Anyone got any opinions on the Michaela School?

[noblegiraffe]

My Twitter is currently full of talk about Michaela as the teachers there have released a book today and are holding a conference explaining what they do. It's a no-excuses school where kids walk the corridors either in silence or chanting Shakespeare, behaviour is expected to be perfect including no slouching. Everything possible is done to reduce workload of teachers - no marking in books, lessons are all joint planned and taught uniformly, no differentiation, they write their own textbooks.

Does anyone's kids go there? Anyone decide against sending their kids there? Does anyone know how it is viewed in the local community?

But the idea that black children need a different type of school to white children ... is unsettling

From what I have read about this school, and heard from Katherine Birbalsingh, the aim is to offer the same education that is available to middle-class children in British prep schools, not singling black children out for different treatment.

In the US KIPP schools have a definite race bias, and it was the suggestion upthread about losing black children to gang culture by the head that made the link.

In her speech that I linked to above she was more persuasive talking about how Cameron and Johnson have privilege and instead of whining about how unfair it is, doing something about it, and how our children should be running the country. I saw on Wikipedia that she used to be a Marxist which makes more sense as I knew her as a Tory!

kesstrel in one of the photos I posted upthread there is an example of a chemistry lesson in the form of a script. Whether the teacher would be expected to use that exact script is unclear, but from looking at how it is structured, I think they would.

I am sure the school blogs are very informative.

Before she set up this school and had her moment of glory at the Tory party conference Ms B wrote , IMO, an unethical book showing barely anonymised young people in a bad light. Her account of bad behaviour, bad engagement and ignorance was challenged publicly by the visiting writer who was running the session .

Many schools are running intense programmes to improve behaviour. This school seems, to some extent, a self -agrandising experiment. For the sake of its young people I hope it works well for them. And good stuff if students and parents are happy.

But the founding of her school received no (not enough) public support and significant hostility from the communities in the borough whose children she wrote about.

The proof of the pudding will be in the VA results and achievements, long and short term for her students , not in the schools blog or PR.

Like I said upthread, I'm sure that their results will be astonishing - the sheer amount of time they spend on learning will get results, plus they have a very small school to focus on (at the moment only KS3) and a team of dedicated and enthusiastic teachers.

However results won't show the full picture. Are SEN students discouraged from applying? How many students change schools because they don't fit in? (See lunchgate for example). The head in the video above claimed that her approach could and would work for all pupils, so if it turns out that the approach is selecting a particular group of students who would do well at other schools then that would be harder to spot.

Noble: I think you are onto something important also regarding how this school's set-up is designed relative to which families and students it will attract. Scare away the lazy and ignorant who do not value educational achievement and also anyone who needs extra help, and attract hardworking, ambitious, academic(?), families willing to submit to early starts, strict discipline and no differentiation. Maximise PR (and both controversy and admiration) around this approach to avoid/attract the "right" families and seek over time (as results are proven?) to also attract families outside the local neighbourhood by having a lottery within a 5 mile radius, broadening the base of relevant families to include more MC. Let a few years pass, and whoops you have a grammar in all but name (through self-selection) and super results.

Note: I have not read the book (and could not even read that photo on my phone) and have no inside info, so I may have misunderstood. But watching with interest as a potential future parent.

In short a Marmite strategy. Viable in a big city even if (some or even many) locals may be put off. (At least more teacher-friendly than e.g. Holland Park, which also uses strictness and high standards in a somewhat similar way)

This is the data for their first cohort:

Percentage of SEN pupils with a statement or EHC plan 1.7%
Percentage of pupils with English not as first language 48.7%
Percentage of pupils eligible for FSM at any time during the past 6 years 58.0%
The national average for pupils with statements is 2.8%, so higher than this number.

This is a link to their sen policy

mcsbrent.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/SEN-Information-Document.pdf

Their Senco, katie ashford, blogs at Tabula Rasa, and seems very passionate and committed.

I guess it is inevitable that people will speculate about all the possible things that might show the school in a discreditable light. But for what its worth, my impression, from reading a lot of blogs about the school (From visitors as well as staff) is that the staff are hugely committed to doing their best for the children, and are not engaged in anything underhand.

