Newton Farm School Sats fraud

[mambypamby]

Just seen the news regarding Newton Farm School in Harrow in the Telegraph online (sorry can't link). This school was top of the sats league tables in the country for the last 2 years & has this year had its sats results annulled due to papers being altered ie cheating. The head even did an interview with mumsnet obviously enjoying all the attention. Do any parents with children at the school have any opinioms they want to offload? Has the head gone into hiding as not heard anything from her in the news?

I think there is an element of jealousy among parents in the community who have not managed to get their children into the school, which is understandable. I sincerely hope the head does not resign and I think her honour is well deserved. The parents at the school do have high expectations for their children and so does the school.That's not a bad thing. If parents are not happy there are other schools in the catchment area, no one is forced to send their child to Newton Farm.

I think that you need to remove the rose tinted spectacles you appear to be wearing. The point being made about the reputation of the school within the community has nothing to do with jealousies. It has to do with the downright underhand and often bordering on illegal ways in which many families with children at the school in.the past have been dealt with by the headteacher. Reports have been made to various organisations, groups etc by parents completely independently of each other.

The posts you have written are quite typical of the spin put on things by the head and in fact could have been written by the head herself.There is no integrity in what she does; there is nothing she wouldn't do no matter how underhand, dishonest, illegal or otherwise if she can get away with it. All to boost her already overinflated ego and for her own personal ambition.

Any school can apply for awards; most choose to spend the time providing quality teaching instead.
Applying for awards takes away time from the dedicated and committed teachers at the school
The staff are already under enough pressure and this additional time and effort for awards just tales away time for their real job. Hence the need to give so much homework in order to fill in the gaps due to lack of time.

Ask yourself why is there such a high staff and pupil turnover for such a supposedly oversubscribed school?

I agree sayyouaayme some people are so easily fooled.They only see what they want to see.

Regarding the awards, it is easy to present the most bright and articulate children to speak to the assessors and visitors to the school.Add in a few selected parents who you know will say the right things as they are your cronies and off you go. It's funny how the subject matter of the award which was so rigorously and thoroughly taught for the purposes of gaining the award, is very soon forgotten never to be discussed again once the award is given.

Also those applying to independent schools this year are they worried about references and how their child will be viewed coming from such a school? Will the headteachers of independent schools treat references from the head of Newton Farm with some scepticism?

I don't know anyone who's jealous because their child isn't at the school. Our kids are all doing very well thank-you, without the stress and hot housing! There are plenty of Outstanding schools in the area where staff and pupils are happy and free from stress.

I agree tinytaller! I think the jealousy is very omagined - serious illusions (delusions) of grandeur on the part pf the headteacher & her cronies methinks!

Many parents who send their DC to this school would be happy with the excessive homework and sats hothousing described. I live and work in the local area and send my children to another local outstanding school where this does not happen. However from talking to work colleagues and to other parents in the area I know that there is a culture of hothousing amongst many people in the local community. Many people are surprised that I only work part time and wonder how I can afford all the after school coaching required. They seem shocked when I say I do not do after school coaching but spend the afternoon doing activities with my children which include maths and literacy but also many other interesting things. Sometimes my children just chill out! I think you just need to see the streams of children as young as four entering the local coaching colleges to see that many local people feel that this is acceptable. There are some parents at my DC school who relentlessly tutor their young children, funnily these children are often in the same literacy and maths groups as my untutored average DC. I had always thought that the head of this school should have been crediting local tutors and coaching colleges for the high SATS scores , I would not have thought cheating was necessary.

Well said Pinnheart! I'm a relaxed Pinn mum too :)

gag23, I wonder if you have taken the time to talk to parents of children who took the sats this year (and previous years, going a long way). We were disappointed and horrified when our child reported what was going on during the tests. But even we were surprised by the script alteration letter.

hi all - as always - reading through has helped tremendously.
But i am a new parent and till an hour ago was very seriously considering moving to that local area to have a chance of sending our DC to newton farm.

