Head confident of improving school (From Basingstoke Gazette)

Mayor_Joe_Quimby wrote:
Cutting out all the waffle:

Teaching was graded as “inadequate” overall.

That's the bottom line.

Nice to see Mr Currie concentrate on all the important things, like slight alterations to uniform and footwear, just to hack of parents and cost them a fortune.

That should fix the lousy teaching!

Oh, and well done on driving out the remaining, popular and respected teachers that did a good job. Well done you!

Should we advertise for a new head yet? How long will this guy last?

Most CBEC teachers since 2006 lasted a year maybe 2
in fact 1 teacher quit after a week.

you know what happened in 2006? the current head came in
and the school numbers have gone from 1250 to 640.

The head has lasted 6 years....
so yeah pretty long.

Ha ha ha! Chav Hill still inadequate! Last year the equivelant of a class full of year 7's were getting on a bus to Winchester to avoid going to Brighton Hill and another load were going to school in Alresford. I hear the same is going to happen with the next lot of year 7's in the Autumn. Can't think why! Inadequate is such an inadequate word to describe the place!

Marina Morris wrote:
Ha ha ha! Chav Hill still inadequate! Last year the equivelant of a class full of year 7's were getting on a bus to Winchester to avoid going to Brighton Hill and another load were going to school in Alresford. I hear the same is going to happen with the next lot of year 7's in the Autumn. Can't think why! Inadequate is such an inadequate word to describe the place!

Yeah They only have 180 year 7's so they're going like Cranbounre went 7 years ago.

they have 240-250 in hire years.

Now they're going to Pernis (Alresford) (Where Russel Howard went I might add)
and Henry B in Winchester.

It's going to take years for BH to recover from this mess.

I'm surprised the local labour councillor hasn't had something to say about it.

Oh...!!!

Mayor_Joe_Quimby wrote:
"they have 240-250 in hire years."

Do you mean 'higher' ?
You have to see the irony, given the subject matter. Are you an ex-bh pupil?

No, also considering what I was actually saying in my comment it was not irony, did you go to Brighton Hill?

Mr Kilpatrick turned Brighton Hill School from a failing School to a very good School, with good dicipline and a strong work ethic. David Eyre undone all that hard work in his time there, and as previously mentioned, spent more time worrying about the School uniform than providing a decent education. With the constant use of 'supply' and cheap foreign teachers, I knew the place was on the slide.

Theyouthmatters wrote:

Mayor_Joe_Quimby wrote: "they have 240-250 in hire years." Do you mean 'higher' ? You have to see the irony, given the subject matter. Are you an ex-bh pupil?

No, also considering what I was actually saying in my comment it was not irony, did you go to Brighton Hill?

Are you American then? They do not understand irony either!

Please don't be so free with the irony MJQKCAKMV. There are youngsters reading these comments and it goes straight over their heads.

Agree with many of the posts here. The School needs to concentrate on educating the kids and not sending them home for having cropped hair or green socks. I have had the misfortune to speak with Mr Currie relating to education and found him rude and patronising. It does seem like the policy of the School is to punish the parents in the hope that the parents will be able to "manage" their children in School time. The School sadly has gone downhill and it doesn't seem like it has stopped rolling yet !

Can I ask how kids from Basingstoke have been able to get into Henry Beaufort in Winchester, given Basingstoke is way out of the catchment area? I am genuinely interested as my daughter will need a secondary school in a few years and the provision in Basingstoke appears to just scrape into "**** poor"

Obviously kids in the HB catchment area get first choice but if there any places left then anyone from outside can then apply. You have to get the child there at your own expense but as there are now so many going from Hatch Warren and Beggarwood the school organise a bus which you pay for. The school will point you in the right direction as they are BRILLIANT and very helpful. For the school year just finishing they created enough room for a WHOLE class size of kids who otherwise would have had to go to Brighton Hill.

jondave wrote:
Can I ask how kids from Basingstoke have been able to get into Henry Beaufort in Winchester, given Basingstoke is way out of the catchment area? I am genuinely interested as my daughter will need a secondary school in a few years and the provision in Basingstoke appears to just scrape into "**** poor"

I would apply the 1st day she's in Year 6 or try to get into Bishop because that school isn't that bad. You could also try Robert May's.. btw HB is pretty much 3rd out of 3 in Winchester

Sam_Walker123456 wrote:

Theyouthmatters wrote:

Sam_Walker123456 wrote:

Theyouthmatters wrote:

Mayor_Joe_Quimby wrote: "they have 240-250 in hire years." Do you mean 'higher' ? You have to see the irony, given the subject matter. Are you an ex-bh pupil?

No, also considering what I was actually saying in my comment it was not irony, did you go to Brighton Hill?

Are you American then? They do not understand irony either!

No I'm not a yank, are you some kind of moron? Just because the comment was a report about a **** school, doesn't make the mistake Ironic If I was talking down the school and it's former and current attendees that would of been ironic. so please shut the hell up.

