Ashcroft Academy - any thoughts?

[Sirine1708]

Hi, last time it was discussed here in detail 6 years ago, we live not far so I'm wondering is that that good/bad?
Haven't heard anything from current pupils, but know that some local parents are not even considering it while others were happy to get a place.

Heard they make children stay 1 extra hr before or after school for every missed hr at school ( say you missed 1 day due to illness - have to stay at school for 5 times for 1 extra hr) - is there any way to avoid it?

" Students who are absent will be referred to ‘catch-up’. They will complete an hour after school for every hour they have missed through absence" - doesn't sound like it can be avoided
Mobile phones, jewellery and bicycles are banned

I'm not opposed to strictness but this system looks like a waste of time. Children should not be punished for being sick. From what I've heard they just sit there (they can self-study), it's not like they get extra tutoring from school for missed lessons. Not an efficient way to catch-up at all.

I started reading behaviour/absense policies for other schools but fortunately this rule is unique.

In general it looks like they deem parents unfit for taking any decisions for their children. Though it may be true for a certain % of families, I wouldn't like to be treated like that by default.

"Send your child in to school even when they appear unwell, unless the illness is more serious. We will contact you to collect him or her if necessary, but better your child is in school feeling unwell than at home"

At least now I get why some local parents wince when being asked if they would send their kids there.

Avoid

My neighbour's son is there and apparently finds the school very tough. Detentions are doled out for the slightest infringement. His confidence has been severely affected.

My daughter goes here, yeah it's strict, I'm of two minds. It is great for actually achieving some type of learning. But it is definitely over the top in some areas. The unfortunate part is that this strictness is needed due to a large swath of the population being unable to 'parent' thier children. They've passed this onto teachers.

You can infer the rest.

Anyone have any info on sixth form at Ashcroft?

Some friends of ours moved their kid out at 6th Form as he couldn't cope with the strictness and silly rules.

Please please please, do not consider your child going to this school!

the way they treat the students are inhumane.
your child will get in trouble for talking, shouting, wearing the wrong colour socks or their tie not being long enough or is too short, if they forget a piece of homework, if they laugh or shout to their friends in the playground, unless you want your child to be very depressed or want to commit suicide I would recommend looking elsewhere for your child to attend school.

I myself have heard even the reception staff belittling a girl because she come downstairs to the office for an appointment they turnt her away and told her to come back at a certain time then carried on talking and belittling her whilst parents or other people were there to hear them

Could you explain further?

Considering it for DC at 6th form. So the infamous strictness/pettiness continues on in 6th form?

If you're a very contientious person and don't break rules, get on with your work, would it still be a problem?

DC is quiet and happy to work. Sometimes forgetful though.

Where did your DF's child go after Ashcroft?

Ashcroft bans bicycles. They will give a detention to any child caught cycling to school. This is in their policy and was discussed multiple times in local forums and cyclists' forums, e.g. see https://www.reddit.com/r/londoncycling/comments/1figz90/ashcroft_secondary_school_bans_bicycles_how_legal/

Their ethos is very similar to that of Holland Park school and Mossbourne
See press clips
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61325597
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czjd383z9lyo

and a very long discussion on Mumsnet https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/secondary/5225872-mossbourne-academies-investigations-into-alleged-emotional-harm-and-abuse-why-are-needlessly-strict-academies-unaccountable

I absolutely gate this type of schools. This * would not be tolerated in the workplace - why we seem to tolerate it at schools is beyond me.

Do not underestimate the impact these toxic environments can have on the mental wellbeing of a child.

My daughter goes to this school she started this year as year 7, she says its strict but has very nice teachers, although some may be strict she says if you avoid them and follow the rules then you will never get in trouble as for appointments you need to try and reschedule for not school hours or if you cannot you need to tell the school and as long as they come before am or pm registration they may not even get catch up or detention at all. We think it's a good school, but if your child always misbehaves, this will be a bad school for you. In the topic of uniform, they teach children to stay professional and tidy, which is why they are very strict about it. The school wants nothing but the best for your child.

@bird123elephant A quick google search tells me that at Ashcroft Y7 started on 27-Aug this year https://www.atacademy.org.uk/page/?title=Term+Dates&pid=351
If you and your daughter think that you can reliably infer much about a school after a week / a week and a half, there are only two possible explanations:

• You are the headteacher or a teacher in disguise writing the equivalent of a fake review, or
• You want to convince yourself that your child's school is fantastic, so much so that you fail to realise it's too soon to reach any conclusion

Please note that I would have said the same to someone praising a school I like. You cannot reach any conclusion after a week; if you do so, you're just not credible

You talk about "catch up". It's not catch up. There's no teaching. If you miss school for whatever reason, including medical appointments, they just lock you in a room. That's it. No teaching, no revision, no nothing. In theory you're supposed to study there by yourself.

