In a league of their own

15th December 1995, 12:00am

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In a league of their own

https://www.tes.com/magazine/archive/league-their-own-0
The 1995 league tables have done a grave injstice to the Birmingham school where I was once headteacher.

It is an 11-16 comprehensive whose prospects were unpromising when I took over in 1987. Duddeston Manor Community School was blighted by inner city decay reflected in a drab school building, poor facilities, low self esteeem among children and adults, and low expectations from teachers.

The school had not only given up on its community, but had no strategy for survival. Falling rolls led to the assumption that the school would close before very long.

What happened in practice was that the school was revitalised by the combined efforts of the local authority, the Urban Development Corporation, Government Task Force and, above all, teachers, children, parents and the community itself.

Our joint aim was to re-establish a community school in the fullest sense. Staff re-training took place, management was overhauled, innovative curriculum approaches were introduced and the school was opened to the community. A large capital programme transformed the site and its facilities over a period of six years. It played a leading role in establishing the Birmingham Compact and in a range of initiatives in the school and across Birmingham, focusing on the individual learner, which opened up opportunities for all children.

Standards began to rise, pupil numbers increased, the school became a flagship for Birmingham, and a successful OFSTED inspection served to reinforce its values and methods.

The exam results of 1995 demonstrated what can be achieved through giving responsibility to pupils and by working together with all sections of the community. The results showed not only very good raw figures, but also the fastest rate of improvement in Birmingham. The proportion of pupils with 5 GCSE grades A-C was 29 per cent in 1995, compared with 9 per cent in 1993.

A success story you might think. But not quite. Between 1992 and 1995 the school had to grapple with a difficult merger with a smaller school serving an entirely different community. It is an extraordinary fact that throughout the long-drawn-out process, standards continued to rise.

The league tables, however, brought a nasty surprise when published 15 months after my own early retirement. Our excellent results simply didn’t appear. The reason is that Duddeston Manor Community School ceased to exist on August 31, 1995, and a “new” school same pupils, same community, same building, some of the same staff opened on September 1, 1995 with new management and a new ethos. The Department for Education and Employment has explained to me that figures are not published for a school which has closed, “because parents cannot use the figures in exercising their freedom of choice for their 11-year-olds as the school does not exist”. Meanwhile the figures cannot be published under the name of the “new” school because it did not exist until September. The BBC and local press have been confused but it is much more serious than that.

The magnificent achievements of students and staff of Duddeston Manor Community School have gone unpublished and unrecognised and the national data is therefore incomplete. Neither Birmingham education department nor the DFEE appear to have great concerns about this. They should have, and so should the Secretary of State, because political skulduggery and bureaucratic ineptitude have won the day.

Bob Donnelly is now an education consultant.

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