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Renaissance Education – the local teacher agency for all of  London

Three Schools praised, but borough still below average

Southwark Schools have been given a fresh challenge, as new GCSE figures show that, although they have made improvements, they are still below the national average,

The average GCSE grade A*-C results for the borough are not yet above the national average of 54.7 per cent, but teachers and councillors have said schools in the area are improving, with some schools been singled out for praise.

Figures released by the Department for Education and Skills show schools in Southwark have an average GCSE grade A*-C pass rate of 47.2 per cent. These are revised figures from last summer’s exams, which are released after the schools have had a chance to review the results. Southwark’s average is a five and a half percent increase, which is part of a continuing trend for what were previously some of London’s worst performing schools.

But some schools in the area have shown much bigger improvements, with some far above the national average. St Michael's RC school in Bermondsey was praised by London Schools Minister Andrew Adonis for being one of London’s most improved schools, with a 79 per cent A*-C rate. This is a 38 per cent increase since 2002.

Children from the school joined with pupils from across London last week to celebrate some of the city’s best results ever. For the second year running London schools beat the national average.  At the event, children and staff were treated to a free trip on the London Eye as a way of rewarding their hard work.

Two other Southwark schools had reason to celebrate, after they were on a nationwide list of schools showing continued improvement and success in their GCSE rates.

Sacred Heart RC School in Camberwell, and Notre Dame RC Girls’ School in Elephant, both appeared on the list, released along with GCSE tables. Schools placed on the list are commended for excellence in achievement and attainment.

St Michael's RC Headteacher Martin Tissot said the success was down to a number of factors, but the most important was good old fashioned teaching and discipline.

He said: “Good behaviour is the bedrock on which successful improvements can be built. We had a big focus on improving the attitude of children to study and to the way they treat the building. We simply do not tolerate bad behaviour.”

He linked this to an ongoing process of “teaching the teachers”, saying: “It’s just a matter of making improvements, tackling little bits here and there. We don’t want to stand still or rest on our laurels.”

Southwark Council’s executive member for education, Cllr Caroline Pidgeon, was delighted with the figures, which she said confirmed that schools in the area had made a big leap forward. She said: “It’s the young people who deserve the credit, as well as the teachers who do their best to give them the best possible start in life. But we are not going to get complacent, there’s still work to be done.”

She added that in future the council would look at what it could learn from successful schools such as St Michael’s. Cllr Andy Simmons, Labour’s shadow education executive, said that even though the schools had improved, there was still a lot to be done.

“The government has put quite a lot of money into this and what we can see is the other boroughs in the Challenge London scheme are improving much faster.” He added Southwark had actually slipped down a position when compared to other boroughs in Challenge London and said the council needed to be firmer with teachers where there were problems.

The increase in pass rates across the borough came after the London Challenge strategy singled out Southwark as one of its target boroughs. The scheme launched by the Prime Minister in 2003, involved different groups working together to get better results, and the success is already showing.

However, in A-Level results in Southwark are on average over ten per cent points behind the national average of 79.9 per cent. This figured is reached by dividing the number of points awarded to each student who took the exam.

And while the average student in England scores 277.6 points in their A-Levels, students in Southwark only reach an average of 184.1 points. Of the seven places in the borough teaching A-Levels only three beat the national average. Of these Alleyn’s School, which has a 99 per cent GCSE A*-C pass rate, was placed as one of the best schools on South London. Their average point per student was an amazing 450. 

Renaissance Education – quality service for Southwark schools

Kingfishers arrive as pupils erect birdboxes

Birdboxes made by pupils of Bacon’s College in Rotherhithe have been put up around Stave Hill ecological park.

Kingfishers have also arrived for the first time at Globe Pond, to the delight of local nature lovers. Thirty children from year 10 out up fifteen birdboxes, to RSPB standards, and erected them around the park. The college has been erecting fifteen boxes in the park for the last three years,

Steve Cornish, chair of the Friends of Russia Dock Woodland said: “This is excellent work done by the pupils. We have found that not all schoolchildren want just to play football and cricket. Some are very interested in nature and wildlife. It will also make the kids feel they have a vested interest in their area”. (Southwark News 26.1.06)

Renaissance Education – quality service for Lambeth schools

New syllabus after race review

SOUTHWARK SCHOOOLS this month began teaching a new educational syllabus as a result of the Lord Ouseley report.

The council has agreed with the standard Advisory Council for Religious Education to make lessons more compatible to diverse faiths for perceived that they were being left out by the established syllabus.

It means that RE lessons are now focusing more on minority religions such as Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism and Buddhism.

Southwark has also created a Race for Equality Education Forum to ensure that all groups have equal representation in schools.

The changes come after last year’s figures showed the borough’s ethnic minority groups are still underachieving.

Although the 64 per cent of Black Caribbean pupils who achieved level four and above at Key Stage 2 English constituted a six per cent annual increase, it is still below the Southwark average.

