Richmond Borough Schools Chat 6

[BayJay2]

Hello! This is the latest thread in a series originally triggered by Richmond Council's Education White Paper in Feb 2011. We chat about local education policy, the local impact of national policy, local school performance, and admissions-related issues.

Please do join in. There’s a bunch of us who’ve been following the thread for a long time, and we sometimes get a bit forensic, but new contributions are always welcome.

If you have a few hours to spare and want to catch up on 4 years of local education history, then below are the links to the old threads. We have to keep starting new threads because each only hold 1000 posts. The first two run in parallel, as one was started on the national Mumsnet site, and the other locally:

1a) New Secondaries for Richmond Borough? (Feb 11 - Nov 11)
1b) New Secondary schools for Richmond! (Feb 11-Nov 11)

1. New Secondary Schools for Richmond 2 (Nov 11-May 12)
2. New Secondary Schools for Richmond 3 (May 12-Nov 12)
3. New Secondary Schools for Richmond 4 (Nov 12-Oct 13)

1. Richmond Borough Schools Chat 5 (Oct 13-Nov 14)
2. Richmond Borough Schools Chat 6 (Nov 14 - ????) : This thread!

The Kingston Guardian has: Plans for north Kingston primary school dented by student flats go-ahead:

. . Kingston Council had been fighting to turn land at the Kingsgate Business Centre in Kingsgate Road, Kingston, into a primary school as part of its north Kingston development brief. But a decision from the inspectorate ruled in the favour of land acquisition firm Goldcrest to demolish the disused building and make way for 210 student flats. Planning inspector Jennifer Vyse said:

“The main driver for the change in approach to redevelopment of this area follows on from a change in administration locally, which has given voice to the need for a new primary school in the area. Development for that purpose [on the nearby Canbury Place car park] would not be prejudiced by the development proposed. I am not persuaded that the grant of planning permission would, necessarily, thwart development of a primary school in the locality and it would not materially prejudice the outcome of the plan-making process in this respect.”

We were discussing sixth forms on the previous thread. Interesting news about Batley Grammar School which is considering closing its sixth form now that it is a state school (i.e. a free school) rather than a private school. The story says:

'It is been recognised that sixth forms with fewer than 200 students are not viable, particularly in the light of the more recent funding changes where sixth form provision is now funded per student, instead of per qualification. The implications of these reforms over the last two years have meant that some providers have been forced to cut courses while others have been forced to close.'

I'm assuming '200 students' means 100 per year group where they are studying a two-year course.

Interesting take on why London schools outperform the rest of the country - it's all down to ethnic diversity.

Just checked the 2013 results for Richmond and speakers of English as an additional language do outperform the rest on average 5A-C results and grade averages in nearly all of the schools, especially at the sponsored academies. I think white British boys perform least well.

The stats associated with the London Challenge period always did seem a bit too good to be true without taking into account other factors. However, the source paper (here) certainly doesn't dismiss the London Challenge - it just says the effect is smaller than claimed, difficult to pin down and therefore as yet unmeasured. Quoting from the conclusion ....

"Many policy makers, school leaders and commentators enthuse about the major policy of the time, London Challenge, and view it as unambiguously improving schools in London. This unanimity carries weight, and no doubt London schools were improved in a number of ways. But so far at least, catching a reflection of this improvement in the attainment data is proving to be difficult"

That said, it must surely be possible to do some sort of comparison between those London schools that did take part in the London Challenge, and those that didn't.

Ofsted did praise the London Challenge. There have also been studies that show the City Challenge was more effective than the academies programme.

But this report does highlight a couple of interesting things about London:

1. London schools are less likely to use equivalents than elsewhere. The report focuses purely on GCSE grades. In a BBC report by Chris Cook the example is given of Ormiston Victory Academy in Norfolk where results have dropped from 73% 5A-C to 43% in a single year.

1. London is more integrated - segregation in areas like Manchester (where there was also a City Challenge initiative) is higher. So the report speculates that far more white British pupils in London have the possibility of school interactions with ... other higher scoring ethnic groups in school, and peer effect spill overs in learning'.

... it must surely be possible to do some sort of comparison between those London schools that did take part in the London Challenge, and those that didn't ...

Answering my own question, that's exactly what the Evaluation of the City Challenge programme did. It measurement school improvement relative to schools that didn't take part in the Challenge, and also against schools' own improvement prior to taking part, and found positive effects.

The aims of the programme weren't to improve GCSE results (which can be done with a change of cohort) but to improve schools' Ofsted ratings and narrow the attainment gap for disadvantaged children (which can't).

It's good to see from the minutes of the September Admissions Forum, that the committee's structure is evolving to be proportionately representative of local schools and also that their role in school place planning is becoming more explicit.

I spotted something else in Council minutes, that might partially answer someone's questions up-thread about Sixth Forms. Under Item 35 here it says there are "approximately 500 pupils on roll but there would be some fluctuation in numbers" and that "for the first time, 20 boys were on roll at Waldegrave in the Sixth Form".

Saw this link to a blog to the principal of Newham Sixth Form College (called Eddie Playfair - what a brilliant name!). I love these principles:

• No school should be allowed to choose its pupils
• All schools within the same area should work together (which was one of the strengths of the London Challenge).

And the most pertinent comment was:

'There is a democratic deficit in English education and those most affected are those with the least power and the most to gain from good public education.'

The interesting thing he is not arguing for a return to local authority control. I would love to hear the response of local MPs and councillors to those principles and that comment.

There's some interesting GEMS news here. Plus, it looks like they'll be announcing the site for their new Twickenham primary soon.

