Big Dorset Brunch show on BBC Radio Solent about Swanage free school - Paul Angel and Lindsay Shaw debating the pros & cons.
Available in full on the podcast for the next 7 days from here: http://tinyurl.com/66mq2uo
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A very useful interview. Paul Angel did a fine job.
Two questions for the other chap:
-Why should parents abandon this idea to send their children to a much larger school which OFSTED only rates as 'Satisfactory'? I suspect it will still be 'Satisfactory' without the 400 Swanage pupils who might attend the Free School. I think he underrates his school's ability to be more than 'Satisfactory'. Is he concerned that, without up to 400 pupils from Swanage, his school will drop to 'Unsatisfactory'?
-If Purbeck School (via this gentleman) is concerned about the effects that a free school will have on the Purbeck School, then my was PS's head (Mr Holman) so gung-ho to support the two tier changeover which predicated the need for a Free School?
It seems Purbeck School is worried because is cannot have its cake AND eat it too. And to slag off the Swanage School at this stage really beggars belief.....and smacks of desperation. One school is trying; the other is moaning. It may be the main reason that will help me decide to send my kids to the Swanage School. Purbeck School will be fine for sixth form. Or perhaps somewhere not so 'Satisfactory'.
Why should the Swanage mini-school be any better than Purbeck School? We have heard lots of pious statements of intent and aspiration but nothing of any substance. What really beggars belief is that these advertising puffs and slogans are taken seriously. Yes, the advocates have good intentions, but there is not the slightest evidence that the outcome will be beneficial.
You have it the wrong way round. I have heard lots of detail from Education Swanage on how they will encourage better teaching and raise achievement such as using smaller class sizes, knowing pupils well, involving local experts to add to lessons. But we have heard nothing from Purbeck on how they are going to improve their results or the quality of their teaching. Being bigger is not a way to improve a school, in fact it makes it harder. Who cares if you can take 50 subjects if you don't get good results? And I don't want to send my children to the equivalent of a Tesco megastore, which this NUT rep seems to think is a good idea. Not sure Wareham would be happy with that analogy either!
In reply to 10.47 AM, I return to my original point: Purbeck School is rated Cat 3 - 'Satisfactory' - but OFSTED. That is the third of four categories. Now that is not a disaster, but neither is it a triumph. If I want my kids to have the best chance between two that are risky ('Satisfactory' vs 'Wekk intentioned but untested') I would have to seriously consider the latter. To be clear, I will want to meet the Head Teacher and see whether the commitment is more than just words. But if it is, and if the parents are highly motivated behind this school, so will be the teachers, and that energy alone would give me the confidence in the Free School over one which is large, 'Satisfactory' and has at least one teacher who attacks another school rather than defends his own. In other words, I will have more confidence in the one who views the glass as half full; not half empty.
Oops!
'Well' not Wekk.
'defend' not defends
Back to school with me!
"You have it the wrong way round. I have heard lots of detail from Education Swanage on how they will encourage better teaching and raise achievement such as using smaller class sizes, knowing pupils well, involving local experts to add to lessons."
Isn't that assuming statements of intention equate to outcomes? All you have seen is aspiration. It goes without saying that the promoters of a new school are going to say how marvelous it will be. Where is the evidence that they can deliver higher standards?
If I was making the choice of where to send my children I would want to see more than good intentions. As it happens my kids went to Purbeck and did OK. They made lots of friends with kids from outside Swanage which was good and generally found escaping the narrow confines of Swanage Middle a positive experience.
Given that their funding per pupil will be the same as Purbeck's and that the management costs of small schools are higher per pupil achieving small class sizes is going to involve squaring various circles in their finances.
A number of issues remain. How does a mini-school provide the level of specialised special educational needs support a large one can for example?
I have seen no statement relating to whether DCC will continue to provide a free bus to Purbeck for Swanage children if there is a local school. If they choose to save money by scrapping this, or charging, many Swanage parents will have no choice in the matter. Does anyone know where we stand on this?
DCC will be providing free transport to Purbeck for any child in Swanage wishing to go there. Rick Perry has said so. Mind you, he's the muppet who was in charge of the Purbeck Review and the recent school bus fiasco.