You would have looked better by saying nothing or by admitting 'hire' was an ironic and intentional spelling mistake. But now you are coming across as a boorish bully. Were the errors in your above post ironic? They seem ironic to me, regardless of your intention.

No you're not getting this
me simply making a stupid mistake commenting on a page about a school that I never attended, that's looking to improve is not ironic. If I was going Oh Yellow Belly High was rubbish when it opened in the 70's and it's rubbish now and will always be rubbish and I made a stupid mistake THAT would be irony.

Theyouthmatters wrote:

jondave wrote: Can I ask how kids from Basingstoke have been able to get into Henry Beaufort in Winchester, given Basingstoke is way out of the catchment area? I am genuinely interested as my daughter will need a secondary school in a few years and the provision in Basingstoke appears to just scrape into "**** poor"

I would apply the 1st day she's in Year 6 or try to get into Bishop because that school isn't that bad. You could also try Robert May's.. btw HB is pretty much 3rd out of 3 in Winchester

When you apply is irrelevant - it's not first come first served. Applicants are added to an existing waiting list according to HCC's admissions criteria not by when they apply. Your daughter may be top of the waiting list today and be tenth tomorrow if nine families move to closer to the school than you.
If you are that interested then just apply and hope they are not full. If they are full then remain on their waiting list until they have a space.

I think I understand part of your point now Theyouthmatters. Are you saying it is irony if you pretend to be ignorant? But you were not pretending, so MJQ and I could not possibly see the irony of the presence of grammatical errors in your comments about a failing school because you did not intend to be ironic. My mistake.
But using a pretence of ignorance to get others to expose their own ignorance is one form of irony. Is this what you have really been doing?
By the way, was English your worst subject at school because you could not convince the teacher that the errors in your essays were meant to be ironic? :-) Its my excuse anyway.

You can apply at any time during the school year, even mid-term, and if there is a vacancy in the appropriate year group then you can apply for it. If your child is still at Junior school then apply when it is time to select your secondary school and you may be lucky but it will obviously depend on any places being left after those living in the catchment area have been accomodated.

Theyouthmatters wrote:

jondave wrote:
Can I ask how kids from Basingstoke have been able to get into Henry Beaufort in Winchester, given Basingstoke is way out of the catchment area? I am genuinely interested as my daughter will need a secondary school in a few years and the provision in Basingstoke appears to just scrape into "**** poor"

I would apply the 1st day she's in Year 6 or try to get into Bishop because that school isn't that bad. You could also try Robert May's.. btw HB is pretty much 3rd out of 3 in Winchester

"HB is pretty much third in Winchester". Um, HB is rated Excellent so the other two must be stellar! Third in Winchester is still streets ahead of anything in Basingstoke.

Thanks for the tips re: HB, very useful knowledge.

Sam_Walker123456 wrote:
I think I understand part of your point now Theyouthmatters. Are you saying it is irony if you pretend to be ignorant? But you were not pretending, so MJQ and I could not possibly see the irony of the presence of grammatical errors in your comments about a failing school because you did not intend to be ironic. My mistake.
But using a pretence of ignorance to get others to expose their own ignorance is one form of irony. Is this what you have really been doing?
By the way, was English your worst subject at school because you could not convince the teacher that the errors in your essays were meant to be ironic? :-) Its my excuse anyway.

I'm sorry, you're to f-ing stupid to comprehend something a John Hunt pupil could understand.

jondave wrote:
Can I ask how kids from Basingstoke have been able to get into Henry Beaufort in Winchester, given Basingstoke is way out of the catchment area? I am genuinely interested as my daughter will need a secondary school in a few years and the provision in Basingstoke appears to just scrape into "**** poor"

If you put Bishop in Winchester it would be 2nd out of 4

It's also 5th best state school in Hampshire out of 154...

Testbourne and Henry work at the same level however Henry has more per year.

Point taken on Bishop C but you have to be catholic and go to church twice on a Sunday to get in there if you live outside catchment!

There is a much bigger problem for Basingstoke as a whole.

Look around our town and there are many good teachers and many good headteachers. The primary sector has had a lot of success and standards have in the main risen.

Secondary level is a different story. We have lost children to schools outside Basingstoke because of the constant cycle of competition between the local schools that has gone on for years.

If you look at the results across Basingstoke then most of the schools are average. It is hard to recruit 6 top heads of maths for 6 schools. It is hard to then staff 6 top maths departments.

The answer is not to close schools either, because Basingstoke has a real strength in local community schools that have roots into communities that mean something. And which schools do you close, and what message does that send to those communities? Where you are born is more likely than any other determinant to shape your life and future.

Many of the heads are incapable of working together, they've shown that they are to self interested, and are probably tempted by Academy status more about saving themselves than sorting out the problem together.

Academy status will just create a market for education where those that can move around win and we wind up with sink schools for everyone else. That reminds me of Michael Gove's bright idea this week of going back to grammar schools and 11plus - very forward thinking!

