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The Lambeth Walk back to happiness

Once seen as among the worst secondaries in London, Lilian Baylis is enjoying better times. Michael Shaw spent a fortnight there to track its dramatic U-turn.

Everyone is trying to avoid eye contact with the science teacher in case he makes them answer his question about photosynthesis.

But there are no pupils in the lab. It is the 8.15am staff briefing, which is held three times a week and always begins with a teacher demonstrating a lesson technique.

Today it is the turn of Chris Allmey, head of science, who has handed out numbered cards with words including “water”, “oxygen”, and “carbon dioxide” as part of a demonstration of “concept mapping”, an approach in which pupils have to explain links between parts of a process.

The idea that staff briefings here should start with teaching tips would have been risible five years ago. Ditto the free fruit in the staffroom, the interactive white-boards in every classroom, and the school’s on-site reflexologist.

Back then, the school, in Lambeth, South London, had serious weaknesses, the worst exam results in Britain, and suffered a rapid staff turnover that left classes in the hands of a succession of supply teachers.

Its sprawling concrete site, built in the 1970s, also made it tricky to stop pupils misbehaving, and only a handful of parents picked it as their first choice. Pupils tell horror stories of how students waited at the gates to take their money, while teachers recall finding vomit and excrement by the stairs.

Angelica Wallace, 12, summed up the school’s grimmer days in the first stanza of a poem she has written, called “Memories”: “Back in the days/People fighting/Children screaming/Disobedience.”

The technology college still has one of the most challenging intakes in England. Three-quarters of its students are eligible for free meals, the highest proportion for a London secondary. They also have the lowest average attainment in the capital when they arrive at the school.

About 95 per cent of students are from ethnic minorities, more than half do not speak English as a first language, and a quarter are refugees or asylum-seekers. Yet the school has been described as “wonderful” by Tony Blair, and has been praised by inspectors for its outstanding leadership.

Its new intake this September will be pupils whose parents have made it their first choice, and more than 200 teachers recently applied for a post in its maths department. At an evening for new parents, families are amazed to see the school’s gleaming new £20 million building, which stands between the Oval cricket ground and the headquarters of M16.

Lilian Baylis’s story is not straightforward. For a start, it has been “turned around” at least once before - the last time in 1998 when trouble-shooter Yvonne Bates became head for a year-long secondment.

Ms Bates succeeded in bringing the school out of special measures and lifting staff morale.

But it was not plain sailing after her departure. In 2002, only 6 per cent of pupils gained five A*-C grade GCSEs, and a year later the Conservative politician Oliver Letwin said he would “rather beg on the streets” than send his children there.

When Gary Phillips took over as head in 2001, he was the sixth head at the school in five years.

Determined not to repeat previous mistakes, the energetic head has kept up pressure on staff to innovate and involve more and more outside organisations.

Andrew Comley, deputy head, said: “It’s 100 miles an hour here and always been. Some staff thought the pressure might come off after we came out of serious weaknesses, but we’ve got to keep up the momentum.”

The school benefits from being relatively small for a secondary, with only about 600 pupils.

Its location near the centre of London makes it easier to attract outside visitors. A few of the exhausting list of activities in a fortnight at the school included visits to the Globe theatre; work with a professional poet, and a Nike-sponsored day of events for all Year 9 girls presented by female hip-hop and break dancers and Helen Clayton from England’s women’s rugby team.

A few teachers mutter that there are almost too many activities and say that they can make it hard to plan lessons. But they are impressed by their head’s ability to find funding.

“He is terrier-like,” said Nicola West Jones, education director of Business in the Community. “If a business person visits, he will always phone them a year later to find out how they can help next.”

Mr Phillips says the extra-curricular events are crucial. He is putting the finishing touches to a project in which pupils will take over an office in the City this summer to run their own business.

“Some schools have an activity week at the end of term - we have an activity year,” he said. “The aim of this school is to transform the life-chances of the children and we won’t do that with bog-standard lessons.”

“If my daughter tells me she wants to be an architect, I’ll buy her architecture magazines, I’ll take her to the Design Museum. But most children here don’t have parents who can do that.”

When he became head, Mr. Phillips said his three priorities were to improve behaviour, boost attendance and provide richer-quality learning. He said he knew the importance of clear guidelines and discipline and plentiful pastoral support. His own bad behaviour meant he was sent to a strict “approved school” at the age of 12.