Lyndsay Shaw is also masquerading as the anonymous 'Education in Purbeck' and keeps pretending he is not the same person. Which is rather weird. He has set up a blog which claims to be independent but is actually just criticising free schools in general. If the blog was really independent he'd be critiquing Purbeck too.
The continuation of the school bus is some solace. At least the choice of school remains.
I have to say I have mixed feelings about this. In principle having local services is good but the arguments in favour of a very small school are not particularly convincing. By the way there is nothing wrong with Purbeck School's A level results. To what do its critics ascribe the lack-luste performance lower down the school? If it was a function soley of size we would see the same thing with all large schools and similarly if there was some vital threshold level for size this would be visible in the statistics. I suspect that sorting out the inadequacies of the middle school contribution in one year before GCSE courses start has considerable relevance but others may have different explanations.
Of course, we have to consider that parents who would have had their child benefit from several years at Swanage Middle will use the new Free School for those years, and move Jonny or Becky up to the Purbeck School from Year 9.
While I echo the cheer that the school bus service will copntinue, in the back of my mind is a nagging doubt about it...that some 'review' will cut it to a pay as you go service. We have seen such promises broken in the past.
I can but agree that the bus service may be vulnerable. I an not at all sure whether the legal obligation is to provide transport to the nearest county school or merely the nearest publicly funded one. The free service for post 16s was abolished as a cost saver about a decade ago and as the noose tightens on public spending a service to Wareham would be a tempting target.
Moving a child to Purbeck for year nine seems an odd thing to do. I know the proponents of a Swanage school got very exercised about 11 year olds having a 20 minute bus ride but the travel time if not the distance is something managed by tens of thousands of this age around the country without great problems. I have seen nothing from the parents of children at the grammar schools (twice the distance) or at private schools saying they find travel to be a problem. The silence says it all.
On the subject of buses, I wonder if the school will provide its own service from Herston since otherwise parents there are likely to think a 20 minute bus ride is the lesser of the evils compared to a 30 minute walk, however healthy that might be.
It is an unfortunate fact that the areas of the town with the greatest relative economic deprivation are those furthest from the old grammar school according to the county council's poverty mapping exercise. Achieving a socially balanced intake seems desirable to I wonder how this will be approached. I think it is something the people behind the school aspire to but I have not seen anything about how this will be achieved.
Listen to the parents.
They are interested, but they need assurance.
The new Head Teacher is absolutely crucial. A brave soul who can make or break this venture.
Re parents moving kids to Purbeck at Year 9 - if Swanage School is not delivering, they will move.
The trouble with Purbeck is they always blame everyone else. They blame the grammar schools, even though Lytchett and Corfe Hills do fine. They blame Lytchett and Corfe Hills and Thomas Hardye. They blame the middle schools and get them closed down. Now they'll have the free school as an excuse to fail. They never point the finger where they should.
So, what do you think they should do to improve? What is your recipe for a good school? Have you read the last OFSTED report and do you agree with its comments? http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/113855/
It reads as though the teaching is inconsistent. The school has fewer social issues to deal with than the national norm, so attention to improving the quality of teaching should be addressed. Its GSCE and A Level results are low for the county.
In a nutshell, focus attention on the development of teachers so that the delivery of lessons is consistently high across all subjects.
I was looking at the league tables a few days ago and the A levels looked reasonable to me. They have the highest percentage taking three A levels of any of Dorset's county schools. GCSE is cause for concern though without a doubt.
English was picked out by OFSTED as a weakness and lesson quality varied.
Interestingly the inspectors refer to Purbeck as an average sized secondary school which is somewhat at odds with Education Swanage's claims about is being uncommonly large.
Do you think these endogenous factors add up to a sufficient explanation or should we include exogenous matters, for example levels of parental educational attainment (known to be a key variable), accepting that they have a significant role. It is a little difficult to see why those managing Purbeck should be the sole explanation for problems.
Plenty of comments here about TPS being satisfactory, which it is. However, Swanage Middle School is also currently rated satisfactory, so that's hardly a ringing endorsement of current education provision in the town especially as the Head of SMS is one of the governors of the new free school (I believe)? If TPS is being criticised for being satisfactory (and therefore not being good enough for Swanage students) then why on earth is the SMS Head being allowed to have anything to do with the setting up of the free school?
