Oxford Academy expels seven in its first year (From Oxford Mail)
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Oxford Academy expels seven in its first year
6:41pm Monday 13th July 2009 in
SEVEN children have been expelled in the first year of the Oxford Academy — but principal Mike Reading said “tough action” was necessary to make sure pupils knew when enough was enough.
Mr Reading said the number of pupils permanently excluded from the Littlemore secondary was low compared to other academies across the country.
He could not provide a figure for the number of pupils expelled from Peers School, which the Academy replaced in September.
He said: “We said from the outset we would expect improved standards, courtesy, self-worth and an aspect of tough love.
'At some point, having given somebody chance after chance after chance, you have to say enough is enough'
Principal Mike Reading
“What that means is that no matter what the background of that person, we want to care for them and show interest and dedication — but we will also not run away from taking tough decisions.
“At some point, having given somebody chance after chance after chance, you have to say enough is enough.”
He said one student had been in Year 11 and the others were from Years Eight to 10.
Mr Reading would not be drawn on the reasons the children were told not to return to the school.
But he said pupils could only be permanently excluded for threatened or actual violence against staff or students, sexual abuse or assault, supplying illegal drugs, carrying an offensive weapon, or for persistent and defiant misbehaviour, in line with guidance at mainstream state schools.
He said: “There is an expectation from parents that we take some tough decisions and by far the majority of parents are with us.
“If you ask students how they feel about the academy, they say the academy is safer and a place they can learn better.”
He said he would anticipate the number of children expelled would fall after the first year.
The Oxford Academy is sponsored by the Diocese of Oxford, Oxford Brookes University and the Beecroft Trust.
It was established partly in response to poor results at its predecessor, Peers School, which last year saw just 17 per cent of GCSE pupils achieving the benchmark of at least five A* to C grades including English and maths.
When the idea was first mooted it faced protests and a group, the Oxford Anti-Academy Alliance, was formed to fight the plans.
But Mr Reading said he believed the community was now behind the school. And he said there had been a 60 per cent increase in the number of pupils applying to join the school next year, with 210 children starting in Year Seven.
He said: “The feedback we have got is very encouraging.
“We have made huge improvements which I hope will be borne out by the exam results in August.
“We will not be looking to make excuses — if we don’t carry on year after year giving a better deal as far as results are concerned, we are not giving students enough.”
Comments(27)
Grundon Skipp
says...
10:05pm Mon 13 Jul 09
I'm sure that an excluded child does see their life chances reduced (although I know adults who were expelled from school who then used it as an opportunity to knuckle down and turn things around), but it is grossly unfiar to insist on 'inclusion' at all costs when those costs are borne by stressed teachers and children who are just as fed up by a selfish minority.
Kids need to be safe, happy and living and learning in a positive atmosphere.
Those who cannot do this need to be placed in specialist schools where they undergo intensive work to enable them to participate without ruining things for others.
It is virtually impossible to enforce any discipline in schools now, much less permanently exclude students, and as a result the majority suffer while all the attention and rewards focus on the 'misunderstood'.
Yet another example of a morally bankrupt government putting the demands of a minority ahead of the decent majority.
Old zimner
says...
9:40am Tue 14 Jul 09
LanceIot
says...
10:34am Tue 14 Jul 09
I did not receive the cane at all, in school, just because of the fear that it instilled. However, I did get the slipper. On the back of that, if my parents found out what I had done, I would have got another telling off or sent to bed.
As I have previously stated, discipline begins at home and if parents will not fulfil their obligations to their children in showing them discipline and respect, how can they expect them to show it to others?
I actually feel sorry for teachers because of the abuse they receive and can understand why so many are leaving the profession when they complete their thankless task.
Do I think this type of punishment did me any harm? No I do not think so and I was taught in a very strict and rigorous environment. If you did not keep up with the class you were removed from your peers and were given additional help to allow you to catch up if you wanted to.
I am sure that others will complain that this is barbaric, but it will be the same people who think their children can do no wrong. Time will shown them in their late teens and by then it will too late!
SickOfIgnorantIdiotsOnNewsgroups
says...
5:07pm Tue 14 Jul 09
wn to-black-and-white simplistic nonsense type of person. I grew up in a fairly brutal school punishment environment - it was no deterrent at all - in fact the bravado of some hard cases made it a badge of honour to be caned.You could be bulklied for being a goody-two-shoes if you never got the cane enough. I don't know what 'goodbye Mr chips' type of school you went to but I don't recognise your so-called reality. For everyone's information every time a student is excluded permanently another school has to make provision for them - if they foul up twice - YOU as a taxpayer have to fork out even more for individual education provision - so before applauding the head of the academy think what poor school took these students on and how has the life of their new classmates 'improved'- for all schools permanent exclusion should be a last resort and I would have thought with all that extra funding an academy should be well placed to have better measures in place to deal with disaffection and misbehaviour. Violence begets violence - just look at the street gangs who maraud around our cities - does getting beaten up by other gang members stop them ? No of course it doesn't.