Pupils said they noticed the change when staff began enforcing the behaviour code more strictly. Good behaviour is rewarded with points which can be exchanged for rewards, while those who misbehave get clear warnings before punishments, which include detention.

The school’s new three-level building, constructed through the Private Finance Initiative, has helped to make it easier for teachers to keep an eye on students. A one-way system operates on its corridors and staircases to reduce disruption at break-times.

These changes were combined with a sharper focus on teaching: all five of the advanced skills teachers working in Lambeth are employed by the school.

Mr Phillips has many more plans. He wants to set up a children’s centre and a sixth-form centre on the roof, so he has no intention of departing as swiftly as his predecessors.

“I’m 42 now, so I’d hope to be here another 23 years,” he said. “There isn’t a better job to be had.”  (TES - 2.6.2006)

Renaissance Education – great teachers for day-to-day supply

A programme that supports heads of challenging London Schools is getting impressive results.

“In all my years as head, this is the first, commonsense, practical help towards helping us crack the unique educational problems we face.” So says John Troake, head of Haling Manor secondary school in Croydon, about what is possibly London’s most secret good news story- the Keys to Success scheme.

While London Challenge, the five-year programme launched by Tony Blair in 2003 to improve the lot of teachers and students in the capital is already familiar, one of its most exciting strands remains – inexplicably - in the shadows.

It was set up to help some of the most challenging secondaries in the country and uses as a resource many of the features which make London a tough place to teach, arranging contacts with other schools and support from heads who have overcome major difficulties.

The scheme gives leaders of struggling schools support rather than stick in tackling problems. At its heart is a direct link between individual heads and their own Keys to Success adviser, who can fast-track resources - the scheme has a £3 million budget - direct from the Department for Education and Skills.

In keeping with its name, the scheme is showing signs of great success. In 2004, London exceeded the national average for GCSE pass rates for the first time and has rated the fastest-improving region in England. By 2005, the results of Keys to Success schools-spread across London’s 33 boroughs and including some of the countries toughest secondaries - had improved by an average of 5 per cent a year since the start of the programme.

Between 70 and 75 of the 204 London secondaries are in the scheme at any given time. So why do the people involved seem to be dismayed rather than pleased by media attention?

In fact, many feel they are picking their way through a minefield of sensitivities. Success depends on the co-operation and trust of the school leaders involved, who are used to reading headlines about anarchy in their schools and the declining quality of state education in the capital. They felt that the last thing a beleaguered head struggling with budgets needs is the glare of negative publicity.

“This is extremely sensitive work,” says George Berwick, who co-runs the scheme’s consultant leader programme.

“The term Keys to Success can be perceived as a deficit model, but we are actually working with good heads in very challenging situations. If the bonds of trust we have built up with them are broken, it undermines everything we’ve achieved so far.”

Schools join the scheme in a variety of circumstances. Some may have been in special measures and seem membership as a way of climbing back out.

Others have been approached by their local authorities or one of the 11 advisers in the scheme.

Kate Myers, an adviser for the boroughs of Haringey and Croydon, says involvement is always voluntary.

“This is a partnership programme,” she says. “We all agree that we are not inspectors. We build up trust with our school and then act as critical friends.”

David Woods, senor adviser on the scheme, says schools and local authorities were wary in the early days and suspected yet more interventions and directives.

What made Keys to Success different, he says, was that it was not another “one size fits all” scheme dropped on to already overloaded heads.

“We are offering a menu of support to pick and choose what suits best, so that each programme is individually tailored in partnership with the head,” he says. “The adviser’s line of reporting - straight back to the DfES - means we can act very quickly.”

Professor Myers agrees. “It’s very important that the programme is different for each school,” she says. “For a school with a very high number of children whose first language is not English, for example, we can organise visits to another school with a large ethnic intake to see what work they are doing.

“If there is a lack of capacity in the leadership team, we can bring in a temporary deputy to give the head extra support.”

The beauty of the scheme is its “power to cut through the crap”, as one head puts it-its flexibility and a belief that with the right support, heads play a vital part in solving their own school’s problems. Often, says Dr Berwick, heads in difficult schools can spend so much energy on fire-fighting that they have no space to plan strategically.

“We’re there to make the head’s job easier,” he says.

For Mr Troake, this is a sea change in attitudes. “There has traditionally been inspection overload when government has wanted to know why pass rates weren’t better,” he says.

“Then there’d be lots of talking around the subject and a culture of short-term fixes, but no strategic view. Keys to Success was a breath of fresh air.”