Might I remind everyone that there is also a new headteacher starting at The Purbeck School. She has already begun to make her mark and the school has many plans for improvement afoot. The Purbeck School may be currently rated by ofsted as satisfactory but I do believe that it is heading for significant improvements. It certainly has more of a track record than the unknown quantity that is the free school. It's imposible to say whether the free school will be any better than satisfactory at this stage... Yes it has good intentions, but that's all they are right now.
Personally I'd rather gamble on Purbeck educating my children well under the direction of a new leadership team.
Leanne Symonds - Head Designate of Purbeck - is coming from an outstanding school so she will have lots of ideas I'm sure to improve Purbeck School. It will be interesting to see her at Swanage Middle School Tuesday night and hear what she has to say. In the interests of all of our children we need to keep an open mind.
Oh that's interesting. Mr Hobson, (the new principal of the free school) is coming from a good school, not an outstanding one. This is all a bit daft, isn't it?
Plus there is no reason to expect that Purbeck School will drop to unsatisfactory with a new head from an outstanding school breathing fresh air into it. No more than the free school is guaranteed to become outstanding with a head from a good school.
In the interview, Lyndsay Shaw wasn't being in the least rude about Education Swanage so I don't know why some people are now being a tad rude about him. In fact he said that he admired Paul Angel.
What he was doing,however, is making some pertinent comments about the possible impact on pupils from across the Purbeck region; something which the Swanage free school supporters fail to recognise (or care about?)
One thing I’ve never understood is that if one of main purposes of the Purbeck Review was to bolster pupil numbers at the Purbeck School then why did DCC take the schools in Bere Regis and Sandford out of its catchment area and add them to the Lytchett Minster pyramid of schools? Diverting Sandford children to the already popular (over-subscribed?) Lytchett Minster School seems particularly odd.
They are very good at spin and making out they are saintly and that supporters of Purbeck School are deliberately trying to sabotage them. However up until now it has been very difficult for people to give their opinions about the free school for fear of being shot down in flames by its supporters. Lindsay Shaw gave an eloquent, well thought out, research based interview. He is very open about his views on free schools but has always, in everthing I have read, been very polite and praiseworthy of ES's hard work to date.
Lyndsay, are you pretending to be someone else again?
I am hoping that there will be no need for buses and cars to take kids to the new school. I have offered my services to the free school to be a cycle guardian. Something that is very poluar in Europe and the states. Also if the school does take this idea up I hope all pupils who wish to cycle to have taken their cycle tests which I hope will be taken at school or
the summer before it opens. I know that the
new head is a keen cyclist too and hopefully
these kind of ideas will become real along with cycles lanes going to the school and back. This will hopefully stop cars parking outside the school and causing stress and chaos to other road users and for people who wish to cross the road.
Got to get the CRB check sorted, then, David!
Good idea, to encourage bikes, especially for kids in Swanage, but I would not be too happy if they came down the A321 or over from the ferry.....the road is too narrow and the traffic is too fast. Not really wide enough for cycle lanes.
When will Education Swanage receive confirmation of their Funding Agreement from the Department for Education?
I don't have any school age children but have been taking a interest in the free school debate. I wonder how many actual applicants (not expressions of interest) the school will get in its first year?
In the news this week : Beccles free school in Suffolk, which opens in the autumn, originally planned places for more than 300 children but received just 37 applications for next year.
I don't expect things to be that bad in Swanage, but what will happen if the school can't be financially sustainable in the long term due to low pupil numbers?
The Beccles Free School situation represents a nightmare scenario for the Swanage School. However, as has been written elsewhere, every case is different and hopefully the Department for Education will not be having any second thoughts on the Swanage School proposals. I would imagine that Education Swanage are likely to be more concerned about initial intake and short- term viability as the school builds its reputation and results. Parental concern over their children being ‘guinea pigs’ is real challenge for ES. Hopefully how this would be dealt with this is covered in their business plan but official news on their funding agreement would be very helpful.
