| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Acton High School-one parent's perspective on what a better school it may be! | |
| Posted by: | Ansa Sheikh | |
| Date/Time: | 14/05/18 11:15:00 |
| Thanks Mark. As upset as I am about the escalation of strikes, what struck me when we met with the NEU reps and teachers is that the teachers spoke very eloquently about the children whereas the reps spoke about their opposition to Ark from a political stand point. The thing is that most of us opposing these strikes are left of centre, university educated and have a good idea of how society has reached this point. But the pivotal issues, the reasons why the strikes are happening is what needs to be addressed here. The NEU must be in discussions with academy trusts and central government on an on-going basis. As parents, what are we meant to support? Look at the evidence, there have been so many lost years here. The bright children at AHS do well. Most will have parental support of the kind that underpins the education a child will receive at their school. They also get the best teachers in the top sets. So many of the teachers at AHS are impressive. And you are right, they have intentionally chosen to work at a school like AHS. My first post on this subject stated that AHS has had a number of factors against it from the get go. It is the only non-selective school in Acton which means the school has a disproportionate number of boys, SEN pupils, EAL pupils and refugee pupils - all of whom we are so happy to have in our school community. And all the other schools in Acton that have admission policies that deliberately exclude the local community have, to my mind, a lot to answer for. But that's a difference thread for another day! The families of AHS deeply value the diversity of the pupil population at the school and we want a school that educates and elevates all the children at the school. I think it's too much for the LA to do alone and I don't know enough about the NEU. The more research I do into effective education, the more I think that the children at AHS would really benefit from this change. I am not a natural supporter of the academisation policies of New Labour, and now Conservative governments, but I do believe very passionately that the better the education my child gets, the more interesting and fulfilling her life will potentially be. She will have choices that she won't have without that education. If she chooses, she will be able to travel, meet interesting people, do engaging and hopefully, important work for the society she lives in. If it takes the charitable trust set up by a punch of "Tory hedge fund managers" to give her that, well, I'll have to swallow it until governments understand that party politics should be kept away from education policies and that education requires long term investment, and I'm not just talking financial. |