Academy Builders walk out over cash - Fear of ‘spiralling costs’ set to delay flagship school

The Government’s academies programme has been dealt a fresh blow after building work at one of the flagship schools was halted in a row over funding.

The construction company behind St Paul’s academy in Greenwich, south-east London, downed tools after it emerged that the school’s budget would not cover building expenses.

Critics said there were fears that costs said to total £31 million in a funding agreement signed between ministers and the school’s sponsors 15 months ago were spiralling out of control.

The Department for Education and Skills now faces the prospect of increasing its own contribution or altering plans for the school to ensure it opens in September 2007.

It is the latest controversy to hit St Paul’s. Last year The TES revealed that the Roman Catholic archdiocese of Southwark, its sponsor, was contributing just £200,000 towards the school, rather than the £2m being invested by most other academy backers. The remaining £1.8m is being met by local taxpayers.

Its building problems will increase pressure on academies, which are independent state schools, part sponsored by private finance, following criticism over “excessive” costs elsewhere.

One school, Haberdashers’ Aske’s Knights academy, being built in south London, is due to cost £38m, and the Bexley business academy, which opened in 2002, cost £35m.

The Southwark diocese said that the St Paul’s building programme, led by EC Harris, the construction project managers, has been halted while costs are reassessed.

The diocese blamed inflationary pressures for the delay and said there was a possibility that the new school would not be completed in time.

The academy replaced St Paul’s Catholic comprehensive in September last year and opened in the former school’s buildings. Under existing plans, its new buildings will be built on the playing field of nearby Abbey Wood comprehensive, a non-denominational school. The academy will move in next September and Abbey Wood will close in 2009.

Sue Harris, head of Abbey Wood, who has opposed the academy plan, said contractors moved on to the playing field earlier this year, but suddenly packed up two weeks ago.

The DfES refused to disclose full details of the walk-out, saying only that there had been a “temporary stop in construction activity while effective use of resources is reviewed”.

Greenwich council would only say that it was “disappointed to learn of a potential delay”.

According to last February’s funding agreement, the specification of the academy may be altered to cut costs if it all goes over budget. The DfES and sponsors could also step in with more money.

Mrs Harry said she was surprised at the size of the original estimate, compared to higher costs at academies elsewhere. “Clearly something has gone wrong, but unfortunately, any delay to the academy will not affect the decision to close our school,” she said.

Tim Woodcock, divisional secretary of the National Union of teachers, said: “If this building starts spiralling out of control, who is going to foot the bill? We need to know that as more is spent on the academy, money is not simply removed from schools’ budgets elsewhere.”  (26.5.06 TES)

Renaissance Education – quality service for qualified teachers

Many happy returns in Newham

Making sure special needs students play a full part in lessons is second nature to teachers in the London borough of Newham. “The council is committed to inclusion, and the teachers here are predisposed to work in an inclusive environment,” said Neil Berry, the head of Brampton Manor, a mainstream secondary in East Ham. “Its sounds pompous, but it’s true.”

Just 0.4 per cent of children in Newham are educated in special schools, one of the lowest rates in the country. Brampton Manor caters for children with the whole range of special needs. Its special needs budget is more than £1 million and it has around 10 special needs teachers and 25 teaching assistants. Staff have been trained to work with children with Down’s syndrome, autism and Asperger’s. Among its recent successes are two students with Down’s syndrome awarded GCSEs for dance.

Mr Berry said two-thirds of the school was accessible to wheelchair users, and he hoped all of it would be once the old block is refurbished in 2008.

Brampton Manor works closely with a special school, Eleanor Smith in Newham, which specialises in social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. More than 95 per cent of Eleanor Smith's 66 students attend a mainstream school for part of the week.

Kevin Higgins, deputy head, said the handful of students who remained at the special school all week were at “the extreme end” of the behaviour spectrum and come become confrontational very quickly.

“A variety of things might trigger them off,” he said. “It could be that the work they are given is too difficult, or a comment or a look by another pupil. It can be very hard for a classroom teacher to identify.”

However, Mr Higgins said the ultimate goal was to return every student to mainstream education. “Last year around one third of our primary children returned to the mainstream,” he said. “We make it clear when they come to Eleanor Smith that they will be with us as long as necessary, but hopefully not forever.”  (19.5.06 TES)

Renaissance Education – great teachers for permanent positions

Exam plugs pop star school

Aspiring young pop stars are queuing to get into Britain’s only state funded performing arts school after a national test sung its praises last week.

