Newstead head to report into Head of Independent Schools

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bluesea
Posts: 180
Joined: Wed May 17, 2017 11:49 am

Re: Newstead head to report into Head of Independent Schools

Post by bluesea »

PWF - Sorry, but NW have to be joking. When my DD was there the league table position was all the governors cared out. What a load of rot to tell parents. If they had truly decided to withdraw themselves from the league tables they would have had the presence of mind to communicate that to the parents before Parent Power came out. You spoke earlier of the problem with them being far too low on PP last year "the debacle last year but how that compares to the lack of communication this year, who knows where the error lay, almost certain we will never find out." They appealed to the Times last year and got moved back up to 24th. There is no way in **** that a school would remove itself from that league table - it is the most prestigious. They must have either dropped significantly (and don't want to make parents aware) or they forgot to fill out some form. They are using the league table in reverse by being absent from the list no-one really knows what is going in that school. That is apart from us who moved our DDs for their A levels!
I can't bear Murdoch but I bet the Times don't make mistakes.
bluesea
Posts: 180
Joined: Wed May 17, 2017 11:49 am

Re: Newstead head to report into Head of Independent Schools

Post by bluesea »

Oh, and study leave is given a different code. It is not listed under persistent absences.

I don't know what year your child is in at the school PWF but I ask the governors for clarification of the league table mess and the persistent absences. The United Learning governors that is. They are obliged to respond to parents.
PettswoodFiona
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Location: Petts Wood, Bromley, Kent

Re: Newstead head to report into Head of Independent Schools

Post by PettswoodFiona »

They weren’t low last year, Times got it wrong initially, they ended up around 24 and there was a lot of communication to Parents about the mix up. Which is all very different to this time round. There is no doubt with the latest results if they were in this year they would be lower so I don’t think we are getting the full picture. It is very disappointing. I have to balance potentially damaging relations wth the school with how important it is to know the truth. At present it doesn’t seem like a critical issue that is affecting the happiness of the girls or the teaching at the school, more symptomatic of poor communication and lack of judgement. I would in a very difficult position taking it further as that would be accusing them of being liars about tables and statistics, I would be taking it beyond the SMT who have so far provided the answer, or asking for a FOI which again is very exposing. I have told the parents of the class and there is utter silence which is even more disappointing and apathetic, I might try the class rep and see what we can do.
bluesea
Posts: 180
Joined: Wed May 17, 2017 11:49 am

Re: Newstead head to report into Head of Independent Schools

Post by bluesea »

Sadly PWF you find yourself in the position many of me and my friends were in a couple of years ago. Unsure we were being told the correct information by the school and worrying about how best to get the true picture without getting a "name" for ourselves. You have my sympathy.

But frankly the NW facts speak for themselves:

No league position in the new Parent Power table, despite having been 24th last year.

Persistent absences of 20.3% when the National average is 13.1%.
St Olave's persistent absences are currently 3.3%, considerably lower.

Now the school are part of UL hopefully Ofsted will have to inspect them.
Moon unit
Posts: 654
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:14 am

Re: Newstead head to report into Head of Independent Schools

Post by Moon unit »

Could someone help me out and explain what the definition of persistent absence is please.
Most grammar schools have a figure under 5% as far as I can see.
Seems really strange it's so different other grammars.
ToadMum
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Location: Essex

Re: Newstead head to report into Head of Independent Schools

Post by ToadMum »

Moon unit wrote:Could someone help me out and explain what the definition of persistent absence is please.
Most grammar schools have a figure under 5% as far as I can see.
Seems really strange it's so different other grammars.
https://www.gov.uk/government/statistic ... pring-2017

Persistent absence definition
A pupil enrolment is identified as a persistent absentee if they miss 10% or more of their possible sessions.
Persistent absence rate =
Number of enrolments classed as persistent absentees / Number of enrolments, × 100
The persistent absentee measure changed as of the start of the 2015/16 academic year. Time series data in this release has been recalculated using the new methodology but caution should be used when interpreting these series as they may be impacted by the change in the measure itself. For more information on this and on the methodologies used in previous years, please see the guide to absence statistics.


(Sorry, the calculation didn't transfer very well - best to look at it in the original :) ).
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Moon unit
Posts: 654
Joined: Fri Mar 07, 2014 9:14 am

Re: Newstead head to report into Head of Independent Schools

Post by Moon unit »

Thank you Toadmum.
It would be interesting to know if absence has been a problem for a while or if it's a recent change.
I imagine a level of 20% would have an impact on the progress of all pupils.
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