The earlier post asking why Bere Regis and Sandford were removed from the Purbeck School’s catchment area is an interesting one as if they were still part of it Swanage pupils would be of less significance to them. I understand that John Nash and John England – architects of the Purbeck Review – are both retiring this summer so perhaps there is hope that in the longer term any new Swanage School will actually receive formal support from County Hall. The structure of the Purbeck Review was based very much on the previous government’s education policy which required extensive delivery of numerous diploma lines. This has all now changed with a ‘cut your cloth to suit’ policy seemingly now the official line coming from Westminster.
I heard the Purbeck School narrowly avoided being put into "Special Measures" last September, instead being given a "Notice to Improve" by OFSTED when Richard Holman agreed to fall on his sword (so Governors could guarantee a new head would be appointed). A "Notice to Improve" guarantees re-inspection within 12 months so presumably OFSTED will be back this coming September bearing clipboards. Talk about a baptism of fire for the new head !
It is the norm for OFSTED to pay a visit within a year of a new Head's start. Purbeck School will be due for another OFSTED soon, in any event.
She will be in an enviable position; taking over when a school is under observation gives a head a certain grace period to do what he or she wants.
With the right head, and without the socio-economic problems faces by many schools in other places, the school school be able to improve quite quickly, providing she is given control of staffing - inspiring, training and, if necessary, redeploying.
The odd comment about Richard Holman being forced to fall on his sword because of the Ofsted report cannot be true...by bizarre coincidence, he had announced his retirement several hours before Ofsted called to say they were visiting.
Having had governor's experience starting new schools in the UK and the US ('charter schools') funded with government money but given more latitude to run themselves, I would offer caution about any 'grace period' during which parents will place their faith in the enterprise. From the start, they will be uncertain; have doubts; perhaps sleepless nights. Several months before one new school started, we had lots of parents indicating their intent but failing to commit their child. It was like a virus of doubt that went through the community - and who can blame them? So we arranged a reception at the school, had all the staff come from their current jobs to spend a Saturday setting up classrooms and producing samples of lesson plans, held the first full staff meeting (none were paid for this) and the next day we had about 80 parents come. After tours of the school, a chance to chat informally with staff, and meeting and chatting with the Head, we assembled the parents and said that we had to decide, then and there, whether or not to proceed. Within 15 minutes all 80 parents had signed the admission forms, and when the word went out that this brave group were on board, a further hundred signed up for September. Today the school continues to be oversubscribed.
I have also governed a Charter School which failed because it took the attitude of 'we know what we are doing; so come to us' which was crippled from the start through local disapproval of its attitude.
Can you see from where I am coming? The SS governors and new Head - which so far can only be admired for their hard work in getting this far - have to reach out in real time, person to person, and become known to the community as soon as possible. Staff can be hired; buildings renovated; websites set up and newsletters sent out; but people will have to see, meet and sense the people who will run this and who will teach their children. As soon as possible. Until they are won over, my money would be on a situation where many vacillating parents send their young ones to PS and adopt a wait and see policy about SS.
Wouldn't you?
I'm disgusted by the post about Richard Holman. It's simply vile lies, presumably conjured up to discredit him. His retirement was public knowledge before the last Ofsted inspection, and of course long before their report.
So, I wonder...is someone from the FS governors going to post and publically disclaim/ disavow the comments made in that post? If they don't, perhaps we should assume that it came from them...
Well said. Putting the boot into The Purbeck School and its outgoing Head in such a manner will in no way strengthen The Swanage School’s position – quite the opposite.
The post by “One who has been there” at 1:12 pm is brilliantly stated. I would urge everyone involved with Education Swanage to take heed and act accordingly.
Yep CRB has been discussed at a meeting with staff at school.
Agree the roads are narrow , though if you look at the verges on the side I reckon you could take them back 2ft and put lanes in. If not you drop the speed limit to 20 or lower on the outskirts of town. Also a group of cyclist is safety in numbers , cars will have too slow down and relize it's not a race through rural roads :)
Hello,
I can assure you that none of the Governors of The Swanage School would have posted that rumour about Mr Holman. It doesn't help either school to be critical of each other and sets a poor example for students.