The Brit school, in Croydon, South London, received around 100 emails and calls after a newspaper article about it was used as a comprehension exercise for 14 year olds. The piece, “Welcome to the Brit School”, described the school as a centre of excellence for those wanting a career in the music industry.

One question in the exercise asked: “How does this article create the impression that the Brit school is an important and exciting place?” The surge of interest suggests some could have written reams in answer to that.

The school’s most famous former pupil is Katie Melua, who topped the UK album chart in 2004. The article was published in the Observer in February that year, as she was shooting to fame.

Nick Williams, the principal, said: “We have had emails and calls from 14 year olds around the country wanting to find out more. There was a lovely TV programme about the school, but the test seems to have generated more interest. It’s brilliant free publicity.”

The school caters for 14 to 19 year olds. But the bad news is that admissions have already closed for next September, although Mr Williams said pupils could apply to be admitted in the sixth form.

Other alumni of the school include singer Amy Winehouse and the late Lynden David Hall. It draws a quarter of its pupils from outside London and places heavy outside London and places heavy emphasis on music and performance, but it stresses it is not a “fame school”. Pupils complete a full programme of academic and vocational study.

Margaret Morrissey, spokeswoman for the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations, said the response was to be expected given the many TV shows fuelling dreams of stardom. But she said the National Assessment Agency, which set the test, should be careful not to raise hopes too far. “Children need to understand that the proportion of people who end up being famous is incredibly small,” she said.

In January, a poll of 16 to 19 year-olds found that nearly one in 10 would abandon their education of they had a chance to appear on TV. Michael Morpurgo, the former children’s laureate, said: “The focus on fame is becoming a great cancer for young people. In my opinion, education is about fulfilling yourself in a much more meaningful and deep way than that.”

This year’s English tests have gone down quite well. Teachers on the TES website praised both the KS3 reading test that featured the Brit school article and the KS2 assessments. But many are still unhappy with testing. Mrs Morissey said parents were “genuinely concerned” about the amount of assessment.  (12.5.06 TES)

Renaissance – working with schools across London

‘Failing’ school receives exam boost release of with Key Stage 3 results

An Elephant and Castle school that was recently put onto special measures has received a much-needed boost by becoming Southwark’s most-improved school.

Geoffrey Chaucer Technology College, which was earlier this year labelled a failing school by Ofsted inspectors, has made great strides in the latest key stage 3 results.

Students have achieved a 30 per cent increase in English and improved by twelve per cent in Maths, way exceeding the National average in exams for fourteen-year old pupils.

Other schools in the borough also showed exam increases that close the gap on national results.

Alison Delyth, Director of Education at Southwark Council, said: “The fact that Geoffrey Chaucer is among the most improved ay key stage 3 illustrates that a lot of good work continues to go on at the college.

“The results are testament to the hard work of pupils and staff involved and will be an excellent boost to the colleges as it works hard to bring about further improvements. “In fact, key stage 3 results across the borough have gone up at a rate that’s above the national average, so congratulations should be extended to all Southwark schools, pupils and educations staff.

“We have agreed with Ofsted that there is much room for improvement at Geoffrey Chaucer, which is why I am personally chairing a specially appointed interim executive board to turn the school around and bring it back out of special measures.

“After just a few weeks with two of our specialist advisors in place, there’s already a detailed action plan and pupils are getting engaged in the future of their school, so we’re confident that improvements will continue to take hold”

Geoffrey Chaucer will become a city academy in September 2008. Meanwhile, Minister of State for Schools, Jacqui Smith, wrote to Walworth School Headteacher Liz Hanham, to congratulate the school’s achievement on becoming one of the most improved schools in the country.

“I am proud of the marvellous staff and pupils at Walworth who have really, worked their socks off this year,” said Liz.

I t has already been announced that the school is seeking City Academy status. An expression of interest has been submitted to the Department for Education and Skills.  (13.4.06 Southwark News)

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Cobourg off special measures

*A Camberwell school has become Southwark’s seventh to be freed from special measures in the past eighteen months.

Cobourg primary school was last week taken off the government’s failing schools list after being put on in June 2004.

The upturn in Cobourg’s fortunes has coincided with the appointment of Headteacher Julie Evans, who arrived eighteen months ago to turn the school around.

East Walworth ward council candidate and deputy leader for the Lib Dems. Cllr Catherine Bowman said: “I am absolutely delighted to hear that Cobourg is coming out of special measures.