There are NO simple solutions to complex social problems and the sooner you and others, including the politicians, realise this and stop pretending there are, then we might make some headway in addressing the problems.
Grundon Skipp
says...
6:00pm Tue 14 Jul 09
LanceIot
says...
6:41pm Tue 14 Jul 09
SickOfIgnorantIdiotsSickOfIgnorantIdiots
OnNewsgroups wrote:
Ah O Z ! as I thought - another hangem-floggem reduce-everything-do wn to-black-and-white simplistic nonsense type of person. I grew up in a fairly brutal school punishment environment - it was no deterrent at all - in fact the bravado of some hard cases made it a badge of honour to be caned.You could be bulklied for being a goody-two-shoes if you never got the cane enough. I don't know what 'goodbye Mr chips' type of school you went to but I don't recognise your so-called reality. For everyone's information every time a student is excluded permanently another school has to make provision for them - if they foul up twice - YOU as a taxpayer have to fork out even more for individual education provision - so before applauding the head of the academy think what poor school took these students on and how has the life of their new classmates 'improved'- for all schools permanent exclusion should be a last resort and I would have thought with all that extra funding an academy should be well placed to have better measures in place to deal with disaffection and misbehaviour. Violence begets violence - just look at the street gangs who maraud around our cities - does getting beaten up by other gang members stop them ? No of course it doesn't. There are NO simple solutions to complex social problems and the sooner you and others, including the politicians, realise this and stop pretending there are, then we might make some headway in addressing the problems.
OnNewsgroups - Liberal nonsense! I was stating fact about my school days. If you were expelled from school there was no alternative unless you fancied Borstal!
Schools never had to take you after you were expelled, but they would take each case on it’s merit and decide accordingly. Your ramblings say it all.
Now take your bobble hat and go and cuddle a tree or try to rehabilitate a criminal somewhere.
Old zimner
says...
11:23am Wed 15 Jul 09
duwat
says...
2:54pm Wed 15 Jul 09
Nemo me impune lacessit, aut disce aut discede.
I went to the school where the original Mr Chips was filmed.
Unfortunately it is necessary to take a tough line with the unreasonable, because they refuse to repond to reason.
It is not tough love which causes problems, it is weakness, inconsistency and hypocrisy.
duwat
says...
4:17pm Wed 15 Jul 09
OZ, I have to take issue with humiliation; it usually leads to anger and resentment. I agree that bullies must have their credibility destroyed; proper authority must be the dominant power.
However, many bullies are simply passing it on, they have been bullied or brutalised in their turn. A tough line on their actions should perhaps be combined with a softer approach to their problems. It is facile to claim that all problems are the same, and that each problem has only one factor.
LanceIot
says...
4:42pm Wed 15 Jul 09
It is was showing their cowardness in front of others whilst they were getting their punishment that took away their credibility. I saw bullies change “over night” for the better.
It just seems to me that we have gone from one extreme to another. What would be the middle ground?
duwat
says...
6:23pm Wed 15 Jul 09
It was cool to be punished for some things; I feared caning less than I feared eight hours sweeping up autumn leaves. In the cases of bullying, disruption or stealing, peer pressure could be high, and effective. By the time I reached sixth form a lot of my schoolmates were impressing me with their maturity, I don't see this on my street today.
I agree with the sentiment that we have got too soft, and lost the will to "nip it in the bud". Perhaps a few more murder attempts, and the end of affluenza, will improve things...
SickOfIgnorantIdiotsOnNewsgroups
says...
6:31pm Wed 15 Jul 09
Why do you think I wear a bobble hat and like hugging trees ?
I do neither - in fact I am not too fond of trees since I fell out of one as a kid - maybe I would have been thrashed to within an inch of my life for being an antisocial little B*** OZ ?
I never said I could offer solutions - in fact my point was precisely that there are NO SIMPLE SOLUTIONS to complex social problems - punishment beatings deterrents hangings floggings etc do not work - we could maybe have strict Sharia and chop off hands of thieves - would that please you O Z et al ? As my nom-de-plume suggest simply that I AM SICK OF IGNORANT IDIOTS on such groups as this one - spouting platitudes and half-baked, half-cocked ideas about how they can cure the ills of society.
