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Town GCSE results must be improved
10:20am Thursday 4th December 2008
SCHOOLS will come under scrutiny in an effort to improve the town’s GCSE results.
Council and government officers will visit secondary schools to find out what can be done to lift grades.
The inspections – to take place under the Secondary Standards and Achievement Review title – are taking place this month.
The Department for Children Schools and Families revealed more than 60 per cent of pupils in the town failed to get five A* to C grades last year, according to its provisional figures.
John Gilbert, the group director of children services at Swindon Council, said: “We haven’t been good at Key Stage 4 results. We are working with secondary schools to get better.
“It is not about schools being at fault – it is a societal issue. It is about trying to remove as many barriers as possible to young people learning.
“There may be health barriers or emotional barriers. How can a young person have any motivation to learn where there is chaos at home?
“Officers will look at what systems are in place in schools and whether we are equipped to support them. We want to find out how we can support them to make their systems more robust and review our advisory services.”
Mr Gilbert feels it is ironic that a school’s Ofsted rating may not be reflected in results.
“Some schools are getting poor Key Stage 4 results but are getting outstanding Ofsted reports – that is the irony,” he said.
This year 39.9 per cent of pupils in the town got good GCSE grades. Last year 41.4 per cent achieved the Government benchmark. Swindon is lagging behind Wiltshire by 13 per cent and nationally by about seven per cent.
Mr Gilbert said being strapped for cash because of lack of Government funding makes it harder to catch up.
Despite Swindon being grouped in the same category as Luton, North East Lincolnshire and Bracknell Forest along with seven other authorities, it received a formula grant of £49million while they each received £62m.
Schools in Swindon are the 17th worst funded in England because of how it is categorised by the Government, says Swindon Council.
Mr Gilbert said headteachers felt very strongly about the funding gap.
Your Say YourSwindon
Mum's The Word, Walcot, Swindon says...
10:20pm Thu 4 Dec 08
“It is not about schools being at fault – it is a societal issue. It is about trying to remove as many barriers as possible to young people learning.
Schools in Swindon are the 17th worst funded in England because of how it is categorised by the Government, says Swindon Council.
Mr Gilbert said headteachers felt very strongly about the funding gap.
So Mr Gilbert we have identified the problem, now how do we go about fixing it?
Good luck in your new role. I look forward to reading and hearing more from you, as a Swindon parent.
Your sayYourSwindon
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John Gilbert, Swindon's new head of education
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Always Grumpy, Swindon says...
2:53pm Thu 4 Dec 08
I think Mr Gilbert needs to address this particular issue as a matter of some urgency.
"Mr Gilbert feels it is ironic that a school’s Ofsted rating may not be reflected in results.
“Some schools are getting poor Key Stage 4 results but are getting outstanding Ofsted reports – that is the irony,” he said.
This statement clearly highlights the current shortcomings of the inspection system, that appears to gloss over all the cracks and fails to identify core problems within schools. Unfortunately it is a system devised and developed by a target obsessed government that wants manufactured facts and figures above the truth.
Just look at Harringay, The NHS and the police for further examples of targets taking priority over everything else.