School Data Re-visited

Have spent the last hour or so churning into the numbers and some concerning trends have been revealed which show just how stark the system of education we have in the Medway Towns has become.

Find below the breakdown of some key indicators which you may find interesting. I have picked three indicators which will become clear:

This is the sort of analysis a good researcher or analyst would undertake

This blog does not advocate any top-down re-organisation of our education system without the consent of parents; so I want to say at the outset that this is not a campaign pitch for the Comperehensive cause. I actually believe in good schools and do not want to tinker with any that work. I do however have a seething dislike for failure and as you would expect from someone of the centre-left; how it impacts those from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Evidence

• Grammar Schools were the only schools to get above average GCSE results. All other publicly funded schools; whether comprehensive, secondary modern, community, academy or sponsered were below average performance
• The average cohort at grammar schools was 148 pupils. At other schools cohort was 195 (and that is including Rochester Independent College (ony 24 cohort so a statistical outlier). We know that those with smaller cohorts did better overall
• 72.5% of all pupils in Medway taking GCSEs attended schools that are below average performance.
• Grammar School pupils are on average wealthier then those at all other schools in the area if you take into account free school meal %. On average grammar school pupils (3.98%) v non grammar pupils (15.48%). From a social mobility perspective this is important.

Adding in the statistics from the Centre for Cities analysis which shows that Medway has noticeably poor education with only 22.8% with a higher qualification (ranking Medway 51/64 for same sized cities in UK) and 13.6% with no formal qualifications at all (43/64). How much of these same statistics are influenced by school performance? It is of note that on all the other indicators on the CfC analysis we performed above average.

This blog is not seeking a political outcome from the above points merely to point out some statistical realities. The decision for education in the area must be for its residents to decide.

Incidentally the above also highlights why anyone managing the education department in Medway Council has a very very tough job. Unlike in other areas our team have to work within a very difficult environment and context; one which you could argue is inherently skewed.

Cover up over 11+ fiasco?

Yet full report is not put online for public scrutiny...

Below is an article from Peter Read, a Kent Independent Education Advisor, who has written for the Kent News on the 11+ fiasco.

The article itself raises serious questions about the ability of Rehman Chisthi to adequately represent his constituents after he expressed full confidence in the education department under Les Wicks. A questionable judgement were it not for partisan self-interest.

He needs to make it clear that if the Ombudsman rules against Cllr Wicks that he will call for his resignation.

The article does not mince its words and effectively accuses the Conservative administration of colluding in a cover up.

'Children who were treated unfairly at 11-plus test centres will never know if they would have passed

The row about the shambolic Medway Test arrangements at two test centres, described by Councillor Les Wicks, portfolio holder for education at Medway Council, as “a mortification” - continues unabated.

The Medway 11-plus is held in a number of large centres (mainly schools) on a Saturday morning in September. There have been complaints about the operation of these tests for years, the council agreeing nine changes in procedures with the Ombudsman in 2008 after a large number of complaints; last year the council admitted fault after another large number of complaints about one centre and agreed to put in a number of improvements to monitor the process.

Sadly these failed to stop what the council has now agreed were major faults at Rainham School for Girls, although it disputing the problems at the Chatham Grammar centre.

At Rainham, the council put in just one registration desk for more than 200 children, with the result that anxious queues rapidly built up waiting long past the 20 minutes allocated, the tests starting 40 minutes late. Children were therefore on site for six-and-a-half hours. There were only three boys’ toilets, half the girls’ toilets were not working so many children spent the whole of their breaks in toilet queues.

They had been told to bring a piece of fruit and a bottle of water to sustain them, which was evidently insufficient for the extended exam period. Any adult subjected to such chaos for an important exam would probably have walked out.

As it was some of the children did not have the stamina to cope. I have just listed here some of the many problems at Rainham, and Medway Council has now acknowledged that no fault attached to the school, although at least two councillors alleged the problems were down to the incompetence of the school and had apologise for this later. I could go on about the problems at Chatham, sparked by the invigilators’ failure to provide the question paper for the first exam of the day, but you can read the details at www.kentadvice.co.uk.

Medway Council’s astonishing verdict was that as half the children passed the test at Rainham, none were disadvantaged – apparently they didn’t consider the half who failed! The council promised to carry out a thorough investigation of the problems and make the outcome known to all concerned. However this has turned out to be a ‘management improvement report’, a single-page document looking forward to stop such problems recurring, that does not address the issue of why the problems arose in the first place. One can only hope it is more effective than the promises of 2010 which were supposed to stop such problems!

However, parents continue to be angry, not necessarily because of the original blunders, but because of council attempts to cover them up, and its ludicrous refusal to acknowledge some children were disadvantaged by the conditions to which they were subjected.

We await the ombudsman’s verdict on this one, but spare a thought for those children who will never know if they would have passed, if treated fairly.'

Grammar School snub as Wicks remains

The Medway Conservatives declared war on the grammar school mum and dad last night by backing the feckless Councillor Les Wicks to retain his education portfolio, despite plea's from concerned parents over the botched Chatham & Rainham 11+ tests.

Thousands of parents are simply aghast that the Conservatives could put partisan self-service before that of the public, and the 43,000 pupils across Medway's 100+ schools. The Council received huge numbers of complaints and the Medway Messenger board was inundated with comments calling for a full review.

The full review that had been promised by the Council leader had been delayed; a deliberate ploy perhaps to save the portfolio holder face at a public meeting. Yes, of course it was.

Councillor Les Wicks continues to retain responsibility for the important Child Safety, adoption and school entrance selection process and was congratulated by colleagues for his 'first rate' performance including in Rainham.

There was no apology for the mis-spent millions on school projects including at Woodlands and Walderslade. Instead parent-governors were blamed for poor financial scrutiny.

The management of the 11+ test system is a fundamental to the Medway system of secondary education. Parents from Rochester to Rainham prepare their children assiduously for the test so that their child can aspire and reach their full potential.

Yet, the failure of Les Wicks to manage not one but two test centres has left hundreds of parents feeling that their child could have been discriminated against their peers on the basis of increased stress caused by the organisational failure.

The fact it took 13 days for Cllr Wicks to apologise to Grammar School parents and staff at the Grammar schools concerned - because he was at Conservative Party conference - shows the contempt with which he holds these schools.

A ward colleague, Cllr Vaughan Hewett who was silent last night, was not even aware that one of his own schools was actually an Academy. An insult to the hard work of staff, pupils and the governors.

If Conservatives think that back-slapping and fawning over Wicks in the Chamber means a jot to the public they have another thing coming.

By clinging onto an individual who would be fired in any private-sector role for budgetary mismanagement they have sent a message that incompetence and feckless leadership is not only supported by Tories; it is positively rewarded.

They have failed the Grammar schools - parents, staff and future pupils in Medway - and that is unforgivable.