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Schools 'must do better'

12:02am Thursday 10th January 2008

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The county's education chief has said there is still room for improvement in schools, despite stronger GCSE results.

New Government figures published today show that last summer, 48.1 per cent of the county's pupils achieved five or more A* to C grades, including maths and English, compared with 46.7 per cent nationally.

The previous year 47.5 per cent achieved five or more A* to C grades, including English and maths, compared with 45.8 per cent nationally.

However, Michael Waine, the county council's cabinet member for schools improvement, described the overall position as "less than satisfactory" and suggested A-Level results should get better.

He said: "While overall our GCSE performance more or less follows the national pattern, we must and will perform better than average.

"At A-Level, the pattern is similar and while there are some great examples of individual pupil and school success, the overall position is less than satisfactory and we should, again, be seeking performance which exceeds national averages."

Topping the county's GCSE results for the second year running was the independent girls' school of St Helen and St Katharine, in Abingdon, where pupils again achieved a 100 per cent pass rate.

Schools which made significant progress in GCSE results last year included Bartholomew School, in Eynsham, which increased its pass rate to 73 per cent from 2006's 63 per cent.

For the second year, the league tables showed the GCSE and A-Level results alongside truancy rates and the school's value added score (CVA).

The CVA score measures the progress pupils have made from the end of primary school to the age of 16.

On the basis of the CVA measure, only two Oxfordshire schools, Cheney School and Cherwell School in Oxford, were in the top 25 per cent of all schools nationally.

A year ago, the county had 13 schools in this bracket.

Jill Judson, headteacher of Cherwell School, said: "I know, having been a headteacher at a grammar school, that they often, and quite rightly, achieve consistently high results.

"But CVA is fairer, when you take into account the value that a school adds to pupils from year six, or key stage two, right through to the end of their compulsory education at key stage four."

The percentage of students at Peers School, in Littlemore, to gain five or more GCSE at A* to C fell from 19 per cent to 11 per cent. This followed the school being taken out of special measures last year.

But Oxford Community School saw a one per cent increase in its pass rates, up from 26 per cent to 27 per cent.

Truancy figures also released today revealed Larkmead School in Abingdon had the highest rates of unauthorised absences from Oxfordshire's secondary schools.

The figures are based on the percentage of unauthorised half day absences at each school.

Larkmead saw an increase from the previous year's truancy rates, of 2.6 per cent of half-days missed, to 2.8 per cent, double the national average for half-days missed of 1.4 per cent.

But deputy headteacher John Dennett said the school has taken steps to improve attendance rates: "We have an attendance noticeboard with each individual pupil's rates on - this puts the onus on them to improve.

"We also run incentives. The tutor group with the highest attendance rates will receive a prize."

Oxford's Peers School also has higher than average truancy levels.

The school, however, saw figures fall from 3.4 per cent of half-days missed to two per cent. "Last year a tutor group went bowling and then out for a meal. We also have an attendance officer who monitors absences.

"We need to distinguish between unauthorised absences (which includes holiday taken during term-time) and truancy. There is a difference which is not shown in the tables.

"According to the way that the school measures these absences, we have made significant improvements over the past 18 months."


Your Say YourOxford Mail

alan page, says...
12:09am Thu 10 Jan 08

The children need to do better not the schools.

alan page, says...
12:34am Thu 10 Jan 08

alan page wrote:
The children need to do better not the schools.
Douche

Mr Punch, says...
12:42am Thu 10 Jan 08

Sausages.

rob, Oxfordshire says...
7:09am Thu 10 Jan 08

i think that putting pressure on schools to reach certain targets actually affects the students performance - schools should be focusing on students and what they are going to gain and not focusing on getting the school the best "percentage" in the county.... people should be working in education to help students become a success, no other reason.

johan, Headington, Oxford says...
10:33am Thu 10 Jan 08

Anyone who has children knows that teachers no longer teach, our children are told to go home...boot up their pc's and cut and paste the information required for their home work, therfore no teaching or learning involved. My daughter just last week and informed me that because the void between the the best and the worst in the class is so big that the more intelligent ones have been left to study on thier own and have also been assigned to each teach a lesson next week! so it is not just down to the kids who have to teach themselves, its doen to the government/headteach
er who have allowed teachers to escape their duty as teachers whilst being paid a lot of money by using technology to give our chldren the education they should be getting but not achieving because they are self-taught and without basic skills - how can they teach themselves? We as parents should be lobbying the government to return to the old way of learning with real text books, exercise books and pens, pencils, erasers and rulers!