Our policy as a governing body, agreed after taking advice from a number of school leaders outside the area, is to avoid debate in public the relative merits of neighbouring schools and to stick to explaining plans for The Swanage School. We will expect the same of our staff as we move forward, as everyone involved is an ambassador for the school and sets the tone for the high levels of respect and good behaviour that we want our students to have.
'Best practice' as advised by National Co-ordinators of Governor Services is that "Even as an individual, [a Governor's] actions could be criticized as bringing a school into disrepute, especially if other users know of his/her governor status." and the NUT advises that "Teachers are always under a professional duty to demonstrate honesty and integrity and uphold public trust and confidence in the teaching profession. The informality of social media and the speed of comment and discussion create a constant risk of reputational harm if unwise comments are made."
So while we are happy to discuss our own school with parents and the broad community, we don't want to enter into public debates about the relative merits of local schools, especially not with members of the senior leadership team of those schools. I'll have to listen back to the radio podcast to make sure I followed our own advice!
The difficulty with this forum is that most of the time we don't know who we are debating with! We do read it, though, and we do take on board constructive advice - 'one who has been there' for example, clearly has good advice to offer.
paul should governors and headmasters of swanage middle school be governors of the free school which is a company? doesnt look good you must admit?!
The Purbeck School was NOT given a notice to improve in 2011. It received a SATISFACTORY grading from OfSted, just like Swanage Middle School when it was last inspected.
I've been reading these posts with interest. As a parent myself I would far rather send my children to a school that is classed as 'satisfactory' yet showing signs of bringing the school forward, than a school that has no rating whatsoever (in fact one that doesn't even exsist yet!) I certainly wouldn't want to send my child to a school where the supporters so easily run down other schools. Surely it would be far better to promote the Swanage school, sort out the curriculum and staff (and start building!) rather than run down Purbeck so much? This just reflects badly on the free school. Perhaps a debate sticking to evidence and not hearsay may be better!
Agreed. Incidentally, in response to the posting by 4:28 pm, Education Swanage is a company limited by guarantee - a common structure used by charities and community organisations that have ‘not for profit’ objectives. Personally I don’t have a problem with Swanage school staff getting involved with either the Purbeck School or a future Swanage School as individuals (i.e. as opposed to their school’s official policy which should be impartial).
5.41
Couldn't agree more! Such "supporters" actually do more damage than good.
I would really like to hear more about the Free School curriculum plans. when will they be releasing information about how many subjects will be taught, which subjects will be offered at gcse and how they plan to cover a broad base. I have heard them say they will offer a wide choice but we really need specifics if we are to consider sending our children there.
Excellent meeting at the middle school tonight about the Purbeck School plans for 2013. The staff are very passionate about their school and they are determined to make it the best they can with the new, very capable head at the helm. She has years of experience in a similar large school in a rural setting. The school, in effect, is going to be like a new school with state of the art refurbishments but with the added benefit of it already being well established and ready to move forward.
And good luck to the new head at Purbeck and good luck to the Free School it's nice to see that people have such passion to give our children the best education in these hard and changing times.
re. Paul Angel's quote from the NUT
"Teachers are always under a professional duty to demonstrate honesty and integrity and uphold public trust and confidence in the teaching profession. The informality of social media and the speed of comment and discussion create a constant risk of reputational harm if unwise comments are made." Does this apply to teachers in the private sector whose wives sit on the governing body of the free school? His comments about Purbeck school were more derogatory than some of the comments levelled at the free school.
I think this is getting a bit out of hand. Rather than tear either - or both - schools down, we should be trying to do everything we can to ensure that children in Swanage and district receive the best education possible. If you do not like the concept of the new school, then do not use it. If you do not like some aspect of the Purbeck School, then do not use it. You (assuming you are a parent) will have a choice. Is that a bad thing? There is no doubt the Swanage School will have a real challenge to get up and running, but surely the proponents of the Purbeck School can give it just a little encouragement and, like a fledgling bird, see if it can fly? Some comments here seem to emulate a predatory falcon, waiting to swoop down and snatch the fledgling before it even leaves the next. Some others are plain negative.
Get a grip, folks. Both schools are trying to do right by our kids. Let's not set them upon each other.
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