Head of St Olave's resigns

[Astronotus]

www.theguardian.com/education/2017/nov/17/head-of-grammar-school-that-forced-out-a-level-students-resigns

Quote from a current 2018 admissions policy for a grammar:
"Year 12 students enrolled on A Level courses are expected to achieve a minimum of grade C in AS exams in order to continue a subject to be studied at A2 in Year 13".
So tiggytape, if you achieve two DDs and a C in AS does that mean you get to take only one A level in year 13? Good for school's high league table rating as you'll take that C and hopefully turn it into an A at end of year 13. But what about those two Ds? Does that mean this state grammar will have you register at an external centre to take the exam, making sure it doesn't impact their league table position?

Unfortunately not the only current admissions policy where I've read this - and I mean state schools.

Thank you for recommending what newspapers I should read Astro. Somewhat patronising of you.

You are totally failing to understand the nature of how Heads report numbers on roll to Governors and you are assuming that Governors get to see the every day workings of how and when children leave a school. They don’t. They will see number on roll for each year group. They would not see letters sent to parents. If the number on roll goes down from Y12 to Y13 they may not notice unless it is pointed out to them that there is a specific reason for the drop. They may ask about the drop in numbers if they notice.

However it is very different if they had a Policy to to remove pupils and the Head reported on how many children were affected by the policy and removed (excluded) on attainment grounds.

The Guardian won’t be an expert on exclusion law and certainly won’t know how Governing Bodies Work. Any further investigation by knowledgable people will unearth what the governors knew. However stopping illegal exclusions is the important thing.

This is what I’m concerned about - the Olaves case has made clear a school can’t set grade requirements for a student to move from Y12 to Y13. But can the school still decide whether a pupil can continue with the subjects they got a low (however that’s judged) grade in?

My experience is with St Olaves - the first year Onac was Head. DS after AS exams was told he couldn’t continue with one of his subjects. (He got an E grade) He wasn’t asked to leave though he had CCDE at AS level and the ‘requirement’ then was 3 C grades. But telling him he couldn’t continue with the subject he needed for his degree choice was designed to have the same effect of pushing him out. (We took Olaves to Tribunal as DS has SEN and won - DS got to do a Y14 to complete that A level and got a B grade.)

Olaves always insisted it was their ‘professional judgement’ that determined what subjects a student could continue to study in y13.

Bubbles, you said 20 Nov: "Astro - I wasn’t aware the Chair and Vice Chair has resigned and neither did you post that info so thanks to Mrs P for bringing me up to date." But these resignations were reported widely in the press from 12 Sept. So I'm assuming you weren't following the story closely. The Guardian good on education - but other good quality broadsheets are available of course!

Governors seeing roll numbers for yr 12 and yr 13. I think they'd notice pretty quickly if more than a couple disappeared from yr 12. Where the St O roll is concerned that would be x16 students at a (very rough) cost of £4,000 each = £64,000 per year. Quite a big hole in their sixth form budget. Mind you, this is a school that asks for financial donations from grandparents and parents. I've always thought large donations were a grey/worrying area in the state sector. Wonder if a child whose parent had donated £1,000s would be given a "you're leaving" letter at end y12?
Are you a governor Bubbles?

I agreed that this school had issues but all got cleared now.

The HT is resigned and the school is moving in a good direction.

All school have issues, not 100%perfect.

What’s the point in debating about what happened in the past? How long we are going to talk about this?

The same thing happened at lots of top schools.

If you don't want to debate, why post?

Because I’m jobless like you

Just read your only other post on 27 Oct where you were discussing the issue of students with poor grades leaving Sutton and Dartford boys. If you don't want to debate St Os then don't post and don't be rude.

Thank you tiggytape for clarifying that schools can’t insist a pupil drops a subject in y13 if they get a low grade in y12.

And of course it was never about whether DS would fail his A levels - only that he wouldn’t get a ‘high enough’ grade for a school where the Head was fixated on league table position.