Please try to understand this - I will say it as simply as I possiblty can - It is not possible to go back to how things were - never in history have we gone backwards in such a way so it WON'T cure anything to hark back to eh good times when all a copper had to do was frown in certain way and the young ruffians doffed their caps and came long quietly - I donl;t beleive those times EVER existed except on Doxin's beat
OZ and others remember their past through rose tinted specs and a lens of adulthood - Duwat is right, violence begets violence - I never once saw a bully reduced to tears by corporal punishment and I never saw the cane have ANY effect on any hard case.
So I do not pretend to have answers and I don't have narrow views I simply raise arguments and points of fact that others not intelligent enough or are too lazy to address.
And I think Lancelot, you will find the education act has always made provision for those excluded from school - there has always been an obligation to providea second chance (and more). To compound your ignorance, you talk of borstal which was only ever for those who had committed crimes - unruly kids were sometimes sent to special 'approved' correctional schools. We still have those although fewer than we used to and they cost you AND me a fortune in taxes to run.
So you see, when your idol head teacher turfs them out of his academy (to your obvious delight )- the problem does NOT end there- It becomes foirst another schools then the local authorites and by implication as we pay for them US.
Quod erat demonstrandum.
There over to you
LanceIot
says...
8:22pm Wed 15 Jul 09
SickOfIgnorantIdiotsQED? This is only used when you mean this has been proven. Your comments are incorrect and therefore "Quod erat demonstrandum" does not apply.
OnNewsgroups wrote:
Ok lets see what else is in the hornets nest ? Why do you think I wear a bobble hat and like hugging trees ? I do neither - in fact I am not too fond of trees since I fell out of one as a kid - maybe I would have been thrashed to within an inch of my life for being an antisocial little B*** OZ ? I never said I could offer solutions - in fact my point was precisely that there are NO SIMPLE SOLUTIONS to complex social problems - punishment beatings deterrents hangings floggings etc do not work - we could maybe have strict Sharia and chop off hands of thieves - would that please you O Z et al ? As my nom-de-plume suggest simply that I AM SICK OF IGNORANT IDIOTS on such groups as this one - spouting platitudes and half-baked, half-cocked ideas about how they can cure the ills of society. Please try to understand this - I will say it as simply as I possiblty can - It is not possible to go back to how things were - never in history have we gone backwards in such a way so it WON'T cure anything to hark back to eh good times when all a copper had to do was frown in certain way and the young ruffians doffed their caps and came long quietly - I donl;t beleive those times EVER existed except on Doxin's beat OZ and others remember their past through rose tinted specs and a lens of adulthood - Duwat is right, violence begets violence - I never once saw a bully reduced to tears by corporal punishment and I never saw the cane have ANY effect on any hard case. So I do not pretend to have answers and I don't have narrow views I simply raise arguments and points of fact that others not intelligent enough or are too lazy to address. And I think Lancelot, you will find the education act has always made provision for those excluded from school - there has always been an obligation to providea second chance (and more). To compound your ignorance, you talk of borstal which was only ever for those who had committed crimes - unruly kids were sometimes sent to special 'approved' correctional schools. We still have those although fewer than we used to and they cost you AND me a fortune in taxes to run. So you see, when your idol head teacher turfs them out of his academy (to your obvious delight )- the problem does NOT end there- It becomes foirst another schools then the local authorites and by implication as we pay for them US. Quod erat demonstrandum. There over to you
Perhaps my ignorance is not a bad as you presume?
But you have gone totally off the subject. I do not care about history going backwards. As I am a realist and appreciate positive change. However, allowing disruptive children to compromise the education of others by abusing the class and others is unacceptable.
The guidelines for exclusion were stated as “pupils could only be permanently excluded for threatened or actual violence against staff or students, sexual abuse or assault, supplying illegal drugs, carrying an offensive weapon, or for persistent and defiant misbehaviour, in line with guidance at mainstream state schools”. I congratulating Mr Reading example of expulsion for the above offence and wished more schools would follow suit.
I would also never presume a person of your intelligence could give any solutions.
“Virga ut in vestri pipio quod smoke is”
duwat
says...
11:33pm Wed 15 Jul 09
I agree that Dixon of Dock Green is fiction. Back in the 70's the police were as violent as anybody else - don't even mention the SPG.
History is not a linear argument. Good ideas are not always recognised in their own time.
I did not say that violence begets violence, nor do I believe it is always true. It is a very good way to oppress someone; when overdone it can cause mutiny. But pain IS a deterrent; blame nature. Some people are too stupid, too stubborn or too vain to understand any other form of argument. That said, "Brat Camp" was non-violent and effective.
I dispute that a bully is a hard case. Intimidating others is not strength of character - I have seen bullies cry because they were cold and wet.
