Over the last few years, it has come to my attention that MGC has basically deteriorated in its once high standards of education and excellence. (yes it did possess these qualities).
It was judged to be one if the top 10 comprehensive schools in the country and I recall that parents throughout Sheffield would try their best to get their child to attend this school.
Alas......no more.
It seems that the opposite is happening.
I have friends whose children attend the school who have told me of intimidation, bullying, poor standards of teaching, in all if it could go wrong it has gone wrong. Sure, maybe other schools have the same problems and I know of a few that have due to other parents that I speak to.
Is it the times that we live in?, is it the social climate?, could it be that kids and parents don't care anymore (Ireally hope that they do)
As I said MGC was a fantastic school so where has it gone wrong?!!!!!!

They threw away the key when I left in1967.

I don't think this has happened over the last few years. My parents had the choice of sending my sister and I to Myers or Wisewood, back in the late 80s, and they preferred Wisewood because Myers had such a bad reputation (and Wisewood wasn't that great either, so it was saying something!).

Could it be the case that it was one of the best comprehensives at one time because it was also one of the first?

My mum went to an education tribunal to get myself and my two brothers into Myers. We lived on the wrong side of the traffic lights and should've gone to Chuacer but there was no way she was letting us go there!

Myers did have a very good reputation in those days (early 80's) and produced good results. It was one of the top school in our region. These days it has a terrible reputation. There was no way my daughter was going there. Last year myself and my neighbours had to call the police as a group of about 40 Myers kids were almost rioting in our road. They were throwing things at cars and windows, blocking off the road and genreally being threatening and abusive. I also called the school to tell them what was going off as they were all in MGS uniforms. Whoever I spoke to just wasn't bothered, never even asked for my name etc just said they knew what was going off and she put the phone down! Not exactly a good attitude from the school really.

Both I and my brother went to Myers in the nineties and then it was passable as a school, but things were pretty much always on the slide.

Back then it was fair to say that it was a comp where you tended to come out with the grades that you worked for and I and many of my friends earned a decent education whilst there.

Recently I've met socially people who teach there and the place really does seem to have gone to the dogs.:(

Fetish Fairy,

I know what you mean, a couple of years ago I witnessed several MGC students (I recognised the uniform cos my nephew went there) calling the fire brigade on hoax calls, I rang the school and they promised the Head would ring me, he never did so I kept calling back, eventually I was told it was going to be mentioned in "Assembly" but I kept checking with my nephew and nothing was ever said about it.

I hate to labour a point, but IMO Myers is full of chavs... Seriously, get rid of all the chav kids off the estates and the school would be a lot better off..

One thing that puzzled me about Myers was that while I was there a mate of mine had a younger sister who went to Bradfield while he attended the rotting heap that is Myers with the rest of us...never was it explained why they didn't send their firstborn son to the better comp!?!:loopy: :confused: :D

i left myers a few years ago, while i was there the teaching went from bad to shocking, and pupils did more less as they pleased there was very little control.

my bother also recently left and the school seems to be no better than while i was there.

There was b*gger all discipline when I was there as well. The average lesson began with the teacher asking the unruly thick kids if they were planning on doing any work, when they answered with an emphatic no he would just go and sit at his desk as if he were on the verge of a nervous breakdown (no surprise that some were).

When it came to exam time they tended to leave the cabbages to arse about and waste their time while the kids who wanted to learn just got on with it.

Originally posted by Carmine
There was b*gger all discipline when I was there as well. The average lesson began with the teacher asking the unruly thick kids if they were planning on doing any work, when they answered with an emphatic no he would just go and sit at his desk as if he were on the verge of a nervous breakdown (no surprise that some were).

When it came to exam time they tended to leave the cabbages to arse about and waste their time while the kids who wanted to learn just got on with it.

This sounds very much how Wisewood was as well (I was there first half of the 90s). Only about half of each lesson was actually spent being taught something, the rest was the teacher stood at the front of the class shouting at all the disruptive pupils to shut up. But there really did seem to be very little the teachers could do. Detention and exclusion was like a badge of honour and did nothing to deter bad behaviour, and as these kids didn't give a toss about school the prospect of permanent exclusion was not a deterent either.

I remember my maths teacher for the last 3 years there gave up on teaching completely - he just used to tell us to read the textbook, do the exercises and mark them ourselves using the answers from the back of the book, while he sat at the front reading his paper. And this was the top set for maths! A couple of months before our GCSEs he realised that half this top set wasn't going to pass and he attempted to start teaching again - but had no patience as he realised that he was trying to teach us things where we didn't even know the basic principles behind it because he had spent 3 years reading his newspaper!

And Wisewood and Myers (back then anyway) were seen as fairly average schools - god knows what the bad ones are like!

Ok now, I went their from 75-80 and was asked/told to leave

because I was told that I was not A Level material!! ( ITS TRUE.... if you knew Mr Wright...... aka Batman!)

OK I'm over that....... but I have thought about this and perhaps when the Tories gave children their rights....did things begin to slide then?

its the type of children that attend.

silverdale=good
high storrs=good
king edwards/egberts=good

myers=not
chaucer=not
wisewood=not


etc etc etc

Has Myers ever had a good reputation ??? All I can remember about Myers Grove was them always turning up at Bradfield School on a Friday afternoon spoiling for a fight.. Hardly surprising the exam standards were poor.

I knew a lot of people from Stanington that went to Bradfield as their parents did not want them attending Myers

Originally posted by bassplayer

It was judged to be one if the top 10 comprehensive schools in the country

I highly doubt that - do you have a source? Silverdale is the best state school in Sheffield at the moment, based on exam results, but I don't think even that would be in the top 10 nationally.

Originally posted by empea
its the type of children that attend.

silverdale=good
high storrs=good
king edwards/egberts=good

myers=not
chaucer=not
wisewood=not


etc etc etc

What a small minded opinion.....I'm sure it has a lot more to do with it other than how affluent your area is (or how much your parents earn)

If you have a look at the budgets for these schools you have listed, I think you'll find they have budgets in a similar order to your list above.

Originally posted by RazorSHarp
What a small minded opinion.....I'm sure it has a lot more to do with it other than how affluent your area is (or how much your parents earn)

If you have a look at the budgets for these schools you have listed, I think you'll find they have budgets in a similar order to your list above.

I thought all schools had the same budget, or at least similar? Afterall, I know for a fact that the buildings at Silverdale and High Storrs are falling to bits inside. I think the reason that schools like that do better is directly related to the affluence of the catchment area. Kids from more socially deprived areas are more likely to achieve lower grades. Also, the better schools will be able to attract the better teachers more easily - most good teachers who could have their pick of state school would choose a relatively easy, affluent suburban school as opposed to a socially deprived, poor performing inner-city school.

t020.....Although on whole that may be true, a lot of kids in deprieved areas really do want to learn. The sad thing is that the better staff, teachers and resources go to the better schools.

I know a lot of kids from socially inept backgrounds that have gone on to University and gained good results and are now persuing rewarding careers, even though, as in this thread, people divert them down the other path beofre giving them a chance.

There is a lot of truth in the fact that rich kids do good at school and the poor ones don't, but if your father is a Doctor, Politician etc your going to want to aspire to that and the opposite for the kids of lesser occupations, but there will always be an excpetion to this rule.

I went to school in the middle of a council estate back home and managed to get good enough grades to do A lvls and a degree, as did a few of my friends.

However, out of our ENTIRE year there were only 3 A passes in Maths GCSE and 13 Bs (i was one of the bs).

Most of the class was spent trying to calm the unruly kids - i had my moments myself - but the ones that wanted to learn did.

As for those who had "potential" but used to mess about etc, I can understand why a lot of teachers couldn't be bothered with them. After all its their lives they are wrecking at the end of the day.

I think with the "better" schools (likw my 6th form), you are encouraged to learn more, and on the whole the kids have a bit more respect.

Originally posted by Saifa
I went to school in the middle of a council estate back home and managed to get good enough grades to do A lvls and a degree, as did a few of my friends.

However, out of our ENTIRE year there were only 3 A passes in Maths GCSE and 13 Bs (i was one of the bs).

Most of the class was spent trying to calm the unruly kids - i had my moments myself - but the ones that wanted to learn did.

