School league tables are out

[biotechpete 10]

I was quite surprised how low ranking my kids school was....

 

She achieved 3 5As...as did a handful of her friends...yet the "league tables" were shocking results......do they take into consideration children with disabilities? ( No disrespect...but the children, having a wide range of disabilities, through no fault of their own, underachieved......hmm or not upto SATS levels) so therefore the results, in my opinion, are not a true reflection on the level of teaching & standards.

 

I am sure that many of you will not agree with me but surely, when parents are looking for a childs school, and see the "performance" tables they would think...ohhh nooo not THAT school...where as quite a lot of children are high achievers

 

get my drift???

 

ERM no sorry surely the definition of achievement is the level to which you achieve the results in exams. Whilst I agree that bad schools can get good results and the tables are not always representative of the level of teaching, the standard is defined by the results gained.

The rights and mostly wrongs of the standards set out by the government are always a matter for debate but as a future parent what else can I do than look at the tables provided for me and conclude that my child will fare better in the system if they go to the school that gets the best results because at the end of the day their individual results is what they will be measured by.

[Maddy 15]

Brightside is a nursery/infant school. Limpsfield is the primary school linked to Brightside. They are 51st.

 

Ah OK thanks for the inf. My eldest is about to start pre school at Brightside so this is all new to me

[kaz62 10]

I agree. The league tables should show the number of level five passes. By not doing so it's not showing the good work done by some schools with the brighter pupils. I think too much emphasis is put on league tables any way especially after last years sats fiasco. The schools ofsted report will give a much clearer view of a school.

[Minimo 59]

Consider this.

You are a teacher with a new intake at the start of the year. You may have 50% or more children with little or no English and some children with statements. Nevertheless your children make great efforts to learn and you feel your work is doing some good.

But by the time of the SATS tests many of those children will have left, to be replaced by children just arrived in UK but you have little time to teach them anything before the tests.

What do you think that will do to the league tables?

[GrannyGranny 10]

The best way to find out about the school is to visit it and chat with the Headteacher, teachers and pupils. Contact the Governors and members of the PTA. League tables and Offsted reports can tell you only so much. The Offsted report might be 2 or 3 years old.

I think its the next level of education (Comprehensive) that has a real bearing on what your child achieves.

[Shef_Fitness 10]

I think you have to take these league tables with a pinch of salt, they aren't a true reflection of the standard of teaching.

 

If you look at the tables, many of the better performers happen to be in the more well of areas of Sheffield, the worst performers are in the poorer parts.

 

Also, teachers in the weaker schools (according to these figures) may have children in their class who don't speak English as their first language and so this would cause additional barriers to learning. I work in post 16, and while its easy to teach people who speak English, trying to get the same information to someone who cannot speak English is a barrier that if I'm honest, I've not yet worked out how to get round. I sometimes communicate to these students with pictures

 

Many kids in the poorer ares, may have broken homes/familys which again will affect their ability to learn, the kids in poorer areas may not have very good role models/examples to follow. Let say dad spends his time down the pub all day, F-ing and Jeffing all day, not working, or a young lad with a never ending stream of DIFFERENT deadbeat men in and out of their life .........its hardly going to inspire a young person to nuckle down and study for a better life. A child won't know what a better life is.

 

I'm looking at Hallam, which has done well. Is anyone suprised ?

 

If you were to race 2 cars, a BMW v Nissan Almera, would anyone be suprised if the BMW won?

[Shef_Fitness 10]

One of the local pre-school schools near my area, was hugely popular with the parents, and the kids thrived, and loved the teaching.

 

However, it was marked down on an visit for something stupid things like "no health and saftey sign on the wall". I personally don't know many 3 year olds who read Health and Safety signs

 

The fact that the kids thrived did not matter to the clipboard/tickbox people.

[SYorksDeano 10]

I've just looked at my local school. 106th!!!! They were 96th last year with a promise to do better. Wonder what went wrong?

[LordChaverly 10]

I've just looked at my local school. 106th!!!! They were 96th last year with a promise to do better. Wonder what went wrong?

 

They never got delivery of the new pencils they were promised.

[original 10]

Not happy with the ranking of my child's school. Luckily tho she leaves this year and has just had her mock sats results two 5bs and a 5a just goes to show what some of the teachers at this school are capable of achieving and I would like to say thank you very much to them. I'm one of the lucky ones I suppose. I just feel for the children who have been let down by this badly managed school.

 

me 2, my child also has done very well and it is down to certain teachers/n assistants who have stood strong, but why is it badly managed ?

[*bobstar* 10]

I think you have to take these league tables with a pinch of salt, they aren't a true reflection of the standard of teaching.

 

If you look at the tables, many of the better performers happen to be in the more well of areas of Sheffield, the worst performers are in the poorer parts.

 

Also, teachers in the weaker schools (according to these figures) may have children in their class who don't speak English as their first language and so this would cause additional barriers to learning. I work in post 16, and while its easy to teach people who speak English, trying to get the same information to someone who cannot speak English is a barrier that if I'm honest, I've not yet worked out how to get round. I sometimes communicate to these students with pictures

 

Would you agree that if there is a large percent of non-English speakers in a class then this barrier to learning reduces the time you can actually "teach" as you are spending extra time "communicating". Perhaps thats the problem. We should not expect a teacher to complete to the same standard for a class of 30 english speakers compared to a mixed class with several different languages. I for one, would not choose a school for my child if they got less attention/learning. Parents will always try to go for the best they can get.

[Shef_Fitness 10]

Would you agree that if there is a large percent of non-English speakers in a class then this barrier to learning reduces the time you can actually "teach" as you are spending extra time "communicating". Perhaps thats the problem. We should not expect a teacher to complete to the same standard for a class of 30 english speakers compared to a mixed class with several different languages. I for one, would not choose a school for my child if they got less attention/learning. Parents will always try to go for the best they can get.

 

 

 

Without doubt it creates a barrier, sometimes I have to communicate to my students by drawing pictures, simply because the students can't speak English.

 

The implications of describing a CAR (for example), one person will know what a CAR is just by me saying the word CAR, if someone can't speak English, then simply saying CAR won't mean anything, which is when I have to either pretend to be driving a car, or draw a picture of a car, so the non english speaker. knows what a car is.

 

This is what I was saying about the league tables, they are not a reflection on the teachers, if one teacher is woking in a fairly well off area with kids from well off backgrounds, then their job will be lots easier than another teacher who works with a group of kids with difficult backgrounds.

 

Many kids these days have a never ending stream of deadbeat men as role models, so how can these kids be expected to have the same levels of motivation, as another child who has a stable family background ?

 

Its like racing two cars, one car being a performace car (a porche) and another person in a Nissan, and then being suprised when the high performace car wins the race. Its simply going to be impossible to compare the Nissan and the Porche.