It seems to me certain posters , who happen to be teachers are 'petrified' that this experiment might work.

If the Michaela school works by using a combination of strict discipline and rote learning thus ideas from the'last century' . It will throw an almighty spanner in the works of the teaching Unions and the political left !

The teaching Unions are hoping this school ends up in 'chaos' and a basket case !

Although this school would not appeal to me or my DC ( does not need to does it) . I can very much see why this school is like the second coming for parents whose children are surrounded with school children 'beating' up police men !.

Certain children going to schools with little or no 'moral' compasses and schools unable or unwilling to drill acceptable behaviour for life in to them.

The rules might be extreme , then again some of the pupils are coming from 'extreme' circumstances so the no excuses rule book is in the pupils best interests.

Anyway the parents could send their children to Deptford Green school if stamping on policemen's heads is more their sought of discipline.

Why would teachers be petrified it "works"? Results wise I can believe it works - as would a military school etc etc.

Its just not where I'd want to teach or send my kids - I want imaginative, critical thinking etc etc.

I would be "petrified" if the govt brought in bootcamp school for everyone. I can kind of see it... cheap to run, dont need proper teachers as its scripted etc etc... Not sure its long term interest educationally (cynically of course the politicians kids etc would all go to private schools with time to develop beyond the curriculum and explore ideas etc so primed to be the leaders, with the rest of the kids sent to boot camp school in order to leran to be obedient in mainstream jobs....)

And the list of what every Year 7 child will read is impressive, but also very daunting, and it seems to protest too much. Really? The whole Odyssey? The whole Aeneid? It would have impressed me more if they'd spelt Virgil correctly, too.

Getting back to SEN, it occurs to me that Michaela would probably be a really good environment for at least some children on the ASD spectrum. The explicit teaching, the quiet, the order, the predictable routines, and the lack of bullying (which is one thing the behaviour system is designed to prevent).

Kesstrel you seem very invested - are you one of the evangelical teachers?

I have read a lot about this school with interest. Some of it makes a hell of a lot of sense - the way they handle homework, for example. Some of it fills me with horror - as a drama teacher, there is no place for me there. I like the emphasis they place on respect and knowledge - one of the things that bugs me about teaching in the school I do (Special measures academy in a grammar area) is the widespread assumption that I'm probably not that clever myself otherwise surely I'd be teaching in one of the grammars. Sometimes I'd like to wear a badge with my A Level results, university and degree classification on. Michaela values cleverness and that is a good thing.

The reading thing though - what if kids just can't? I listen to my bottom set Year 9s read each week as part of their literacy catch up programme. 14 year old boys are reading The BFG and Diary of a Wimpy Kid and are struggling. They would not be able to access the Odyssey or the Aeneid and it's mind boggling to me that anyone would claim they could.

The biggest question I have though is could this work in an existing school or is it a process that HAS to be built from the ground up, as Michaela has been.

"The lack of bullying"... personally, I believe this is the result of it being a small school more than anything else. My school (see above - doesn't have the greatest of reputations) has very little bullying, but there are only 500 kids and they have nowhere to hide. Everyone knows everyone else. We also have a student-run anti-bullying initiative. Michaela doesn't have the monopoly on lack of bullying.

I like the idea of not marking homework - when I was at school in the Netherlands, our homework books were never worked - instead the work was discussed and built on in class. Much better, and it reduced teacher workload.

I like the idea of supporting the ongoing creation of textbooks for revision - as long as this is properly taught and supported, with the quality of the textbooks being regularly assessed for completeness and usefulness, this is a good idea.

I hate, hate, hate the idea of marching and chanting and as for not allowing slouching - that just gives me the rage. Draconian crap, not needed.

Kesstrel you seem very invested - are you one of the evangelical teachers?

Not sure whether to take this question seriously or not. I guess, since I've already said the reason I know about it is because I've read lots of blogs on this subject, I should assume you're joking.

I am just very interested in what they are doing, and in whether it will succeed. I hope it will. I also feel a little saddened by the hostility and suspicion some posters have been showing toward a school they don't seem to know much about, so I am trying to supply a bit of information. Does that make me 'invested'?

