The secondary school league tables for England have been published by the Department for Education.
Of the 142 secondary schools in Birmingham, Castle Vale Peforming Arts College comes bottom of the list in A*-C passes at GCSE including English and maths.
29% of pupils at the school achieved 5 A*-C GCSE passes including English and maths; the average for Birmingham schools is 58%, and the average for the country as a whole is also 58%.
Castle Vale School also comes bottom of the Birmingham table in English with 32% of pupils making the minimum expected progress in their time at secondary school (Birmingham average is 73%), and it also comes bottom of the table in maths, with 22% achieving the minimum expected progress (Birmingham average is 66%).
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I work in a challenging school which regularly tops the tables for second generation unemployment, drug and alcohol abuse and teenage pregnancies. I also know that examination league tables only tell the headlines and not the whole story. Is there any surprise that examination success are lower than other schools in the area?
. I am sure that Castle Vale has many dedicated teachers who have excellent relationships with their students. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Suprise Suprise !!!!
Has anybody noticed the remarkable similarity in the current predicament of the Italian cruise liner Costa Consortia and a local secondary school?
Both had xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Little analysis for you all
Looking at the league tables, Castle Vale School is the 11th worst performing community school in the country based on 5 A*-C incl English and Maths
2008 – 44th
2009 – 19th
2010 – 39th
Second worst in the country based on achieving 3 or more levels progress in English and Maths from KS2
Very grim indeed.
I can assure you that the teachers are doing everything within their limited power to remedy the situation. Before hastily pushing the idea of an academy find evidence that academies work. The Rt Hon Michael Gove MP, Member of Parliament for Surrey Heath and Secretary of State for Education with all his lackies can’t find anything.
Academies are the last resort when people “in control” have no ideas
Academies should not be ruled out on political grounds. If they seem to work in some areas and not others then find out why the successful ones are doing well and learn from them.
castle Vale had a visit from Ofsted last week. Does anyone know how they got on?
There was an OFSTED monitoring visit on Thursday. There has been ‘inadequate’ progress since the last full OFSTED.
If the Governors are true to form, they will do nothing.
CVCHA busy though. In talks with an academy provider AET. Announcement soon – apparently.
I obviously don’t understand how ofsted works! Is “doing nothing” really an acceptable option?
If the CVCHA know the governors will be “true to form” then surely as a community school we need to say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
While your all taking about this our children in the school are suffering. This is there only chance in life and it is wasting away. Action is needed FAST.
If the school and the community can work together some rapid progress is possible.
Are you sure the school leadership is good enough?
What hope do the children have when “you’re” is written as “your” and “their” as “there” by a “parent”?
Think of the children, please!
The summer results will be good. All the knee jerk reactions are to keep one man in his job. Its about time the governors fulfilled their responsibilities. Changing to an academy will change nothing.
It’s obvious that the situation at the Vale is a direct result of the alleged lack of any kind of leadership or effective management xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, and the Governor’s living in cloud cookoo land. How can they not have concerns over the way THEIR school is run? Why do the governors (who allegedly stay well clear of the school on a day-to-day basis) not see that there are massive problems.
If the Vale was a football team xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx why is the board of directors not doing anything about it? There is no ‘relegation’ situation for the school and it’s no secret that they are bottom of the league.
Now we’re getting somewhere.
GOVERNORS:
Please don’t let this opportunity pass you by. You owe it to the children, the community, and even the staff.
The children are not just the future. They are the present. You have the position and the power to make changes.
This is your hour.
Please don’t duck your responsibility.
The community will remember how well you do when the chips are down.
COMMUNITY
If you want things to change you will have to get up to the school and speak to the governors.
If the governors are not available speak to the Head’s PA and ask for your concerns to be passed on to the clerk to the governors.
Ask when your concerns will be discussed by the governors and when you can expect a resposne.
The time for action is now!
Well we will find out soon enough if the governors really do listen and are prepared to act. As mentioned in the Tyburn Mail the members of one of the teacher associations have asked the governors to reconsider their restructuring plans. They are concerned that the governors have not really played a full part in devising this plan and making sure it is in the best interest of the pupils. Well, with a sizeable majority of the teachers asking them to reconsider, it will be interesting to see if they listen.
A friend who is in education has suggested that the governors need to remember their legal obligation (to the school and the wider community) to face up to under performing managers if they are holding back reform.
If this is the case at Castle Vale then they must know that they will be held to account if they bury their heads in the sand.
Come on governors. The community need you to fullfil your calling!
The Governors have acted. They have rubber stamped a restructuring plan that sees two deputies sacked. A majority of staff think they have got it wrong. That’s one of the reasons why they are threatening strike action.
The evidence is clear: why remove 2 experienced and respected deputies (respected by staff and students and parents too) if not to remove anyone who may be critical of a failing regime?
Too strong? Look at the evidence: the GCSE results, the league tables, the Ofsted findings that the school has made unsatisfactory progress since the last inspection.
Do parents realise that the progress from KS2 to KS4 (primary to end of GCSE) is the worst in the country?
When was the last time The Vale Mail had such a run of interest and comment on one topic?
Look to the removal of a respected and much loved Head of Maths (sooner than she wanted to leave) who had given a huge number of years to the school, community and kids she loved:
Who is driving the Castle Vale bus? And what is the intended destination?
How many teachers left at Christmas? says it all really! and one was very much loved by all the students and was equally an excellent teacher to boot.
Everyone knows xxxx the problem xxxx yet nobody does anything xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx.