Educating Yorkshire C4 9pm

[DameEdnasBridesmaid]

Am looking forward to this, RL Waterloo Rd?

The problem is that for schools like Thornhill the amount of A and B
grades are not valued and are no more important than C grades.

There are two reasons the first is because schools are ranked on the A-c
grade., The second is that the school as no 6th form so they have no need,
for any of their students to get A*Bs at Gcse because they are moved on
anyway.

Therefore the only results that matter are Cs, if a student is borderline
A-B they are just left to their own devices. They pose no threat to
the school and its A-C targets.

Oh, I agree there was some bullying going on. Girls can be VILE.

I've always assumed schools in London would be far worse.

Not sure why but I do and have refused several job offers on those grounds

(DS isn't 2 yet so I know it's a bit ridiculous but I worry we wouldn't move away before he started school)

Catgirl, I would have thought being in London there would be a perception at least of more choice. I'm in Scotland, only truly comprehensive schools or Private schools here. If you live outwith the cities for the vast majority that means no Private schools so you are stuck with your local town's comp which can be dire but you cannot go outwith catchment without a placement request. Our local school is pretty dire but the one in the next town is fantastic but so over subscribed you would never get a place with a placement request. We could move, of course, but due to the reputation of the school the house prices coupled with availability make that very difficult.

According to twitter - Georgia from ep 2 is now expecting a baby. She'll have to grow up now!

London has some fantastic schools actually. We are doing the secondary rounds right now and we have a choice of some very different but good schools. Lots of excellent primaries with not enough places, but that's not unusual. My concern is about the creeping dominance of the wretched Harris production line academies, which leave me cold but are becoming a monopoly in some areas.

Painful watching tonight as it was all too familiar to a former tortured teen but I'm astonished how much attention is paid to their interpersonal relationships by staff. I can't decide whether I think it's a good or bad thing. And who IS that nosey woman with glasses who appears to sit in the corner of every teacher's office?

I've been to 2 nurseries/pre schools, 4 primaries and 3 secondary schools.
I went from a private girls school to a northern comprehensive. Lasted a year before ending up in a pupil referral unit due to being so badly bullied. After that I started at another northern comp in year 9. That school was incredible, I wouldn't even go in the school at first I was so terrified

My point is its not private v state, it's school v school. This programme is pretty low level compared to the first comp I went to, on the other hand we would have been hung up at the second school for any of that behaviour!
Looking back, if I had a choice, I would start again at year 7 at the second comp. After a year of bullying, a year out of school and having to learn new subjects I still got 11 A* - B gcses

But I agree it will be edited and show what is interesting entertainment rather than day to day mundane stuff

I know London must have loads more choice and some really excellent schools

It's just my silly, unfounded provincial persons view of inner city life .

I don't think he's trying to be cool. I think he's taking time to talk to kids who need someone to talk to. He did an excellent job of talking her down from saying "I'm going to punch them".

I'm often very honest with pupils, saying yes there are people I don't like working with, yes I do get angry etc. But this is how I deal with it.

They are only showing the dramatic bits, but I would sat it is very similar to my school. We do our best to stretch the able, but all the government pressure and our funding is dependent on the C grades.

His approach seemed to work.

Hadikia (spelling?) is now taking four A levels, presumably at a sixth-form college. Am I right to assume that the behaviour will be better there?

If you google London schools there are all sorts of reports confirming they're now among best, if not the best in the UK.

It takes a long time for that perception to trickle through though

BTW, whoever said why did a barrister send his dd to the school? Many barristers if they work in criminal law or other legal-aid funded areas are incredibly badly paid for professionals - think £20k a year. They can't afford private schools. The rich barristers work for the big corporations, privately.

Gosh do people really think all comprehensives are just like the bits on 'Educating' that you see on TV?

Wow

Even if a barrister can afford private education they may not agree with it or think it will be the best choice for their children. I've just finished watching last night's and I though the barister's daughter got 13 A-C grades, her friend got 8 I think.

For me it's compulsive viewing but my DCs tell me it's not like their school for which I'm grateful although it does seem so far that the teachers genuinely care about the pupils and imo are coming across well.

"Where do you learn all these words from?" - Bailey

Did anyone else find it really sad that the short speech given by Hadiqua (sp) seemed to strike so many of the children as complicated.

Maybe the teachers should set homework that requires them to listen to Radio 4 on a regular basis.

There are lots of excellent and a lot more so-so schools in London and lots of different types: faith, grammar, free, community. However most people realistically have little hope of getting into the most sought after ones so choice is an illusion. I think I prefer the scottish system whereby you are allocated your designated local school and then you have to request a more preferred school at least then you dont waste your time traipsing round on open evenings to schools which you have no hope of getting into.

Just catching up.

Did anyone else notice that the friendship groups were all divided along ethnicity lines? Is this normal?

I did notice this Jewelledkaleidoscope and sadly it is normal, even in London where I went to school and college. I was friendly with a couple of Asian girls (I am white British) and invited them out with me and my group of friends - almost all white girls, one black girl - and they refused as we would be going out at times that they would have had to be in. So we'd meet at each others and go out for dinner/to the cinema etc at 5pm and have to be back by 11.30 (on the weekends) but my Asian girlfriends would have had to have been home by 5 or 6. I am aware that this is not always the case but it looked like that would have been with Saafiya and Haadiqa, especially given the trouble over Saafiya talking to boys on Facebook.

Have just caught up with this. I can't see what the problem is with the school. It seems friendly and caring. Its certainly not a rough school by any stretch of the imagination.

I really couldn't stand Saffiyah's voice so struggled with this episode. I think they were involved in this because both girls were heavily supported by senior staff. Based on the volume of teens there must have been hundreds of other friendship dramas going on at the same time that the school weren't as involved in.

In regards to London and the issue of private schooling.

We can afford private schooling but would never use it, lots of people don't agree with it in principle (myself included), and secondly I think its a waste of money. I believe that generally, bright children should do well in any school as long as there aren't extenuating circumstances like bullying. Its more important to encourage them to work hard and study rather than pay for a posh school. I much prefer that we go on more exotic holidays or can have more experiences than spend money on schooling which are available for free (well I have to pay the taxes regardless). I went to a rough school, got accepted to a local private school scholarship and returned back to my rough school within a year. Ok they were rough but they weren't snobs; I had the most horrendous bullying for being 'scummy' and Jewish by the private school kids.

We live in North East London and my DC all attend or will attend schools which are providing good learning environments. I suppose they could be considered rough around the edges but I think its good. My two eldest DSs got excellent GCSE results and are both going on to do the things they want.

The bright asian girl only achieved 8 A to C grades*

but 8 A*s wouldhave been an excellent achievment .

I just watched the last episode on 4OD. It struck me that Hadiqah only got 8 A-C GCSEs - I suppose they could all have been A, but it seems like fewer than expected. Secondly, if she wants to go to a 'good' university, her A-level choices aren't going to get her there. Sociology, drama and law will not be accepted by Red Brick or Russell Group universities. It seems a shame as she appeared very bright, so unless we don't know the full story and she didn't get especially good grades, why on earth was she advised to take those A-levels?

Agree Freckled I would have thought that she would have been advised to do different A levels.
I think her GCSE results were good , considering she had only recently moved to Thornhill and had attended eight schools.
I think that the school did a fantastic job.
BTW, most barristers are NOT paid well. My df is a barrister and is definitely NOT rolling in money.

I haven't read through all the posts but I'm enjoying the programme too. I like most "real life" things. I don't like the Head - I think he's a bit "full of himself" and likes to think he has a "way" with kids that the other staff don't have - maybe he does, but I find him a tiny bit creepy.

Someone commented on the length of time the staff were taking to sort out fall-outs in the friendship groups and I'm sure this is just for TV. I'm not a teacher but I can't imagine in a school of that size the staff would have time to go to such lengths with girls falling out with each other.

I feel so sorry for some of those girls because I can just see them in a few years time with a couple of babies and a boyfriend and living in a crummy flat. Sad but true.

This IS catty but has anyone else noticed all the staff are overweight (well the females anyway)

I really didn't see bullying going on in this episode. I saw normal teenage girls having normal teenage disagreements, one minute love each other, next minute can't stand each other. It was certainly like that at my school and mine was a naice school! The thing with it being a tv show is you can't really appreciate the time line of things and how long the disagreement actually went on for. We also don't know what had happened the week before the cameras arrived - my guess is another girl in the group had fallen out with someone else and on and on it goes.

It's about people learning how to manage relationships and learn what is acceptable and not acceptable so that they have a better grasp of this as adults.

Also I think that Haidiqa (?) did well to get the grades that she did given the amount of disruption she had had experienced. To join a school just months before your exams and have to try and settle in socially, get to know the teachers and work out what you have already done at previous schools etc puts a lot of pressure on even the brightest kid.

I really didn't see bullying going on in this episode.

Really? When the girl new to the school sat down with the group at dinnertime and one started making nasty comments for no reason at all? As one of the teachers said, she was the target of unkindness for no reason other than she was bright, beautiful and successful.