As far as 'the reading thing': I believe they put a huge emphasis in Year 7 on remediating reading, using intensive synthetic phonics. Since they are a 'free' school, they presumably have a lot more liberty to bend the curriculum a bit, in order to accomplish this - plus their extended school day, of course. I think they have had some success with this, although I have no idea how successful they have been overall.

But I do think that once children have mastered phonics, the key for most of them is lots and lots of practice - and clearly that is what they are getting, in a school that spends so much time on reading together. (Group reading in class is done with children using a ruler to follow line by line.) Anyway, if you look at the blogs of the senco I mentioned above, I think she does discuss this issue.

Just to add: I've found some more info about the reading. This is from their free school proposal:

"They will study the history of English language and literature, in a way designed to fit in with the History curriculum. Across the three Key Stage Three years, pupils will learn how the English language has developed, and they will learn about some of the great writers in English. All pupils will learn this, but the texts they read will be differentiated according to their reading ability. All pupils will read some of the original work of great writers, and some abridged and adapted versions. The balance will be different depending on ability.
• Pupils with particularly low reading ages will also follow an intensive programme of synthetic phonics, the most effective method of teaching decoding skills."

This post from the SENCO describes how they tackle pupils with low reading ability:

mcsbrent.co.uk/for-unto-every-one-that-hath-shall-be-given-and-he-shall-have-abundance-but-from-him-that-hath-not-shall-be-taken-away-even-that-which-he-hath-2/

I also feel a little saddened by the hostility and suspicion some posters have been showing

Are you meaning me? I genuinely don't know if you think I'm coming across as hostile when I'm just questioning how it works.

It seems to me certain posters , who happen to be teachers are 'petrified' that this experiment might work.

I think you've made a massive assumption there. And one that isn't correct. I''m with noble on the more trad end of the teaching scale and think knowledge is important and should be explicitly taught. But there's something about Michaela that leaves me a bit cold. It's drilling and the knowledge organisers I think.

I'm not sure the education they seem to be providing is the same as a private education however much they want it to be.

They are far from the only secondary using phonics to rapidly catch up their weaker readers though. The ARK academies do, I think Harris and a couple of other academy chains do to. My local bog standard comp are using Sounds-Write as an intervention.

"I also feel a little saddened by the hostility and suspicion some posters have been showing"

Or did you mean me? If you name the posters you believe are being hostile, and refer to their words, it would be easier to discuss/explain.

I am genuinely interested (as a parent) in this school, and I am trying to digest the quite significant differences from other schools - so I really appreciate this thread. My earlier comments should be seen as admiring (rather than ridiculing) this school's sharp profile and how they are likely to attract the families they want, and repel others. I am both attracted and repelled at the same time, at the moment... This school was and remains on our list of schools to visit this academic year, which will be very interesting! In the future I expect excellent results (especially Progress 8) from this school, and also that it will become increasingly oversubscribed. I admire the head's passion (yes, I watched most of the video) and like the proximity to the tube - but I am grappling with whether my particular DC would enjoy and thrive on the approach...

Noble no, I didn't mean you. But a few of the posts on this thread really have been over the top, and others do seem to me to have been making assumptions that are unfair.

I think I was reacting to Evil's post above, because it made me feel defensive, and that I needed to justify the fact that I've been trying to give the school's side of things. I apologise if anyone has been offended by my comments.

NWGirls

Like I said above, I don't want to get into a discussion of people being hostile. I was reacting to Evil's post, and trying to explain why I wanted to provide what information I have, and at least try to present the school's own take on things. I really wish now I had just ignored her post.

I'm fascinated by it TBH but do agree size of school helps. I do think a knowledge based curriculum is key but I do worry about the long term effects of gong to a school like Michaela. Making progress when it is so scaffolded and drilled is a given, but what will the chn go onto after? Will they have good grades but lack initiative and creative skills to go on to further education independently?
But I like that behaviour is being tackled so actively because so much teaching time is lost dealing with interruptions and lack of discipline...

Rafals I agree with you about other secondary schools using phonics, and I think it's a brilliant development. Although really, of course, it shouldn't be necessary. I've been following the phonics 'debate' for nearly 20 years now, however, so I don't underestimate the residual resistance that a fair number of people in education still have towards it.