I think with the "better" schools (likw my 6th form), you are encouraged to learn more, and on the whole the kids have a bit more respect.
And then even when you slaved against all the odds, there's the inevitable news story that the exams are getting easier and people who passed through the education system more than a decade before start to devalue your qualifications:

"It were harder in our day...kids get it easy, don't know they're born...bring back the cane and send 'em down the mines, etc, etc, etc..."

to2o, the source is from a Calendar TV programme on successful schools in the Calendar region.
This programme was aired back in the mid 70's and I was on it.

No doubt Silverdale and High Storrs are very good schools in I might say very affluent areas which does help and statistics do show this but back in the day MGC was a highly rated school and I mean WAS!!!
I know that things change and you never know whats around the corner for "silverspoon schools" also.

It is true that MGC was one of the top Comps in the country. I attended from 67-72, when the Headmaster was a chap called William Hill who was an ex Public school teacher. He ran MGC along very similar lines where discipline was paramount. Even the rough kids knew their limits and teachers were very rarely given the kind of grief seen nowadays. He was also a big advocate of sport, especially team sports and Rugby in particular, something which nowadays is given little attention but,should be a vital part of school life.
I sent my daughter to MGC in the nineties ......big mistake, the slide was well under way by then and the rot had set well in. I could never be a teacher in a comp school today, as I would probably finish up on an serious assault charge within a week!

Originally posted by Rich
I hate to labour a point, but IMO Myers is full of chavs... Seriously, get rid of all the chav kids off the estates and the school would be a lot better off..

Do you have anything nice to say about anybody/thing?

Don't call me a chav.

Originally posted by Rich
I hate to labour a point, but IMO Myers is full of chavs... Seriously, get rid of all the chav kids off the estates and the school would be a lot better off..

ROFLMAO, you are calling the estate kids 'chavs'! when your spare time is spent discussing wrestling on your forums, its hardly stretching the grey matter is it.

So now that we have established that there is a major decline not just in MGC but in many secondary schools what can be done because I, like other parenrs want my children to enjoy attending school and know that they are achieving and receiving quality education.

My children will not attend MGC (lucky you I hear you say) because we live in the S/E of Sheffield but it does not mean that I don't care about those who do.
I would have assumed that we who enjoyed attending MGC would have passed on a code of conduct to our children regarding behaviour towards teachers and authority as a whole.
Are these qualities lacking in parents these days?

Originally posted by bassplayer
I would have assumed that we who enjoyed attending MGC would have passed on a code of conduct to our children regarding behaviour towards teachers and authority as a whole.
Are these qualities lacking in parents these days?

The problem with schools like Myers Grove is that you have a small core of disruptive pupils whose parents haven't instilled them with these kind of values. Unfortunately it only takes one child to disrupt a class for everyone. And with peer pressure you will always have a bigger group following the lead of the truly disruptive - even if their parents have tried to teach them to respect the teachers and the school.

Personally I think the role of the parents is vitally important. My secondary school wasn't great, there was a lot of disruption in class - but it didn't stop me learning, because I wanted to learn, because my parents brought me up that way, and they brought me up to respect the teachers. Yes, I probably didn't achieve as highly as I was capable of because of the level of disruption (that's just common sense), but I still managed to achieve good grades and get to university.

The pupils who are disruptive don't seem to have this positive influence from their parents. It's usually the case that they didn't care about school much either and so they pass that attitude onto their children.

Originally posted by banesmabes
Personally I think the role of the parents is vitally important. My secondary school wasn't great, there was a lot of disruption in class - but it didn't stop me learning, because I wanted to learn, because my parents brought me up that way, and they brought me up to respect the teachers. Yes, I probably didn't achieve as highly as I was capable of because of the level of disruption (that's just common sense), but I still managed to achieve good grades and get to university.
My experience of Myers almost down to the last detail!

Very true Carmine so what is it that theparents of the children are lacking to try to restore discipline back to the schools/ classrooms etc......is it respect or parential training????

both my boys went to wisewood comp. One was a badlad thought he knew better than everyone, and is now doing time the other was bullied and holds down three jobs and works bloody hard for his living . What do all you budding pyschologists make of that?

Originally posted by BoroughGal
Do you have anything nice to say about anybody/thing?

Don't call me a chav.

