms?

And zero excuses is too harsh. ASD children with ASD parents just can't remember stuff like their sports kit on sports day. No amount of reminders on phones (if they are allowed them) or writing a note on their own skin (probably not allowed that) will help because they forget to look at them. Or remember and then forget again as half way up the stairs to pick up sports kit some other thought floods their mind and wipes it clean again. It's not laziness, it's a neurological problem. Okay if you have parents who can manage your chaos for you but if they too are chaotic, you need support, not chastisement. That's just one example.

So, how do people remember things in adult life, @Cinaferna . Don't you think that practising good organisation is an important skill? For some it will come naturally, for others, it's harder. We had to work hard with our son on this, he got significantly better and managed to cope well at University!
Some parents unfortunately seem to object to complying with punctuality, PE kit and homework expectations in particular.

That's not what I have read about the postcodes, however, it's probably not as challenging as Wembley.

Silent corridors were introduced because lesson crossover time is for some pupils the time when bullying happens, and the seeds are sown for fights. For all pupils, there is the advantage of arriving at the next lesson composed so teachers can start the lesson straight away.

Sorting out corridor conflict is a nightmare.

I'd happily have sent my kids there. I like discipline, respect for teachers and educational achievement.

You've got me wondering now. The website says the school has a large catchment and welcomes applications from all areas of the South West of Sheffield.

Yes, in practice it's not limited to that, because they give preference for those who would support the school's ethos. It does, genuinely, seem to take from other postcodes.

not just bullying- have you seen a bunch of boys together? they constantly muck about when given the opportunity. My son delights in telling me how they are always kicking each others ankles, firing elastic bands at each other (my son got a detention for merely holding an elastic band in the air in the corridor because the teacher suspected he would fire it!) and play fighting whilst they are in the corridors. This is with their mates- all good natured but very boisterous. I can completely understand a school wants to stop that.

What an awful comment "she's full of herself". She is rightly very proud of having a non-selective cohort and get those kids she grades that she does. She's self assured and confident in her beliefs, "full of herself" is such a misogynistic term to describe a confident woman!

Where is your evidence that Michaela manage out SEND? Are you aware that for certain SEND, her calm environment with clear consequences etc, work very well? What doesn't work well for many SEND is chaos in classrooms/corridors etc

Where is your evidence that Michaela do this?

Yes @twistyizzy , previous posters have commented on her “self promotion”. There are comments on this thread that you would never hear about an astonishingly successful man.

And I just think the results that are achieved, as evidenced by being up there with the very best independents, deserve some proper research. Not wild speculation about intake manipulation, and subjective comments on the head’s personality.

I don't agree with everything KB says. But I think her core philosophy is worth emulating.

What nonsense.

Michaela is where it is because they had to fight to open at all. Because a bunch of lefties were actively trying to prevent them opening, defaming KB, and campaigning against even the idea of a school that upholds standards.

They took what they could get, and have made a complete success of it.

Yes!!
Plus she took on Phillipson so that's an automatic plus in my book!
Phillipson could be engaging and understanding how and why Michaela get such amazing results but no, that would be too much common sense.

She's very open about saying anyone who wants to can come and visit and see them in action. I for one would be delighted to have a school like Michaela in my area.

So much cope on this thread. KB's pupils are getting the top grades to get into the top universities. Yours are NOT. That is all it boils down to.

And Dame Alice Owen is pretty selective- a significant proportion of the intake get their places via highly competitive entrance exam

I wished there were still schools that offered something to less academic children.

Local secondary has a fully kitted out metal shop, woodwork shop and a beauty salon - they have been locked up for 14 years now as the academy don’t offer them as subjects.

Going by my local area, there are many students who got better grades because of academy methods, but this hasn’t translated to better attainment once out of school. I wonder if there is ongoing research to see what happens beyond school with various cohorts?

I have zero problem with there being academic focused schools with strict rules, but I have a problem with there being no choice to make sure some children are able to be in the right environment. It would be like expecting all adults to work in a particular office that’s won accolades for their output and work ethos, but no one has a problem accepting that adults are different and we need workers across all sectors, but accepting the same for children appears to be a problem.

There have always been parents who don’t support their children, or don’t support the school. Twas always thus.

I wonder when things changed though that mean schools are unable to follow through with rules because some parents don’t agree? It wasn’t always like that. Rules were rules, why do parents and children get to dictate?

I think there’s a much bigger problem with SN than we’re aware of, with rates going up, much fewer schools that can provide an environment that suits them, and much more focus on academics. The government seem to be ignoring the growing number of children school refusing, and according to a friend who works with our LA the numbers of children being removed to be home educated are going up at alarming rates due to SN, but there’s a whole load of silence about it, which she says is very odd.

First gen immigrants without family wealth often don't have the luxury of 'finding themselves' or 'discovering passions'. They need to get jobs, and fast, before they are accused of being benefit scroungers or illegal immigrants. And for that, they have to work far harder than your average white British child. Reform is only going to make things harder for anyone not white.

KB understands this and gives the kids the tools to haul themselves up a very steep cliff. Those who don't need the tools can go elsewhere, no?

Going by my local area, there are many students who got better grades because of academy methods, but this hasn’t translated to better attainment once out of school. I wonder if there is ongoing research to see what happens beyond school with various cohorts?
Maybe that's where personal responsibility comes into it?

I'd be impressed if she'd taken over a struggling Comp and turned it around as some Heads already do. Setting up a small school and advertising how strict it will be, means that parents will probably only apply if they think their kids can cope with that. Which doesn't seem as impressive