See, the fact that you do not know how this works, and that you misrepresent it, is another indication you are unreliable - whether in good faith or bad faith I do not know.

Strictness at Ashcroft is often presented as fairness, but in reality it’s a rigid no excuses culture. That raises some red flags:
-SEND & inclusion: rules are applied uniformly, with little visible flexibility or reasonable adjustments. Children who can’t comply due to needs risk repeated sanctions.
-Appointments/absences: even with notice, pupils may face catch-up or detentions. This can penalise families with unavoidable health or specialist appointments.
-Uniform obsession: discipline around appearance is prioritised over wellbeing or learning.
-Behaviour framing: the school is “good” only if your child complies; those who struggle are quickly labelled as the problem.
Overall, Ashcroft’s approach may suit compliant pupils, but the red flags suggest it can be unforgiving and exclusionary — especially for SEND families.

@77summers Yes, but not just that. You can also rest assured that, if you have a problem with these schools, absolutely all will happen.

Take Mossbourne (see my link above). Almost a year has gone by. More than two hundred people have come forward (current and former students, parents, teachers). Sure, there will always be a few disgruntled people, but when more than 200 people come forward??

And what has happened? Nothing. Mossbourne has commissioned an enquiry, which will not be made public. Not sure if people grasp the irony: you accuse me of something, so I hire and pay for someone to investigate me, but the results won't be disclosed publicly. Is this bonkers or what?

The complaints policy of these schools makes it very clear that they mark their own homework, and that not even the Department of Education can overturn a school's decision.

We have the option not to send our kids there, but we don't have the option not to fund these completely unaccountable schools with our tax money. Bonkers.
We would not accept this level of unaccountability with other crucial, state-funded services. Why we accept it with schools is beyond my comprehension.

Lastly, I'd add that changing secondary school is harder than changing primary. Primary school families move around more, whether to private schools or to other areas (eg as the family grows). Secondary school families tend to move less. So choose your secondary school carefully, because changing may not be easy

Mossbourne is the perfect case study of how the academy model was built to look shiny on paper but is rotten underneath. It was the Tories’ poster child — Wilshaw went straight from head there to Ofsted boss, and Ofsted still rates the schools ‘Outstanding’. Yet families have described children being screamed at, humiliated, even denied toilet breaks. The DfE has now had to order a safeguarding review.

Ashcroft Academy shows the money side — funded by ex-Lord Ashcroft, a mega Tory donor, with serious financial questions raised. Then there are the big academy chains like Astrea, Dixons, and Ark — all pushing the same harsh, compliance-driven model imported from US charter schools. It’s the same neoliberal playbook: Teach Like a Champion (TLAC), zero tolerance, SLANT, military-style discipline dressed up as ‘high expectations’.

Even researchEd plays into it — giving a platform to this ideology while dismissing SEND needs and parent concerns as if we’re just obstacles. On paper, these trusts look ‘Outstanding’. In reality, it’s privatisation by stealth, with children and parents carrying the cost while the system becomes more and more entrenched and impossible to untangle. Parents are just starting to notice that our schools have been taken over by private hands and we have lost a generation of children in the process.

I’m not sure ChatGPT is an expert on this particular school.

What is clear is that behaviour is out of control in many schools across the country, as too many parents think rules don’t apply to their DC.

That means schools like this have no choice but to implement zero tolerance approaches so that learning can take place.

@BeachLife2 Like all the bootlickers who support those methods, you present a false dichotomy between these draconian methods, and chaos.

That's intellectually dishonest, and flawed.

I fully agree on the importance of rules.
But rules need to be fair and reasonable.

• Mossbourne organising seminars on how to instil "healthy fear"
• Ashcroft giving you a detention if you cycle to school
• Shouting at children
• Ashcroft assigning homework late in the weekend but still expecting you present it on Monday
• Ashcroft giving you 5x1 hour detention if you miss one day of school, and misrepresenting it as catch up while it's not

Those things are not fair and reasonable. They are petty, capricious rules put together by repressed headteachers who didn't get enough love from their mums.

And no, I am not going to apologise for the term "bootlicker". My mental health has suffered significantly for the bullying witnessed in toxic environments like Mossbourne and Ashcroft. We don't tolerate that for adults. Why we should tolerate it for children is beyond me.

