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AIBU?

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Original poster

to be absolutely horrified by Educating Essex

358 replies

spiderpig8 · 22/10/2011 14:32

i would stick pins in my eyes before i sent my kids to a place like that!!
I was watching it woth DS1 who is 16 and he was absolutely speechless at the lack of discipline and the immaturity of the pupils.
Where to start?

Why aren't they all seated in rows facing the front? They seem to be sitting clustered around tables like infants, .No wonder they don't concentrate and are disruptive.
The girls look like hookers with thick make up and very short skirts
If that was top set maths?? At 16 learning how to work out the area of a circle?? The teacher was uninspiring and unenthusiastic. And I had t laugh when it zoomed in on Carrie's so-called 9 GCSEs.She had b in English and |C in maths and that was it.the rest were btecs , functional skills, citizenship and crap that isn't worth the paper it's written on.

The head and deputy are twerps.Skating about in swivel chairs in the corridor, allowing the kids to snowball them.They try to be the kids mates rather than their role models.How can they command any respect?
Most of all allowing their pupils to appear on national television , making serious false allegations against staff, and sending abusive bullying texts.
And this is an ofsted outstanding school!!

OP posts:
Original poster
spiderpig8 · 22/10/2011 21:05

'spiderpig - it depends on the intake. Comprehensive doesn't mean an equal range of abilities, especially if there are private or grammar schools nearby creaming off the top end.'
well if there are grammars taking the top end of the ability range than it isn't a comp ,it's a secondary modern.

OP posts:
SugarSkyHigh · 22/10/2011 21:05

I was hoping OP might enlighten me....

southeastastra · 22/10/2011 21:07

why do people have to pick one side against the other?

the programme 'educating essex' sure wasn't billed as a serious documentary was it. tv editing is very clever and it wouldn't surprise me if they didn't suggest people react a certain way either.

mn really loves to sneer at bog standard (ie the schools the majority go to) schools doesn't it.

yet i don't see the educated masses rushing to help out in their local communities to improve things.

(unless you count shopping at twatrose or whitestuff)

should be taken with a pinch of salt and views at entertainment

i guess the middle clases need to have someone to look down on

SugarSkyHigh · 22/10/2011 21:10

at my DC's comp, quite a few kids have passed the 11 + but still chose the comp as it gets such great results. Grammars don't always "cream off" the "top end" (whatever that's supposed to be).

twinklytroll · 22/10/2011 21:13

If a school takes students from a poor performing primary it can be distinctly average and yet achieve an outstanding cva.

I have worked in schools of many different types, the one with the highest cva was the worst by any criteria ( apart from Cva). I know that we failed to help our brightest students get A stars whatever our cva claimed.

troisgarcons · 22/10/2011 21:13

Grammars don't always "cream off" the "top end"

true - son has a friend who was 2 marks short and got into grammar on the sibling rule. I have a friend who got her daughter in (11 marks short) on medical grounds.

MigratingCoconuts · 22/10/2011 21:14

Pi is a sweet or savory filling surrounded by a pastry casing.....

twinklytroll · 22/10/2011 21:14

I teach in a bog standard comp, it is nothing like the school on educating Essex and we do lose a few students to the grammar.

troisgarcons · 22/10/2011 21:14

could I also mention - the term 'comp' is bandied about in 11+ areas - the non-selectives arent true comprehensives - they are sec moderns.

miniwedge · 22/10/2011 21:21

I live on the edge of the town where this documentary is filmed.

It's really misleading. The filming was done on the old site which was extremely run down, it was filmed whilst the new school was being built, it's an amazing place. The facilities are second to none.

The pupils that were the focus of the documentary were a tiny sample of the typical cohort. It makes far better tv to film the few pupils who are causing trouble or having huge issues at home than to film the 99% of pupils who just get on with it.