Maths is a particular problem, with Black Caribbean students trailing the Southwark average by 16 per cent in 2005. (Southwark News 12.1.06)

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A new school of thought? Helen Smithson reports

He made his fortune in carpets, and now he’s on a mission to pull the rug out from under-performing state schools, by investing in a raft of city academies already to his name, the announcement last week that he will be stumping up the cash for two new academies in the south of the borough, makes Lord Harris of Peckham something of a one-man educational establishment.

Lord Harris of Peckham, having been educated at  Streatham Grammar School, left school to run his family’s business, at the tender age of fifteen. He is now the Chairman of Carpetright plc, having successfully floated the company in 1993.

He is also the major sponsor of several south London based City Technology Colleges, including Bacon’s College in Rotherhithe, as well as several academies. In Southwark, he sponsors the Academy @ Peckham and will also sponsor the transformation of Aylwin Girls’ school in Bermondsey. As the ‘News’ revealed last week, he is also the potential sponsor of both Waverley academies, depending on the outcome of a feasibility study agreed by the government. Last week the academy’s unit gave preliminary approval to the transformation of Waverley Girls’ school into two federated city academies, and it is now one of the seven in the borough that is at some stage of the approval process.

Academies are independent schools, mainly funded by tax-payers’ money, and provide free education to children of all ability. Every Academy must have a sponsor, who is willing to contribute £2m to the school, which is then supplemented with anything between £15-25m by the government. In return, the sponsor is given a big say in the schools curriculum, Lord Harris appears to be wholly concerned with providing a well-rounded education. His academies in Southwark have varied specialist subjects, performing arts, sports and health and business and enterprise, and he maintains that each school will continue to concentrate on key subjects such as maths, English and science.

So what drives a man like Lord Harris to invest so much in the academy system? Sponsors do not profit financially from their investment and a genuine passion for education certainly seems to be motivating factor in Lord Harris’ involvement.

Speaking to the ‘News’ this week, he said: “It’s the backbone of our country. Everyone deserves a good education, and then it’s up to them to make a good job in life.

“Peckham is improving but there is still work to do. I came to Peckham and it has gone through a tough time and we have an opportunity to change it, and I can see the attitudes to education changing in Peckham already.”

In spite of backing the current Labour government’s flagship education policy, he has praise for former Tory Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s CTCs. He notes that Bacon’s College perennially achieves above average results, while the results of Peckham’s academy rose 100 per cent last year, from twelve to 22 percent, which he predicts will rise again this year, to 50 per cent. Lord Harris also believes that rather than creaming off the best pupils from surrounding schools, academies encourage schools local to them to raise their game in order to compete. Like, he says, when a shop gets competition it must improve in order to survive. As with Croydon academy, Lord Harris wants admissions policy to reflect the demographic makeup of the area, in terms of race, gender and ability. (Being dyslexic himself, he also stipulates a 20 per cent intake of dyslexic pupils). “We don’t want clever kids….we want a mixture of everyone”, he insists.

Southwark’s education executive member, Cllr Caroline Pidgeon, appears to agree that academies are the way forward. “Academies are the new game in town and we are embracing them. During a government briefing by [Education Minister] Ruth Kelly I was told there will be no more new community schools”, she adds. “It doesn’t matter if the schools are voluntary aided, community schools or academies, as long as every child gets a decent education wherever they live in Southwark.”

Southwark Labour education spokesman, Cllr Andy Simmons, points out that there is still ‘Building Schools for the Future’ money available from the government to invest in up and running state schools, which he says Lambeth and Lewisham are putting to use and retaining community schools because of it, as the council previously did with Kingsdale and Charter schools, both in Dulwich. But he admits that while there are other ways of tackling failing schools besides turning them into academies, transforming a school into an academy can be the best option. “Academies represent a rapid way to turn a school around and the question is – how many schools could the LEA turn around in the same amount of time?”

Southwark’s Conservative leader, Cllr William Rowe, also believes it is time to look forward. We have to work with the borough’s history and circumstances in mind and I think the academies respond well to that. Academies represent fresh investment and new ideas for good community schools.”

But NUT regional secretary, Tim Harrison says that once a school is out the control of the LEA, those at the helm are not democratically elected and neither, therefore, accountable, nor removable. He also voices concerns over the effect of academies on surrounding schools, whilst Southwark Unison Branch Secretary John Mulrenan has similar doubts, saying that all schools are geared towards results and their place in the league tables, and will tailor their intake accordingly. The DFES rejects these concerns, pointing to staff, parental and LEA representatives on academy governing bodies and tightly monitored admission arrangements. The DFES says academies have around a third of pupils eligible for free school meals, though Unison points to figures suggesting these pupils drop away when a state school becomes an academy.

So will every school in Southwark eventually become an academy? “We’ll have to wait and see” says Cllr Pidgeon. “But I don’t see every school in Southwark becoming an academy and there are no more in the pipeline. I’m not disappointed so far”.

But put the same question to Lord Harris and he answers with an unequivocal ‘Yes’. And given the rate at which he’s launching them, a Southwark full of academies might not be all that far into the future after all.

Where are the academies?

City of London

Area: Bermondsey

Stage of Process: Existing academy

Sponsor: Corporation of London