Monday, February 20, 2012

Knowsley Schools

Astonishing discoveries have been reported from that centre of cutting edge research- Knowsley in Merseyside.

1) Spending £157 million on new buildings does not guarantee improvements. Knowsley now has one of the lowest pass rates at GCSE in the Country.

2) Renaming the schools 'Centres for Learning' and the teachers 'Performance leaders' doesn't help much either, but gives the rest of us some amusement. Amazingly, the idea of calling the classrooms 'Warehouses' and having 'Democratised Spaces' didn't have the Head of Eton banging on the door looking for tips.

3) Keen to make capital out of this foolishness from the previous Government, Michael Gove declared that:

"Children in Knowsley suffer from some of the worst educational outcomes in the Country." 

Educational Outcomes!?! Didn't these used to be called 'results'. He has clearly picked up a bout of the same disease.

Anyone from Knowsley should feel free to comment. (After all, the schools might have been even worse before all this money was spent).

There's obviously a theme going on here as their local Safari Park advertises itself as the 'Best loved' one in Britain- I'm not quite sure what that means either.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yep, If you have ever lived in Knowsley you will know why.
Many consider it to be the 'posh' part of Liverpool, Just don't ever go out after dark.

Anonymous said...

Having spent some of school years in Knowsley as a top one percenter- there were mor pupils in the referral unit or permenantly excluded than true intellectuals. There is a difference between one who can cram for GCSEs and one who has a refined understanding of books, culture, scienc etc.This meant few people wanted to be my friend.

I made up for it often at lunch by approaching the lovely, caring senior management team who enjoyed my discussions with them; in the inner-city mileu they were not expecting my self-restraint and circumspect conduct.

And I got to find out rather a lot in respect of their political views; the head was a "safeguarding" supporter,into "equal" marriage and far worse "reproductive rights" (ie baby killing in the womb) believes in multiculturalism and appreciates Existentialist philosophy (no Kierkegaard for her though. The deputy, another Labourite/eco-warrior, was a middle-aged woman with a faithful marriage lasting two and a half decades. She liked to carefully "empathise" with the worst behaved pupils as she had privately read all about their shocking pasts and was too sentimental to punish once she knew EXACTLY what the abuse entailed.

Anonymous said...

Student Houses Sheffield

Anonymous said...

after attending all the meetings a few years ago about the new super schools , i find that the parents were right , the schools are failing our children . the new hascl school in huyton has the worst ofstead report and all they seem to do is send the children home , this is their answer to everything . What are these teachers getting payed for, no wonder the people of knowsley are wanting a " free school " i wish these parents the best of luck in this area , maybe knowsley council will finally sit up and listen to the people when they find that the school's have hardley no pupils in it .