Go Girl !

Originally posted by trewf
both my boys went to wisewood comp. One was a badlad thought he knew better than everyone, and is now doing time the other was bullied and holds down three jobs and works bloody hard for his living . What do all you budding pyschologists make of that?

Doesn't sound like either one of them is an academic though which is the point being discussed here.

I feel I must praise Myers after a shaky start to this school year cumilating in my son being threatened with scissors at his throat. The school are bending over backwards to help him with his academic subjects and social skills. The headmaster and SENCO are approachable and do action their promises so :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Originally posted by BoroughGal
Do you have anything nice to say about anybody/thing?

Don't call me a chav.

Um, did I ever call YOU personally a chav?! I realise the C***s are a minority in Myers and indeed here in Stannington in general (contrary to popular opinion :rant: ), but there are some troublemakers there even nowadays, every school has them even the posh schools like Silverdale and King Ted's I'll bet.

Originally posted by t020
High Storrs is falling to bits inside.

It certainly is - the exterior is absolutely crumbling; the interior - not that I've seen it many times, but it could do with a lick of paint - admittedly I saw the school last in mid-2004.

:)

Does anyone know if there was or is a teacher at Myers Grove called Roger Blades?

I always blame the parents. Yup - its OUR fault if the kids are bad (I have 3!). I'm sick of people always blaming the authorities or the schools. If we have chavs and troublemaking kids on the streets, its because somewhere there's an entire generation of half arsed careless parents not making the effort and enforcing discipline at home.

I was a pupil at Myers between '74 and 81 and the school had an excellent reputation - but it was a different society back then. Educational standards may have slipped, but discipline always begins at home. People should take charge of their families and stop palming off responsibilty to the state!.

Sorry for the rant.

Victorian Dad (hardly!!)!!.

I worked at Myers Grove on supply, late 80's - early 90's. The deterioration in my mind came when the V1 form ceased. I think this may be symptomatic of many schools that went that way. The V1 formers were always important. They helped with discipline around schools and were always important cornerstones in drama and musical productions, and fortunately High Storrs and Tapton benefitted from their retention.
However, I encountered two pupils at MG who are children of a couple of friends and you couldn't wish for better role models. Both went on to University and the son became Head Boy at MG. In the comprehensive system we get these extremes. I've taught Oxbridge pupils and I've had several on my register who've gone behind bars! Somewhere in the middle we get many, who because of the time-wasters, don't get the attention they deserve.

Originally posted by Rich
Um, did I ever call YOU personally a chav?! I realise the C***s are a minority in Myers and indeed here in Stannington in general (contrary to popular opinion :rant: ), but there are some troublemakers there even nowadays, every school has them even the posh schools like Silverdale and King Ted's I'll bet.

No, you didn't personally call me a chav, but apart from being the type of sweeping generalisation that I've come to expect from you, the comments you've made are obviously going (and intended, no doubt) to cause offence to past and present students of Myers Grove.

And now you've backtracked from Myers being full of chavs to being in the minority.

What school did you go to Rich? What are the results like there? What are the students like?

Oh, and incidently, my original post is now 6 months old. Dunno if you noticed that.

what is mgc catchment area?

Originally posted by PESKY6969
what is mgc catchment area?

It's changed between me being a pupil there and being a governor there.

In the 1980s when they had 2200 pupils it took children from within roughly Ben Lane, Far Lane, Wadsley Lane, Parkside Road, Penistone Road, Netherthorpe Road, Winter Street, Crookesmoor Road, Mulehouse Lane ish and the Stannington Road ridge to Dunworth.

Now MG has 750 pupils from within roughly Holme Lane, Langsett Road, Burgoyne Road, Springvale Road ish and the Stannington Road ridge to Town End (Deer Park/Liberty ish).

Originally posted by BoroughGal
No, you didn't personally call me a chav, but apart from being the type of sweeping generalisation that I've come to expect from you, the comments you've made are obviously going (and intended, no doubt) to cause offence to past and present students of Myers Grove.

And now you've backtracked from Myers being full of chavs to being in the minority.

What school did you go to Rich? What are the results like there? What are the students like?

Oh, and incidently, my original post is now 6 months old. Dunno if you noticed that.