I do not believe that public humiliation has any positive effect in itself. But a former bully who can see that they have lost their status might well mend their ways. I do not feel it is hypocritical to cause appropriate and proportionate suffering to destructive personalities.
I think "the cost to the taxpayer" is a disingenuous point. It is a lot more expensive, now and in future, to allow the disruption of the education of a whole class because some twot feels unloved. And maybe they are, making a strong and constructive response all the more important.
What depresses me is that the kids I hear playing in my street are vain, arrogant, rude, cruel, thoughtless, careless, destructive, lazy, unimaginative, over-assessed, under-challenged, illiterate, inumerate, spoilt, immature hot-house flowers. They are over-indulged and under-punished; yes it is doing them harm, and it will be a miracle if they can stump up my pension.
Thank you Mr Reading, may this be the start of something big.
duwat
says...
12:43am Thu 16 Jul 09
BBC 15 July 2009
Suspended teachers assumed guilty
http://news.bbc.co.u
k/1/hi/education/815
2453.stm
BBC 11 July 2009
'Murder attempt' teacher remanded
http://news.bbc.co.u
k/1/hi/england/notti
nghamshire/8145486.s
tm
BBC 6 April 2009
Teachers report widespread abuse
http://news.bbc.co.u
k/1/hi/education/798
1989.stm
Peter Harvey, in the second story, had been off work following a stress induced stroke. On hs return, he was subjected to a chorus of taunts of "psycho". The culpable little **** is pictured here, http://news.bbc.co.u
k/1/hi/england/notti
nghamshire/8145672.s
tm
LanceIot
says...
7:30am Thu 16 Jul 09
Here we go generalising again! We can no more prove that stress was the cause of the stroke than anything else. However, the taunts of “psycho” is bullying in its worst form and I cannot understand why this was not part of the list for expulsion.
We know this happens everyday in every school, but teachers either pretend it doesn’t exist or ignore it until it’s too late.
All class rooms should have CCTV to protect both the children and the teachers and this could be used to reprimand or sack / expel both teachers & children.
Abingdon_born_Cowley
says...
11:16am Thu 16 Jul 09
Basically rather than excluding a pupil there is a class room set-up within the school that has rolling teachers in charge, these are generally teachers who can do marking etc. When a child becomes a constant disruption they are sent to the PRU and made to do their work, on their own, or sometimes with a teaching assistant, without their mates. They get their lunchtimes but must spend them in the class room or in the canteen with a member of staff.
These pupils soon get bored and they are markedly improved by not wanting to mis out. Sending a child home to play on their Xbox rather than copying science text, which do you think works better.
Public humiliation creates bullies, it does not cure them, and ****-footing around gives the bullies the control. Meet them with socially acceptable and socpisticated responses.
duwat
says...
11:46am Thu 16 Jul 09
Old zimner
says...
1:15pm Thu 16 Jul 09
LanceIot
says...
1:25pm Thu 16 Jul 09
SickOfIgnorantIdiotsOnNewsgroups
says...
2:34pm Thu 16 Jul 09
Sometimes periods in such a place can have a calming and reflective effect on the badly behaved student who does then not go on to require permanent exclusion.
For everyone's informastyion permanent exclusion is used by all mainstream secondary schools when necessary but there is a scheme in the county of Planned Transfers wher the students is moved before the exclusion and then does not terchnically use up one of his or her 'chances' and this I do disagree with as it often results in exporting the problem elsewhere
duwat
says...
2:41pm Thu 16 Jul 09
I expect he will plead guilty, in which case time spent on remand will count towards his sentence, and he will be out sooner. Minimum sentence is 5 years in custody.
The prosecution will have to prove that he intended to kill though, I wonder why he wasn't charged with GBH or Wounding.
SickOfIgnorantIdiotsOnNewsgroups
says...
2:46pm Thu 16 Jul 09
duwat
says...
3:09pm Thu 16 Jul 09
Bullies are not hard cases; they avoid serious opposition to protect themselves. That does not mean that hard cases do not use violence or intimidation, nor that they necessarily will.
Old zimner
says...
3:24am Fri 17 Jul 09
LanceIot
says...
8:20am Fri 17 Jul 09
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LanceIot says...
7:32pm Mon 13 Jul 09
Two often these days excuses are made up to make allowances for children who are nothing more than petty thugs and criminals.
Education is a priceless gift and children all around the world cry out for it.
Why then do we allow a minority to disrupt the rest of the schools with their aggression and attitudes.
These problems originate in the homes and parents have an obligation (duty of care) to ensure that their children behave properly.
Keep up the good work Mike, I wish a few more would follow your example.