Precisely because I have suffered from it, I can recognise red flags and I am incredibly cautious.

Lastly, even if you were to think that these methods are fair and reasonable, surely even then you will agree that the complete lack of accountability is not, right?

Our experience of Ashcroft was pretty awful. We went there for the Wandsworth test and the whole thing felt hostile, teachers barking orders at children and even at parents, and this was meant to be their chance to impress prospective families. My child came out saying straight away that they didn’t like the school.

On top of that, they didn’t allow the extra time that’s supposed to be in place for SEND pupils. When I complained, the school were very defensive instead of reflective. That tells you everything you need to know about their approach, compliance above inclusion, and little flexibility for children who don’t fit the mould.

And it’s not just us: we know of families who’ve taken their kids out in sixth form because the environment simply wasn’t working for them.

There are plenty of inadequate schools where students are out of control and no learning takes place. That is not good either for anyone’s mental health or education.

In my view, parents who are unwilling to follow rules should be pointed to one of these so that everyone else can access their education.

@BeachLife2 Again, false dichotomy.
Again, it's not like the only alternatives are i) draconian schools like Mossbourne or Asjcroft and ii) chaos, with nothing in between.

I am not saying that no rules are needed.
I am saying that we can and should have schools with clear, reasonable rules, with high expectations, clear punishments for misbehaviour, etc, but that, in order to have that, it is NOT necessary to have seminars on how to instil fear, to shout at children, to give detentions to students cycling to school, etc.

If you disagree, could you please explain why?

Could I also ask you to comment on Holland Park School? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-61325597 Do you think that the report which found a climate of exploitation and fear was wrong?

Do you think that the more than 200 people who complained about Mossbourne made it all up? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/czjd383z9lyo

Do you think it's a coincidence that these schools all had the same ethos as Ashcroft and were all rated outstanding by Ofsted? Does it not maybe suggest that Ofsted's ratings are kind of worthless

@ParentOfOne

Opponents of schools like Ashcroft often point to this mythical alternative where DC are perfectly behaved with no need for strict rules in all areas that are enforced. There is no successful school in the country that operates like that.

This school was one of the worst in the country, with DC and staff being bullied and assaulted; and pretty much no learning happening.

It has been turned around thanks to a zero tolerance approach, starting with the basics of attendance, punctuality and uniform.

www.kentonline.co.uk/sheerness/news/how-we-re-transforming-one-of-britain-s-worst-schools-314376/

A single case doesn't prove anything. I wonder what, other than bad faith, could possibly lead you to think otherwise.

Circa 20% of London's secondary schools are outstanding. https://www.mylondon.news/news/south-london-news/interactive-map-shows-every-outstanding-29885666
Yet they don't all have needlessly draconian policies like Ashcroft and Mossbourne. Why do you think that is??

Is it necessary to shout at children for misplacing a bag (Mossbourne)?

Is it necessary to give them detention for cycling to school (Ashcroft)?

Is it necessary to give detentions to a girl for wearing the 99% identical but cheaper Asda skirt (somewhere near Manchester)?

Is it necessary to punish children for taking one second too long to get a pen out (Micaela) or to teach them to talk while standing up with their arms crossed (also Micaela), a stupid habit they will have to unlearn as it signals distance?

Is it necessary to force children to wear blazers in a heatwave (many schools all over the country)?

Please, please, pretty please, can you explain what these policies achieve?

Are they conducive to the development of critical thinking and analytical skills?

Or do they crush kids' spirits into submission? Or do they risk teaching kids that rules are petty and capricious? Please, can you answer?

My older son went to the same school, but he left, after my daughter joined so we have a lot of experience with the school ( which I forgot to mention ) . My son never got a detention any other than forgetting his tie or homework. We had many medical appointments during school hours but neither of my children got punished . And no I absolutely won't keep my child in a school they don't like regardless of the level of achievement or if hundreds of pounds were already spent on uniform and other stuff . I always ask my daughter after school if it had been alright and believe me when I say I know when my children are feeling upset , every single time the response is the same followed by a ton of things she did and the lessons she had . A little note on the ban of bicycles is as far as I is there believe to keep your children safe , first of all the school is on the highway and second of all not all children have bicycles which can make your child feel left out comparing to their friends that do have bikes , also it may encourage kids to use lime bikes which are not for kids and are 18+ only . There are many ways of transportation like buses and trains , don't see a problem with it .