No child should be left behind by an ideological answer to edcuation. This isn't some political experiment he is playing with, these are our children's futures.

We need to think better than this. And the schools need accept that the problem exists and for once, just for once, work collectively to solve the recuitment problem.

Good teachers produce results, cross school recruitment for 3 or 4 top maths heads that can run 6 departments would solve a lot. The colleges can help here and they have an important interest, they need young people to stay in Basingstoke to go to their colleges.

I'm worried about what we do for the hundreds of young people who will continue, year after year, to be taught in Basingstoke.

I'd be interested to hear what Labour Councillor David Eyre has to say on the matter.............

"I'm VERY VERY SORRY" would be a good starting point.

I don't think that is fair criticism, personally. Talking generally about the actions of headteachers is one thing, picking one out for personal reasons is different.

I do not know whether you know the man personally or not, but from what I have seen he has stood up for his community and has done a lot of good for Brighton Hill.

He fought for Brighton Hill children and I can understand that upsetting some people.

But, more importantly it is possible, I hope, to have a civilised debate about education in our town without attacking specific individuals.

Except that this story is specifically about Brighton Hill school and its demise under the control of ...

With respect, I take a different view of the story, it's about how the school moves forward, but also how education in Basingstoke moves forward.

I'm sorry Thomas, but it is a fair comment to ask the newly elected Labour Councillor - David Eyre - for his views on it given he is the man responsible for the mess the place is now in.

How on earth can anyone take the local Labour party, and ward councillor, seriously on any view it has on the school, when they have provided shelter and work for the very man who trashed it?!

Going forward, we need to make sure we don't employ people like David Eyre and give them public money for destroying local education to the point where coach loads of kids are leaving Basingstoke for a school in Winchester. Labour don't seem to get this making anything they say on education worthy of nothing more than abject laughter.

The original popleyrebel2 without the./full stop after the 2.

Apologies for going off topic, they have reopened the “MP silent on Manydown thread”

Marina Morris wrote:
Point taken on Bishop C but you have to be catholic and go to church twice on a Sunday to get in there if you live outside catchment!

Bishop doesn't have a catchment area. nor does St Annes or St Bedes.

ThomasPaine wrote:
There is a much bigger problem for Basingstoke as a whole.

Look around our town and there are many good teachers and many good headteachers. The primary sector has had a lot of success and standards have in the main risen.

Secondary level is a different story. We have lost children to schools outside Basingstoke because of the constant cycle of competition between the local schools that has gone on for years.

If you look at the results across Basingstoke then most of the schools are average. It is hard to recruit 6 top heads of maths for 6 schools. It is hard to then staff 6 top maths departments.

The answer is not to close schools either, because Basingstoke has a real strength in local community schools that have roots into communities that mean something. And which schools do you close, and what message does that send to those communities? Where you are born is more likely than any other determinant to shape your life and future.

Many of the heads are incapable of working together, they've shown that they are to self interested, and are probably tempted by Academy status more about saving themselves than sorting out the problem together.

Academy status will just create a market for education where those that can move around win and we wind up with sink schools for everyone else. That reminds me of Michael Gove's bright idea this week of going back to grammar schools and 11plus - very forward thinking!

No child should be left behind by an ideological answer to edcuation. This isn't some political experiment he is playing with, these are our children's futures.

We need to think better than this. And the schools need accept that the problem exists and for once, just for once, work collectively to solve the recuitment problem.

Good teachers produce results, cross school recruitment for 3 or 4 top maths heads that can run 6 departments would solve a lot. The colleges can help here and they have an important interest, they need young people to stay in Basingstoke to go to their colleges.

I'm worried about what we do for the hundreds of young people who will continue, year after year, to be taught in Basingstoke.

6? We have more than 6 schools

Aldworth
Bishop (Non Catchment)
Brighton Hill
Costello
Cranbourne
Everest
Fort Hill
The Vyne

Marina Morris wrote:
Point taken on Bishop C but you have to be catholic and go to church twice on a Sunday to get in there if you live outside catchment!

Bishop doesn't have a cathcment area.

I think if we had that old Grammar and Modern school system and they used all 8 schools including Bishop

It would go like this

Grammr Schools would be

Cranbourne
Costello
Brighton Hill

(Bishop is both)

(Although the Vyne could be one as it was from 1556-1970)

SM

Everest
Fort Hill
Aldworth
Vyne

If there was never a change it would be

(Bishop is still both

Grammar

Cranbourne
Costello
The Vyne

SM
Everest
Fort Hill
Aldworth
Brighton Hill

Still nothing from newly elected Labour Councillor - David Eyre - on this?

You know the one, used to be head at the school, 'retired' from failing school, all governors sacked etc.

If he works so hard for Brighton Hill now, what:
a) Does he thing the solution to the schools problems is?
b) Why did he not implement it when he was in charge?

Fair comment, will he answer?

You guys may like Labour

but I hate them.

They're to blame for the social """" up of places like London.