“I know how committed the staff, governing body and, not least, the kids have been to getting their school back on the right track. I’m sure they’ll now go from strength to strength.”

Only Geoffrey Chaucer Technology College and Tower Bridge Primary School remain on special measures.  (13.4.06 Southwark News)

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Since the scheme was introduced in 2003, the proportion of pupils gaining 5 or more A*-C grade GCSEs or equivalent has increased from 39 per cent to almost 50 per cent.

More than four out of five pupils stay on in education post-16 and the council aims to increase this to 90 per cent over the next year. Every young person who wants to stay on after school can do so.

Patricia Slonecki, head of Bonus Pastor School, which is involved in the initiative, said: “We are not a huge school, we only have 750 pupils, but we can offer an amazing range of courses. We simply wouldn’t have been able to do this on our own. It allows us to take a more personalised approach to learning; it is very much geared to what the pupils want. It doesn’t just meet the needs of those who want to do vocational courses but also the needs of the brightest pupils.”

Ofsted said: “This initiative has enabled a step change in the attainment of 14-19 learners in Lewisham over the past few years. Improvements at key stage 4 are some of the highest in the country and participation rates have risen dramatically.”

The council stressed the role of young people themselves in the project. A citizenship council with two representatives from each secondary school allows pupils to put their views to the authority. (TES 24.3.06)

Fingerprint fury at primary school- Library begins to assemble a ‘database’

Furious parents are protesting against a “violation” of their children’s rights at a Southwark school as its library begins to assemble a ‘database’ of the pupil’s fingerprints.

The library at Charles Dickens School in Borough began taking the students’ fingerprints as part of their new identikit library system that means students log on to the system with their thumbprints rather than the traditional method of using library cards.

However, some parents are wary of the scheme claiming that it’s totalitarianism “by the back door” as well as a “breach of trust” by the school governors and head teacher.

One mother, Amanda Penfold, claims that the school authorities did not give parents adequate say in the programme and has mounted a campaign against the hi-tech measures.

Speaking to the ‘News’ she claimed: “This has much wider social and political implications. There would be a public outrage if they tried to do this with the general public, so why are they trying it with kids? I can’t see how they can justify it. “You can’t even take a picture of children without prior permission these days, so why this? I’m totally stunned.”

Despite claims of inadequate consultation process, Headteacher Elizabeth Owens said: “We sent a letter out to tell the parents of our intention to start the scheme at the start of the week and we are still in the process of gathering all the information.”

Hoping to allay any fears parents might have, she confirmed that the thumbprints themselves were not recorded and could not be passed on to any other agency. She also reiterated that the scheme was set up to encourage both students and parents involved in the library, with no sinister motive.

She also claims that the scheme was used in other schools across the borough and recommended by the local library authorities.

In addition to these reassurances, Ms Owens also explained how the scheme was not compulsory and that there was an alternative library card scheme in place.

Ms Penfold encouraged parents to take up this option saying: “This kind of treatment used to be reserved for criminals – it’s really scary stuff.” (Southwark News 16.3.06)

Rush to apply for chartered pay bonus

Teachers in the capital are being urged to apply for Chartered London Teacher status and a £1,000 bonus before the money runs out.

The scheme aims to recognising excellent London staff. But the Government has said it will only fund the one-off bonus for the next two financial years.

Now the National Union of Teachers is advising members to register by the end of the month for the final round of funding, or risk losing out.

Some 10,500 of London’s 60,000 teachers have registered, but the number may have been inflated because heads are getting as many as possible to register even if they do not want the status.

For each registration, the school gets £1,000 to spend on anything, which does not have to be returned if a teacher fails to qualify.

Applications are based on existing performance management evidence but some heads say staff still believe it is too much trouble for £1,000.

Angeles Walford, head of Priory C of E primary in Wimbledon, said: “My teachers are not taking it up because they are not planning to be here in the time it will take to qualify because they just can’t afford to stay in London.”

To get the status staff must meet 12 standards in areas including pedagogy, subject knowledge, and knowledge of London’s diverse communities.

It will normally take newly qualified teachers five years to acquire the status. Experienced staff on the upper pay scale should take just two years.

The government agreed to pay schools extra until 2007/8 to reflect large numbers in those signing up to the scheme, which began in 2004/05.

After that schools must pay bonuses themselves, out of training budgets. (3.3.06 TES)