I went to Gleadless Valley, I don't know or care what teh results were like there as I bloody hated the place :rant:

Thankfully it closed in 95 and the grounds where it once stood are now home to a housing estate.

As for Myers, I was supposed to go there back in 87 but my Parents in their infinite wisdom decided I wouldn't be able to cope there due to being disabled, so I got sent to a school right across Town with a disabled "Unit"...

Was a **** hole when I went there and is worse now.

Sub-standard teaching, Lack of discipline all-round shower of ****.

Enough said

Myers Grove was one of the first purpose built comprehensive schools in the country. Its first headteacher was Bill Hill, an amazingly inspirational and visionary man, who knew that all pupils had a right to a first class education. His own area of expertise was woodwork but he wanted the top teachers for all subjects in the school.
From the start he was at loggerheads with the LEA who wanted education dumbed down. Bill Hill fought to keep the teaching of Latin at the school.
Bill Hill introduced the Grove Game, an exciting ball game with few rules, no dress code and many admirers.
Myers Grove was such a successful school, frequently sending pupils to Oxford and Cambridge, that estate agents would mention the catchment area as part of their publicity for prospective house buyers in the area.
Bill Hill retired in the early 80s at the age of 65. He would have liked to see the academic year out - his birthday being on December 25th - but the authority forced him to leave on his birthday. The new head, Roy Yates bowed to the LEA's directive and Latin was lost. The school continued to be successful, however, until the Sheffield authority decided to scrap sixth forms in favour of the colleges.
Many petitions with the names of parents, teachers and governors were sent to the minister of education pleading to be allowed to keep the sixth forms.
In his wisdom, the education minister of the then conservative government, said that all those schools in the constituency that voted conservative ie: Hallamshire, could keep their sixth forms, everyone else had to toe the line and do what the council they had elected decreed!
So, those schools in areas where further education was probably the norm were allowed to keep their A level teachers and their sixth form status: King Edwards, Tapton, High Storrs, Silverdale.
In all other areas of Sheffield, including Myers Grove, the sixth forms were lost. With them went many dedicated teachers whose expertise was invaluable at A level but who also had everything to offer as subject teachers lower down the school.
As has been said on this thread, a sixth form gives the younger pupils something to respect and somewhere to aim for.
So, for those with short memories, yes, Myers Grove has a history which politics has tried to erase.

I always thought that Mr Hill would write a book about Myers Grove, but sadly he didn't.

Originally posted by Floe
Myers Grove was one of the first purpose built comprehensive schools in the country. Its first headteacher was Bill Hill, an amazingly inspirational and visionary man, who knew that all puplis had a right to a first class education. ...
Bill Hill introduced the Grove Game, an exciting ball game with few rules, no dress code and many admirers.

Specifiacly designed so four house teams could play at once.

Myers Grove was such a successful school, frequently sending pupils to Oxford and Cambridge, that estate agents would mention the catchment area as part of their publicity for prospective house buyers in the area.

There were news reports in the late 1960s-early 1970s showing prospective parents driving around Marchwood, Deer Park, Malin Bridge and the area looking for 'for sale' signs and then rushing to camp out at the estate agents.

Bill Hill retired in the early 80s at the age of 65.

I think it was 1980 as Roy Yates was head when I started in Sept. 1980.
He would have liked to see the academic year out - his birthday being on December 25th - but the authority forced him to leave on his birthday. The new head, Roy Yates bowed to the LEA's directive and Latin was lost.
We managed to keep latin until 1985.
The school continued to be successful, however, until the Sheffield authority decided to scrap sixth forms in favour of the colleges.
Many petitions with the names of parents, teachers and governors were sent to the minister of education pleading to be allowed to keep the sixth forms.

My first political experience was the part of David Chadwick's parliamentary campaign in 1987 to keep sixth forms.
In all other areas of Sheffield, including Myers Grove, the sixth forms were lost. With them went many dedicated teachers whose expertise was invaluable at A level but who also had everything to offer as subject teachers lower down the school.
I visited Myers a few times while I was at Uni in the late 1980s and it was such a jolt how different the school felt.

William Hill died last year. I made sure Myers sent a representative to his funeral. He made a big difference to MG and the school would not have been the school it was in its first 25 years if not for him.