So far i have read a lot of criticism and the odd favourable comment being shot down. I don't understand why there is so much criticism of the head teacher? Is that based on fact as well?
I am actually trying to get past this incident and assess whether Newton Farm is a good school or could be one?
What do the locals think of it?

I have spoken to past pupils and their parents who found the HT very over bearing, had obvious favourites, un willing to compromise from 'her' way and that the whole school environment was very stressed. And she encouraged parents to get their children tutored outside of school!
Not the type of environment I would like my child to be in, but each to their own!

Talk to Local parents about schools in Harrow by visiting our Local site for Harrow, here: local.mumsnet.com/Talk/harrow/local-active

Hello all,just joined to post a message on this blog......I have three kids going to NF, all are thriving in their classes....the head is fab..she plays the game well, does what needs to be done within the laws to make sure all the kids are given the best chance to produce the maximum that they can...pushy...yes she is,but it benefits our kids......as far as I am concerned I don't get any special treatment.....my kids have no time to do anything other than the work the school gives...but I like that,it's for the kids better future..I know many parents whose kids having gone to NF are a year ahead of their year 7 classmates......not once has my son who is currently in year 6 asked to get private tutoring by the head,nor has she suggested that he needs it....the booster club is what she does to make sure a child is ready for sats...What is wrong with that?????????

Please to any parent, past present and future, if u are not happy!!!!!! walk away... We don't need this sort of rubbish about the head or our school...
She works her socks off for nothing other than kids future...

Recently it was reported that all the 'illegal' falsifying of SATs results was down to 1 lone teacher who has since retired and that the Head had no knowledge of any of this malpractice over a number of years!! Shameful scapegoating!!

Shameful scapegoating, I agree!

Sunny12,
Glad to see your son is thriving in the school. Just wondering if your son has been taught anything new this year, as there is a new class teacher. My child who was in top table last year had been taught nothing for one whole year apart from practicing for the SATs, only to be ultimately told by the governor that unavailability of SATs result due to the fraud would not affect the children. Makes you wonder for whom the 'tutoring' and booster classes were for then, doesn't it.
Most of the children are taken on trips at end of Year 6 in other schools to mark the culmination of primary school. No such thing for the children at Newton Farm though. They are just statistics for the head to brag about and chuck out at the end.
As far as being ahead of their batch mates in Year 7, could this also be due to the fact that more than 90% of children go for tuition to prepare for 11+ exams? Newton farm children who go to grammar school are no better than anyone else in the the rest of the class.

Well as an ex pupil of the school, granted many years ago, I did have the same head and was taught by the teacher who 'retired'. All I can say is that the teacher was FANTASTIC!! I'm still in contact with lots of people from different years who were taught by her and all are in agreement that she was a great teacher. The head, well I remember what she was like and I wouldn't want her to be the head of my son's school! What has happened doesn't surprise me of the head and I would most definitely believe that the teacher was a scapegoat!

My daughter went to this school from a private school, in 2003. It had a very good reputation even then. She loved it, largely because her private school had been very pushy for a child who was a late developer and she was going backwards rather than progressing. We'd even had her tested for dyslexia, which wasn't the case. The teacher in question in SATSgate was very caring (as long as you always agreed with her) but her teaching was quite vanilla. She took an exceptional interest in my daughter and that was great of course. The culture of the school was such that teachers were in awe of, and slightly scared by the Head who was very ambitious indeed for the school and herself. I complained to her once about the maths teaching which at the time was offering GCSE standard classes in Year 7 because several in the class were outstanding mathematically. Unfortunately this wasn't the case with my daughter who hadn't mastered the basics, and was falling further and further behind. Even now, her maths is appalling but the school tried to make out she was fine! The Head didn't like my criticism and became very defensive, so determined was she to keep face. That's concerning. So, much that was good, and some worrying trends. All goes back to the Head in my opinion However, it all looks so much rosier when you've experienced the Towie-on-Chiltern hell that is RMS!

Can I ask what mambypamby's motivation was for starting this thread? Sounds like someone with an agenda.

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