Latest League tables show that overall primary school children in Southwark are performing worse in standard English, maths and science tests than nearly anywhere else in the country.
The Government’s table of Key Stage Two results place Southwark second from bottom in the country, down four places from last year, despite bringing in private firm Atkins to run and improve its key educational services. Out of the borough’s 69 primary schools just 25 of them are above the national average and another 17 above the borough average. The national average for the three basic tests is 234. Southwark children have an average of 205.8 whereas children in neighbouring Lambeth have 215.9 and in Lewisham 219.8, both of which have to contend with the same social and economic factors that inevitably impact on Southwark.
The bleak figures are helped by some remarkable success stories but this latest blow to the education authority will galvanise the debate as to whether Atkins can deliver on the promises they made when they were given the contract in April 2001. And it will raise questions as to whether certain head teachers are up to the job. The results, Atkins argue, are a reflection of the ‘last four years’ so the work they claim to have done to improve schools has yet to filter through.
Bob Skelly, the council’s Executive Member for Education, told the ‘News’ this week: “Atkins will have to satisfy me that they are getting to grips with the situation. I am confident at the moment that they are, but serious action plans are needed to rectify the situation in some of the schools.” He was quick to point out the success of certain primaries in the borough. Topping the table in Southwark is the Cathedral School of St Saviour’s and St Mary Overie in Borough. Headed by Sylvia Morris, the voluntary aided Church of England School has improved massively since she took over in 1994. The school scored 293 with 100 percent of its pupils achieving level 4 in both English and science texts and 93 per cent in the maths test. “We are delighted” she told the ‘News’. “Cathedral has seen an upward trend in the last five to six years and this is our bumper year. We have consolidated the teaching and the support staff at the school are a stable part of the crew. Getting the calibre of teaching needed is hard in an area like this but we have set certain standards. Pupils and their parents are expected to do a certain amount to reach that standard as well. When I first came to the school some parents were saying to me ‘well as long as he’s happy’ and that is not good enough. They all sign contracts obliging them to read with their children.”
And Ms Morris was eager to point out that while she does take in ten children each year on the ‘church ticket’ she faces the same problem as many of her colleagues in schools elsewhere in the borough. “Sixty per cent of our children do not speak English as their first language – we do not select the cream of the bunch.”
In Rotherhithe, Albion Primary has in the past four years almost quadrupled the score. In 1999 the school got just 61 points across the three core subjects – one of the worst scores in England. This year they achieved 229, just five points below the national average. The school has put is success down to the standard of teaching. In that time it has had a completely new staff and major refurbishment has taken place.
At the bottom of the table is Keyworth in Walworth with a score of 107 with a level 4 pass rate of 33 per cent in English, 27 percent in maths and 47 percent in science. Only Ivydale Primary and Gloucester Primary in Peckham have done worse in the science test. Head Susi Whittome said she was disappointed but argued that things had changed at the school and that “the legacy of poor teaching over a period of four years significantly affected results. The school had serious weaknesses and was put on special measures in 1999. Her Majesty’s Inspectors then inspected the school once a term for the next four terms. It is a tribute to the school’s success that it was taken off special measures in only 19 months rather than the usual two years.”
(Southwark News - 12/12/02) |