What is terrible is the large number of children who have had their education disrupted over the years with this morally disgusting and illegal practice.
These children have been made to feel like a failure and been humiliated in front of their peers and made to leave their friends to start again.
It's absolutely disgusting how they have been treated and at a vulnerable age - the schools should hang their heads in shame.

I totally agree that it is shameful and I am amazed parents didn’t complain before this. The law on exclusion has not changed but I guess the parents didn’t see it as exclusion before now. I am surprised though.

Astro: I didn’t see that two Governors had resigned (apologies) and, no, I am not living and breathing this. Yes, I am a Governor but in a different County and have 30 years plus behind me of knowing how GBs Work and putting together training programmes for Governors.

The numbers on roll at a school are calculated and submitted in January and the budget is based on that figure for the following April. If a school routinely reduces numbers from y12 to y13 in July it’s the same every year. The claw back (adjustment) will happen but it’s a continual cycle and not a one off loss. The Head submits the figures and in most schools the budget is prepared by the Head and Bursar (or Finance Officer) who is often in the SLT. Governors are not going over the detail of the budget when professional staff are employed to do it. Again, it’s not strategic. This level of work is day to day management.

The Governors Finance Committee is likely to go over the budget in some detail, especially if there are huge cuts (£64,000 isn’t huge) and other Governors will see the final budget, make sure it adds up, and not necessarily query it. They all have to agree it but the Committee will do the vast majority of the work. No doubt the Chairman and Head were on this Committee. If you lose pupils every year, there will not be a change to the base line budget because the loss is the same every year. Hope that explains it for you.

Why did Olaves get an outstanding OFSTED rating in 2014, when from summer 2011 (the first results when Onac was Head) the school was acting illegally and preventing students from going into Y13? Don’t OFSTED look at data of student numbers from y12 to y13?

The OFSTED report says SEN support enables pupils with SEN/disabilities to make as much progress as those pupils without. Not the case for our DS - in 2013 we got a judgement of disability discrimination against the school.

Thanks for the info BubblesBuddy. Pannetone - sorry to hear what happened to you with this school.

I never had a DC at this school but know many who have/or had. I do think the main problem is that it is such a prestigious and hard school to get into that parents were not willing to rock the boat, until the brave ones this year. The power the head had was never challenged by the authorities, even though some parents did try to ask questions. Was it a case that if you formally complained, your child's education could be compromised?

No pannetone, Ofsted do not look at number variations year on year. They are interested in quality of teaching and learning (mainly) management and curriculum etc. If you look at any school report from Ofsted, they won’t mention numbers on roll other than a factual report - 300 in the 6th form for example.

Ofsted should look at any formal complaints though so if ones have been made, they should look at how they were resolved. However if you create a climate of “you are lucky to be here so don’t make life difficult for us” you won’t get formal complaints and parents just fade away.

“Authorities” are the Governors. There are no other authorities these days. The Governors should ask for and should receive detailed information from the Head about the school which hopefully follows a template suggested by the DofE. The secondary school reports from the Head to Governors are routinely small books around here! The Governors should question and challenge the Head based on this information and their visits to the school. That’s their job. However it is all too easy for a swish Head to persuade the Governors that everything is great because the Governors actually want to believe this. They don’t necessarily ask the questions they should. They won’t necessarily listen to anyone else and the Chairman has a very close working relationship with the Head so you cannot expect everything to go to the full Governing Body if they don’t want it to. Of course good Governors would have questioned the numbers. Would have listened to parents. Would have made sure they had detailed reports from the Head about variations from y12 to y13 and destinations of the “lost” students. The report that will look into this will hopefully illuminate what went on.

I do think grammar school Heads are a breed apart from other Heads on the arrogance front - having met plenty. They are rarely questioned by parents. Our LA more or less left them alone before they all became academies. Therefore parents have to trust the Governors because there is no-one else.

I don't mean you Bubbles, but appointed governors can be far too cosy with the heads of high-flying schools when those same governors have children at the school. Not in their child's interest to have school problems aired, especially publicly.