If you can look past the rather clumsily worded initial advert, then click through to the .pdf document that is far better structured there are lots of positive things in the advert for the new Head at Newstead. I do hope they find someone good (in both senses of the word) and not a Head who recently became available from another nearby grammar...

What caught my eye was that this role doesn't report to the Head of Academies / State schools, but to the Head of Independent Schools. I know there are plans to work with Guildford High etc, sounds like interesting and positive times ahead, or am I too gullible?

https://unitedlearning.current-vacancie ... rt/1077070

Sorry, haven't read the actual paper yet, but can I just ask why the HT of a state school within the trust should be reporting to the head of independent schools, if there is a state / indie division within the ''chain of command'? Why do you see this as 'positive'?

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

Yes there is a structure within United Learning that has separate State and Independent Schools. I see it as positive as where it is positioning the school with its other selective schools which happen to be in the independent sector. The longer document talks of the school being able to straddle both sectors. Maybe this division will become more blurred as a result of this move and be a good thing for all the schools in the Trust as each can learn from their strengths and weaknesses. I see it as positive as NW has more in common with the selective schools (irrespective of the fact they happen to be independent) than some of the state schools, I see it as positive that they have taken the time to consider how to position the school as it shows they haven't just taken it on and lumped it in what might be the obvious pot under the state head, but thinking more strategically. There may be downsides like struggling to share some of the challenges state schools have, especially with funding, but I am hopeful the Trust network will still offer the Head such opportunities to learn from all angles.

Is this 'straddling' two systems the reason why Newstead didn't appear in the Sunday Times' list of Top Secondary schools? I looked in the state section and skim read the independent list, but couldn't see it anywhere. Anyone know why? It usually features pretty high up, nationally, but would def appear in the London or South East listings

Good question. I don’t have access to the Times to see the tables but maybe this is part of the answer? I know they had a bad year recruiting into the sixth form which has been discussed on this forum before but doesn’t really excuse the rather significant difference in results:

2016
Total entries 368
A* to B 314
85.32%

2017
Total entries 298
A* to B 218
73.15%

Source of data: http://www.newsteadwood.bromley.sch.uk/ ... s_2017.pdf

I would be concerned about a link with a Private school. In my experience, Private schools have looked to recruit good teachers FROM the state sector ...

A parent of a DD who went all the way through NW said post GCSE, 30% of her DD's year did not make it into the 6th form. This seems to be a major watershed moment at NW, and other schools too. Unsure how the turnover compares though.


This wil probable be another unknown for NW.. Maybe an administrative error, maybe miss calculated, who knows?

Unsure if school / governors provided an official response as to why the persistent absence figure was 20%+ yet, as that was also speculated upon and discussed previously. Seems to be a major and worrying statistic given it's 4x national average and near 10x rate at other selective schools.

Wow, that's some difference! I've thrown away my copy, but perhaps they just don't feature because of last year's results? But even if numbers were down, that doesn't explain the 12% drop in A* to B grades, given that we're dealing in percentages. Unless decent staff have left or something else has changed?

More than one indie in this trust and several state schools, but Newstead Wood will be the first selective state school - their website specifically states that the existing state schools are non-selective. Possibly this is why they are grouping NW with the indies rather than the other state schools. However, were I a parent in catchment for NW, I would probably be happier if the trust renamed its divisions as 'selective' and 'non-selective'. Putting NW in with the fee-paying independent schools might make people wonder whether the intention was to take the new acquisition out of the state sector?

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Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.Groucho Marx

I asked a friend who has the Times what the % were in the tables, she said the lowest score for the London table was 64.5% for A Levels A* to B which is well below what Newstead scored. St Olaves is third so the Orpington grammars are classed as in London. In the National table of top 150 state schools, the lowest is 62.3%. So it looks like that even though NW hasn't done as well it is another error in the tables. I know they were missed out last time and then re-inserted at a later date in the online version but the school announced this but I haven't heard anything this time round.