--
JGH - Myers Grove pupil 1980-1987, governor 2000-date

i hear the school is having problems filling places so has to look at different areas of sheffield to ease the problem. where as bradfield is over booked so why not send kids from the bradfield catchment area to myers. some only live up the road from myers.

This is hypothetical now and I don't wish to cite examples but if you lived in a catchment area of a successful school, I wouldn't take too kindly to my kid/s having to go out of that area just to bolster the numbers of a less successful one.

It isn't hypothetical for me, and I certainly wouldn't take kindly to the idea. My children are going to Bradfield when the time comes. Anybody who wants to try and make them go to Myers (which we moved to get away from) can take a running jump.

Silverdale is not the best state school in the city - it simply has the best intake!
It would be much harder teaching in a school on the east of the city.
Silverdale is IMO 'coasting' as the teachers do not have to do as much to get good results out of the children

Some good points made on this post, here is my two penneth. Ex Chaucer pupil left 1985, been teaching 12 years currently at a high achieving Sheffield school with about the best value added in the city.

The demise of Myers can be attributed to a number of things.

1 Loss of sixth form quite rightly pointed out attracts fewer teachers, as A level is for many the most rewarding to teach. A level teachers are by definition experienced professionals!

2 Discipline systems and the abolition of corporal punishment have much to answer for but there are alternatives, even the most disruptive kids know how far to go. Society has seen worsening standards as a whole, this has inevitably spilled over into schools. People in authority such as police and teachers no longer command automatic respect.

3. Strong management and standards, all schools have undesirables but a strong management will in no way allow these kids to disrupt the teaching and learning of others. This breeds hardworking and committed teachers who enjoy the job and don’t just sit reading the paper in despair. For too long time and money has been directed by woolly pc authorites at helping these behaviour problem kids whilst your average working class kid (of which I was) suffers a bad deal in your average comprehensive.


Here endeth the lesson.

well done Herbert i think you hit the nail on the head, I went to MGC back in the late 70`s early 80`s it did have a good reputation then, I still live in the catchment area and against my wishes my daughter will be attending MGC from September, I only hope she stays with the friends she has now who are a good bunch with parents that want the best for there kids. I met the head teacher at the opening evening for new intakers he had some good ideas lets hope he follows through with them and takes MGC back to where it once stood at the top of the heap and not the bottom.

I was there from 1970-75. Anyone remember Mr Wardle and Mrs Brindley? Talk about Gestapo!

I was there from 1970-75. Anyone remember Mr Wardle and Mrs Brindley? Talk about Gestapo!

Mr Wardle the bald headed RE teacher that had the worst signature EVER!!!.
I had a run in with him and against all odds stood my ground to him after he racially abused me in class in front of everyone.
I stood up and told him he was out of order to speak to me in that way and to apologise to me; 15 seconds of silence, bated classroom breath...and one gilt-edged, framed and audible to the classroom later witnessed by the whole classroom and circulated around the school; apology, I just smiled, said, "Thank you" and sat down.

Just one of those great personal school moments that are remembered by those who were there at the time. I hear that he passed away in the late 80's, but it was teachers like him that instilled discipline and respect at MGC that made it what it was back then (minus the racism!).

In his wisdom, the education minister of the then conservative government, said that all those schools in the constituency that voted conservative ie: Hallamshire, could keep their sixth forms, everyone else had to toe the line and do what the council they had elected decreed!
So, those schools in areas where further education was probably the norm were allowed to keep their A level teachers and their sixth form status: King Edwards, Tapton, High Storrs, Silverdale.
In all other areas of Sheffield, including Myers Grove, the sixth forms were lost. .

Well said and explained. Once again the Tories were only looking after themselves but it was only to be expected.

Silverdale is not the best state school in the city - it simply has the best intake!
It would be much harder teaching in a school on the east of the city.
Silverdale is IMO 'coasting' as the teachers do not have to do as much to get good results out of the children

I think you'll find Silverdale is the best state school in Sheffield - the stats speak for themselves... (http://www.upmystreet.com/local/schools/secondary/l/Sheffield-4610.html?schSecOrder=gcse_DESC)...surprised to see High Storrs at number 4.

:)