johan, Headington, Oxford says...
10:38am Thu 10 Jan 08

yes I know there are a few typo's but that is because I was writing with a bit of heat in my brain...so don't pull me up on them please

alan page, says...
10:56am Thu 10 Jan 08

rob wrote:
i think that putting pressure on schools to reach certain targets actually affects the students performance - schools should be focusing on students and what they are going to gain and not focusing on getting the school the best "percentage" in the county.... people should be working in education to help students become a success, no other reason.
Couldn't agree with you more.
What we have is a return to the 19th century's purely utilitarian view of education, the kind of system that treats its pupils as so much economy fodder to be processed and fed into the system.

There is no room for debate or personal development it is all about getting grades and eventually fulfilling some corporate function.

I hated, loathed and detested school and learned far more when I left it.

They should be inspiring children to think that learning is about discovery and that finding things out is exciting and interesting and not about endless tests and exams guarenteed to put them off learning for life.

alan page, says...
11:29am Thu 10 Jan 08

johan wrote:
Anyone who has children knows that teachers no longer teach, our children are told to go home...boot up their pc\'s and cut and paste the information required for their home work, therfore no teaching or learning involved. My daughter just last week and informed me that because the void between the the best and the worst in the class is so big that the more intelligent ones have been left to study on thier own and have also been assigned to each teach a lesson next week! so it is not just down to the kids who have to teach themselves, its doen to the government/headteach er who have allowed teachers to escape their duty as teachers whilst being paid a lot of money by using technology to give our chldren the education they should be getting but not achieving because they are self-taught and without basic skills - how can they teach themselves? We as parents should be lobbying the government to return to the old way of learning with real text books, exercise books and pens, pencils, erasers and rulers!
I do agree to a certain extent.
Computer technology has provided a kind of "convenience" attitude.

Sadly a lot of the sources used like Wikipedia are notoriously unreliable and highly dubious anyway.


The entry on Schopenhauer has him down as an anti semitic supporter of eugenics which is nowhere in his broader philosophical outlook at all.

People with agendas will always corrupt and damage things.

I suppose it all ties in with the utilitarian "as long as it looks ok to pass an exam it'll do" mentality.

Having said that Bryan Magee noted ruefully in his autobiography that even pre computers it was still possible to get a 1st class degree in philosophy without having read a single text.

I know of at least one PHD who used to boast it was done without having read a single book.

The educational system stinks to high heaven.

MICHELLE, Witney says...
1:19pm Thu 10 Jan 08

Read the letter from Claire Lawrence French in yesterdays Oxford Mail to get another propesctive on this subject!!!
quote

James, Witney says...
1:27pm Thu 10 Jan 08

Schools/Teachers these days spend more time worrying about the minor issues in schools such as (If the children are wearing the correct uniform & if they have the correct hairstyle) The school in Wantage back in November showed this with the girl who had her hair dyed for charity. This girl was kicked out of school until her hair grey out PATHETIC!!!! They need to focus on the teaching of the children instead of thriving on the fact they have a certain amount of power over the pupils. With those schools that have gained fantastic GCSE Grades "Congratulations" But this Congrats goes to the pupils as they basically teach themselves as teachers these days concentrate on issues which are not important and that is a fact" The only issue which should be taken seriously outside of teaching is bullying and they don't even do that. Woodgreen in Witney for one doesn't have a clue on the Bullying Policy and I would hope that this year the staff and Mrs Savage (Head Mistress) will buckle down and ensure bullying is taken more seriously as it WAS NOT last year and caused a very bright pupil who was heading for A & B GCSE Grades to gain a lot lower due to her being out of school for 4 months as the school did not act upon her bullies which resulted in the poor girl spending time in hospital. So come on schools Teach the Kids and Tackle the Bullying

Tarquin, says...
10:10am Fri 11 Jan 08

Well, I reckon a bit of bullying is no bad thing, and bring back ****, put a bit of backbone into the rotters.

DARKINS, japan says...
10:15am Fri 11 Jan 08

Evidence has come to light that Schopenhauer had a liking for Japanese girls in Burbury miniskirts and white socks. Not that there's anything really wrong with that.

Comments are closed on this article.

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