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School to close after six years special
measures.
Nov 15 2005
EXCLUSIVE
SIX
hundred children face an uncertain future this week.
They are not Pakistanis caught up in their country’s worst ever
earthquake, Americans rebuilding homes in New Orleans, Guatemalans
escaping mud slides and flooding, nor young Iraqis dealing with war
and terror on the streets of Baghdad.
Southend Council voted last Thursday night to press ahead with a
closure plan for a school.
Thorpe Bay pupils could be forced to leave by early next
year. Split from friends and possibly even siblings, and dispersed
among five schools from Shoebury to Leigh.
“They are being cast off like chaff on the wind,” said headteacher
Jean
Alder, describing the decision as “a tragedy”.
But is a closing a school really cause for such concern - a school
that has been under special measures for the last six years, no
less?
Problems for Thorpe Bay High School begun in June 1999 when
inspectors swept in and derided poor teaching and results. Just 23
per cent of children got A* to C grades. Southend High for Girls -
right next door on Southchurch Boulevard - achieved 99 per cent.
Despite being placed in special measures, it wasn’t all bad news for
Thorpe Bay. Inspectors described “an orderly community” where pupil
behaviour around the school was “satisfactory”.
“Relationships between adults and pupils are cordial,” the
inspectors
reported. “Most pupils are polite and well-mannered. In lessons,
most
pupils pay attention to their teachers and generally concentrate on
their
work.”
But that was all about to change. What happened when they left was
shocking. Staff exited and pupil numbers plummeted from 800 to 600.
Most importantly, five police officers had to be drafted in to
protect the staff from the pupil chaos that ensued. It lasted on and
off for three years.
“The kids were literally running the school,” said PC Gary Bradford,
one of the officers brought in.
Like any number of so called “failing schools”, Thorpe Bay’s
pre-1999
problems were overwhelmingly linked to a perception of pupil
underachievement.
This is neither a mystery nor necessarily an indication of a truly
failing school. Thorpe Bay takes its catchment from one of the UK’s
most deprived areas.
The Kursaal Estate and its surrounding wards are highlighted on
Government reports as among the most impoverished in the UK.
Meanwhile the town’s grammar schools cream off the very best pupil
talent in the area.
“We’re the sink school,” says Mrs Alder.
More than 45 per cent of Thorpe Bay’s kids receive free school
meals.
The links between under achievemers and disadvantaged backgrounds
are recognised by both education analysts and Government
departments.
If poverty were not enough of an issue, almost one third of Thorpe
Bay High pupils have special educational needs (SEN). Southend High
for Girls has just one SEN pupil on its books.
Despite the obvious difference in what children can aspire to
achieve,
special needs ratios are never taken into account when inspectors
determine why a school is not attaining top results. And its even
worst than that.
Being disadvantaged is about more than being poor or having special
needs. Many children have parents who have difficulty reading, an
issue that can undermine the chances of homework being completed
regularly or effectively, as most parents will know.
There may be no books at home, some youngsters might be emotionally
damaged, exposed to alcohol, drug abuse or even violence. Dad might
be disabled, or mum might be living alone caring for five other
young
children.
These may not be human tragedies on the scale of Hurricane Katrina,
but they’re very real problems for the children working to overcome
them.
“Many of our children have genuine issues to deal with in their home
lives,” says Mrs Alder. “For some of them it might be that they’re
the main carer to a parent. Just getting into school is a fantastic
achievement. How can a child be judged a failure when he has
achieved a GCSE D grade where all the indicators suggested he wasn't
going to get anything.”
Jean Alder arrived in 2004 and her appointment marked the turning
point in the school’s fortunes. She immediately installed a new team
that has
overseen a teaching regime specially tailored to deal with kids from
wide
and varied backgrounds.
Among the schemes in place are pastoral managers trained to identify
solutions and forge a bridge between a child’s school and home life.
Special classes are used to cater for as few as ten children.
Discipline has been restored. With pupils attentive in lessons once
again, they stand up when an adult walks in the classroom and
actually hold open doors for staff as they walk the corridors.
“They used to slam them in our faces,” says Clare Webber, a teacher
who returned to work with Ms Alder when she saw the changes.
A £1million teaching block opened at the start of this term to cater
for
the new crop of Year Seven pupils. Among the schemes being deployed
at the centre are specialist year teachers employed to work
one-to-one with 11-year-olds enabling them to settle in to their new
teaching environment.
Parents overwhelmingly want to see the school stay open. Although
many have initial reservations about bringing their children in,
once they see for themselves the work going on they are soon
impressed. Most of those visiting a school target-setting day in
September were keen to speak out against closure.
Dave Morris, a local barber, was typical. “There were a lot of
problems
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| Jean Alder, Thorpe
Bay head. |
here before but I’ve seen the changes. We were so impressed when we
came to see what Thorpe Bay had to offer. I can’t see any problems
here. The school should have been out of special measures a year ago.”
PC Bradford is still at full-time, part of the national scheme to
improve
the relationship between young people and the police. His four
police
colleagues have long gone.
“The turnaround at this school is unbelievable,” he says. “It would
be
absolutely devastating for the kids and the teaching staff if it
closes
now. Everyone has worked so hard to make it a success.”
Jean Alder and her team have put forward an alternative plan to
Southend
Council. What sticks in the throat for staff, and the irony of their
dilemma, is that Thorpe Bay is on the verge of coming out of special
measures.
Inspectors are due to visit any week and staff are convinced they
have done enough to warrant a reprieve. Only it looks too late.
Southend Council leader Anna Waite said last week that the school’s
dropping pupil admissions, created largely by its “failing” status
under
special measure, mean the school has become an economic albatross.
“It’s just not financially viable,” she said. She is neither
uncaring nor stupid.
Her authority is under pressure from Government and has been
promised
£6million if the closure goes ahead. When asked why she and her councillor colleagues have not visited the classrooms to see the
improvements for themselves, she claimed her Cabinet could rely on
the word of Ofsted, “the experts”.
She offered to visit classes if her schedule allowed last week. It
did not.
“The teachers at Thorpe Bay have been working extremely hard to turn
the school around,” she said on Friday. “However, Thorpe Bay School
is not viable in the future and the council has the responsibility
to take action in the best interests of current and future pupils in
this town.”
For Jean Alder the future for her pupils is very clear. She believes
the
mass of “underachievers” who will soon find themselves among
neighbouring schools will become lost in the system.
“They will simply not be picked up,” she says. “They say cash will
be made available. But it will be difficult to give these children
the sort of
support they have enjoyed here. That’s partly because of the community
nature of the school. It will be destroyed if you split these
children up.
“None of this is motivated by what’s best for the children. It’s
motivated
by money, and I’m deeply worried for all those concerned.”
Southend Council has just three weeks to reconsider Thursday’s
decision.
For those children, parents and staff who fear the worst, the
uncertainty is yet to come.
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