Head of St Olaves suspended

[wineoclockthanks]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-41683012

It is a good move by Bromley that the school is investigated and that the Head has been suspended by the Governors during the investigation. If this practice has been established over a number of years it is illegal removal of children from the school. Finding an alternative school mid A level would have been extremely difficult and very damaging to their exam prospects.

It has brought the school into disrepute and I bet the Head may end up going or being disciplined. It's inevitable.

I am also concerned about what the Governors knew or didn't ask! Did they know this was happening or did they just accept the numbers of pupils the Head gave them? Was there any discussion about this policy in Governing Body meetings? Senior staff must have colluded in it too. Shame on them. The whole practice stinks and anyone who allowed this to happen should be disciplined. They must have known it was illegal but didn't actually care about their pupils, just league tables. I hope they have to face the music!

I also was wondering about the governors. Surely they should/would have known about the reasons for people not continuing to the second year?

The governors and the LA have all known about this practice for years.

So while I do not object to the head being suspended I think it would be grossly unfair if he were to take all the blame. The governors and the LEA leaders should also go.

Lots of schools do this: if they don't offer other courses for Y13 and the Y12 results show that the children won't pass A levels, then it's beholden on the school to tell them the truth and encourage them towards college where they can get a different qualification.

Andtheresaw yes. But your rider the Y12 results show that the children won't pass A levels is critical to your statement.

In St Olaves people were being turned away for not getting 3Bs at AS/end y12 exams. Grades BBC is not failing A levels!

That sort of thing has been going on for many years in academically selective schools. Students not being entered for exams or being encouraged to study elsewhere if they're not going to hit the magic number is nothing new sadly but those schools simply have to get the headline grades so it's what they resort to.

The new Head was not popular when they first started (bringing a Tarauntula to an Assembly, anyone?) so I wonder if this suspension will lead to a dismissal.

It is interesting to note that both the previous chair and vice chair of governors resigned since the start of this issue, though it is said that the resignations are not related to the issue.
It will be interesting to see what is actually disclosed in the future when the Council have completed their investigation.

Tiggytape, when I sat my a-levels many moons ago weaker students were simply not entered for the final exams. It really isn't anything new.

Weaker students are not those with B/C grades though. Weaker students are those struggling to get an E.

Even nowadays there are plenty of students who struggle with the transition to A level and don’t do as well as they could at AS, but pull it round before A level.

One of my dc got BBCD at AS, but by a concerted effort in Y13 got A*AA at A level. Luckily their 6th form had a floor of DDD for progression into y13 - they didn’t automatically chuck out dc who got below that, but did bring them in for a serious chat about how to move forward, including the option of retaking y12.

I agree with tiggytape - schools select the students after GCSE, and that should constitute a commitment to see them through to A level, unless the student really duffs up their side of the deal by not showing up to lessons or doing no work at all.

Pastoral care 0, league tables 1. Is this how we really want to treat our children, especially in the face of a mental health epidemic in our schools?

We’re now going to see children being allowed to continue with totally unsuitable A-levels which they are most likely doomed to fail and there will be fall-out on results day because people will equate ‘being told they can’t continue with less than a B’ and ‘being told they can’t continue with an E/U’.
One is bad practice and is designed to protect league table positions. One is fine and is designed to protect students from wasting a further year on something they will fail.

I think that students who aren't coping for whatever reason with courses should be identifiable before the end of the first year, not just in exams.

When colleges chuck lots of students out half way through A levels, where else do they go?

I appreciate we are all innocent until proven otherwise but this smacks of jumping before he’s pushed olavesunofficialnews.wordpress.com/2017/11/17/breaking-news-headmaster-aydin-onac-has-resigned/

Let's hope the authorities will look closely at other high achieving schools that push students out. www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/17/head-of-grammar-school-that-forced-out-a-level-students-resigns