| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Fiona Millar Patronises Acton Residents | |
| Posted by: | Samantha Christine Hill | |
| Date/Time: | 12/12/09 08:24:00 |
| |Would people stop being confused about what a "good" or "outstanding" school means! It has NOTHING ABSOLUTELY WHATEVER to do with league tables and percentage of pupils passing GCSE's - the whole league table debacle is a political tool to fool parents into believing they have choice! As a Governor of a local school (recently judged outstanding) I can confirm that Ofsted IS SUPPOSED to rate the effectiveness of the teaching - not the achievement of a cherry-picked handful of academic high-achievers! Good teaching will move individual children with even barely any English at entry level, over a series of sub-levels with their learning - which may move them further than those bright sparks who started with a higher level in the first place! Ergo - Acton High was rated "outstanding" in its last Ofsted; it has a very high pupil mobility rate, which makes it challenging, BUT it has proved that its teachers are probably doing a better job than many of the teachers in private schools - who probably simply couldn't cope with the demands of the children that often present at Acton High, let alone actually move these children's learning on! BUT, increasingly, local residents are put off simply by the apocryphal horror stories and cursory glances at league tables. Just find a few local families with children at Acton High who ARE achieving and exceeding country-wide targets and realise what you're missing out on by not sending your children there. Sorry to rant, but this misunderstanding and misinformation is damaging our children's future, and the future of our country's economic well-being. |