18th July 2013 9:00
By Blue Tutors
Sir Michael Wilshaw, the chief inspector of schools in England, has said that the poor children being left behind are now in leafy suburbs, market towns and seaside resorts, rather than in big cities. He refers to these children as an ‘invisible minority’ often hidden within a well performing school. Whilst praising the steps forward made by schools in London and other big cities, he has also called for a new team of ‘National Service Teachers’ to help pupils getting lost in the suburbs.
These National Service Teachers should be employed by central government to visit schools which are failing pupils, and turn them around. Wilshaw has also called for sub-regional versions of the London Challenge, a Labour government initiative which ran in London until a few years ago, and credited with turning around many of the capital’s schools. This will see teachers in more successful neighbouring schools working with under-achieving schools.
A interesting example of an improved school is Platanos College in Stockwell, where 60% of students receive free school meals, and in 2000 only 11% of students received 5 GCSEs at grades A*-C or above. This figure has now risen to 80%, and deputy head teacher, Michael Rush said that they had no option but to focus on how to close the attainment gap, because their underachieving pupils could not be hidden. The policy was to focus on getting the basics of English and Maths right, introducing more frequent testing to monitor a student’s progress, and holding extra classes on weekends. It is these lessons that Wilshaw hopes can be learnt in every school in England.