Presumably it will be at Heathgate House, Colne Road which is subject to a planning application for conversion from office to school use? www2.richmond.gov.uk/PlanData2/Planning_CaseNo.aspx?strCASENO=14/4611/P3KPA

It's a far cry from the playing fields of Eton. I am just astonished that this should be considered a suitable place for 450 young children to spend an "extended day".

RTT Online has Richmond Council completes largest land purchase in its history:

A new home for Clarendon School is one step closer after Richmond Council sanctioned the largest land purchase in its history . . (it) will also house a new secondary school as part of the Richmond Education and Enterprise Campus (Reec) at Richmond College. The formal purchase of the 4.5 acres was agreed by the council's cabinet on November 5 . .

GEMS has had quite a few high profile figureheads, although some have left very quickly (e.g. ex-Ofsted head Zenna Atkins).

Apparently the company has been split into two between the middle East on one side and Europe, North America and Africa on the other, where I suspect most of the expansion will be from government funding. It has sold most of its private schools in the UK. A significant minority stake in the Middle East part of GEMS was bought last month by an investor group.

GEMS has been keen to get its hands on government cash involved in academy sponsorship since as early as 2004. But bad publicity over poor management at its first UK private school provoked a parents' revolt: it had 5 heads in two years (google 'Bury Lawn chocolate nappy' for a TES story about one choice of head).

I've been looking at the rapidly increasing objections from residents to the use of Heathgate House for the GEMS primary school - link in my post above. Interesting to see that the Tory councillor for South Twickenham David Marlow, who is pretty senior in the pecking order and in the Cabinet, has objected online. I don't think I've ever seen that before!

Sounds like he was just as much in the dark about this site as local residents. This comment was interesting:

'the Salvation Army 'Community Corner' which is used solely by local residents who walk to the service and who probably only amount to 20 people maximum per day, was only granted a year's planning permission based on traffic and parking!'

The Kingston Guardian has: More than 700 applications received for new Kingston secondary school:

More than 700 families in Kingston have applied to send their children to the borough’s first free school next year. And that is despite the fact a planning application to build the school is yet to be submitted to Kingston Council. The Kingston Academy, at the site of the former North Kingston Centre in Richmond Road, has so far received 711 in-borough applications for its first intake in September 2015, with out of borough applications still yet to be counted. It means that at least 500 families are likely to be left disappointed, as only 180 year 7 places are available in the first year.

. . But Councillor Liz Green, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition, said she was worried about the lack of a planning application. She said: It is good that people have faith in the academy, but it is just my worry about the process happening in a timely manner. How is it going to open in September without a planning application?

Kingston Council leader Kevin Davis said: The planning application is down to the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and has been all along. But they have guaranteed that a school will be open at that site in September. It would have been fantastic to have a brand new school building to open in September, but that’s clearly not the way the Department for Education and EFA open schools any more.. .

From the comments:

‘As a parent who attended the open night, I wish the new school well. But I do have to say that many parents were privately voicing concern over the lack of clarity about where and what the premises will be.

To be frank, the presentation was a bit of a disaster . The makeshift PA and presentation system failed. That was a bit of a metaphor for the sad situation that the much needed school finds itself in - trying to do too much too quickly. The overarching impression was that they were scrambling and trying to do the whole thing on a wing a prayer.

The preparations for this new school should have been made much earlier if parents are being asked to have confidence in it.’

Presumably they're not all first preferences, so it's certainly not true to say that 500 families will be disappointed! However, it's still a great vote of confidence.

I was at the Open Evening, and didn't notice any problems with the PA system, but then I think the Head did her talk at least 3 times, so perhaps the problems came later.

Turing House have announced a statutory consultation on their Funding Agreement and their Admissions Policy:

We intend to retain an admission point in the original area of demand for the school and also admit a proportion of students from the location of the school. Should we do this?

An admissions point will be used to determine distance for criteria 5 of our admissions policy. For 2015 100% of places allocated by distance will be from this point. From the year the school opens in its permanent accommodation we propose altering the proportion of places to 80% from the admissions point and 20% from the school's permanent location. Do you agree with this change?

We propose moving the admissions point to another location more equally distant from other mixed schools in the vicinity.(The current point is located much closer to Twickenham Academy than to any of the other mixed schools in the west of the Borough). Do you agree with this relocation of the admissions point?

The consultation will run until January 16th 2015.

Turing House Update - 1st December 2014 has news of both a temporary and a permanent site.

And yet no news of the site... The new admissions point sounds logical if Turing House is needed most for pupils in that area. It's still hard to judge the 80/20% split (20% around site) until we know where that site is. Since it's less than the 50% proposed from the Clifden originally, perhaps it's closer to an existing school than that location would have been. Will the consultation responses be published?

Hi muminlondon. There's some info here that will answer your question about publishing the responses.

I hope the site is announced before the end of the consultation period. Or the consultation period is extended for as long as necessary.

Sounds like A-level reform is a complete nightmare for schools trying to plan courses.

Today’s RTT Online has (p 7) Horror at plan for free school: some locals don’t like the Heathgate House scheme in West Twickenham. Also (p 18) Independent school’s (Newland House) redevelopment plan approved.

The web RTT has: Traffic fears emerge as Twickenham Green free school plans draw near:

. . Jodie Croft, senior manager at Gems Learning Trust, said: “We understand the concerns local residents have about increased traffic in this area and if permission for change of use is granted, the school will fully comply with the planning conditions for the school travel plan. We will work hard to ensure that children are walked to school and to reduce the need for parents to drop off by car, this may mean that we deploy staff to collect children from a less congested area and walk them over to the school . . We have not defined a catchment area but local authority data tells us that the primary schools in Twickenham are full in key stage 1 so we expect the children to live close to the school.”

. . The school has an open event at the David Lloyd Leisure Centre in Staines Road, Hampton, on December 8 between 6pm to 8pm.

The planning application number is 14/4611/P3KPA.