Passmores is never going to be an academically amazing school, the local area is fairly depressed, any more able pupils tend to go to grammar in Chelmsford or the very good local private schools.
The staff do a fantastic job getting the best they can out of the pupils, for a child coming from some of the backgrounds we see in harlow to achieve a c in maths for example is a huge achievement.
It's all very well sneering at these kids and the levels they get to, but they don't have the advantages that many on this site have.

Secondary education in Harlow is a tough environment, pass mores is an oversubscribed school because locals are well aware of the lengths they go to to keep pupils in school and to get them into further ed.
The outcomes for these kids are so much better than they would be if the staff wrote them off in the way that many people on this thread have.

Most of this thread is a great demonstration of the lack of understanding about what constitutes a good education.

noblegiraffe · 22/10/2011 21:24

spiderpig, there aren't any secondary moderns any more. Comprehensives take all abilities, not just the lower end.

I don't understand the people who are saying that selective schools don't cream off the top end. They take the more academically able and reject the less academically able. That's what the entrance exams are for, no?

MigratingCoconuts · 22/10/2011 21:26

miniwedge...that's a great post. Well said!!

noblegiraffe · 22/10/2011 21:27

Sugar - search the thread, it has been answered.

twinklytroll · 22/10/2011 21:28

If you are a school in a grammar school area you probably are a secondary modem . If you are a sink comp near an outstanding comp you probably are closer to a secondary modern than a comp.

We are a comp in a grammar school area, but only just.

SugarSkyHigh · 22/10/2011 21:45

Yes - pi is a long number. But why is it that number??

OriginalGhoster · 22/10/2011 21:47

Most of this thread is a great demonstration of the lack of understanding about what constitutes a good education.

I would say a general lack of understanding/ empathy for other human beings.

Those teachers are exceptional, the students with behaviour problems are products of their environment. I found it an uplifting program me, full of hope and showing the lovely kids buried under years of anger and defensiveness caused by abuse and neglect.

ATruthUniversallyAcknowledged · 22/10/2011 21:56

Disclaimer: I haven't read the whole thread and have only seen the first two shows (the rest are on Sky+ so I may be back to add more later) but I'd like to add a positive spin...

There is a moment in episode 2 where the presenter asks Mr Drew if not permanently excluding pupils means the pupils had won. He hesitated for about a millisecond, then said something along the lines of 'I want them to win' and reminded me why I got into teaching and why I choose to teach in a school that's not dissimilar to Passmores.

3blindmice · 22/10/2011 22:26

I haven't read all the posts on this thread but I have watched this series & was incredibly impressed by the senior management team at this school. They seemed caring & genuinely wanted the best for the pupils even those that were causing nothing but problems. I can't comment on how realiwstic this is as I live in Scotland & the system is different.

KittyFane · 22/10/2011 22:29

.

BurningBridges · 22/10/2011 22:30

I farking love Mr Drew - he's my hero!! Has anyone read Passmore's glowing OFSTED? It looks like a great school and with their new premises they must be absolutely flying. I'm with OriginalGhoster, MiniWedge etc. My favourite programme on TV every week it restores my faith in the teaching profession.

cricketballs · 22/10/2011 22:31

miniwedge - fantastic post!

As I said earlier, the tv show so far has seemed calm to what I have witnessed in schools. But the problems that they have highlighted are very common. Kids going off the rails due to family issues, teenage pregnancy, girls being girls...

I love the head and deputy head and would love to work for them as they are focusing on the kids and what is needed for them to succeed rather than the league tables.

To those of you focusing on the mobile phones; haven't you noticed that they are sneaking them out of their blazer pocket and then quickly back in....

rubyrubyruby · 22/10/2011 22:34

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

twinklytroll · 22/10/2011 22:37

My real problem is with the show not the school . As I said this is manipulated reality. But it feeds into the middle class angst that the local state school could not possibly be good enough for their cherubs.

I am sure that if you filmed in my office for long enough and edited it heavily you could make my school look a little like Educating Essex.

TalkinPeace2 · 22/10/2011 22:44

Maybe its about time the Radley programme from the early 1980's was updated for balance ....

Sargesaweyes · 22/10/2011 22:49

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.