NSC reply to the Daily Mirror article Post Reply

[yummydaddy]

talkman,
thank you for your valuable contribution

[Talkman]

My pleasure poppet
Back to the debate then?

[yummydaddy]

sure, I'm waiting ...

[yummydaddy]

good article - talks about the council meeting

http://jamescousins.com/2011/02/the-bol ... ins.com%29#

[schoolgatesmum]

mrsmilk - why are you so interested in the process for choosing ARK? The final decision to give the school the go-ahead will be made by the government and that decision will include whether ARK is deemed suitable I presume? Where's the problem?

[anxiousannie]

Sorry for being thick BUT,
Hasnt the building already been bought and teaching recruitment already begun ?

This last post implies the final decision is still to be made?

Very confused,
AA

[schoolgatesmum]

I think it's just the final sign-off on the business case (a formality?). I can't imagine Wandsworth Council would have spent that amount of money unless they were pretty sure the school was going to get the go-ahead. I guess recruitment has to happen now in order to get a head in place in time for a 2012 opening (it's a bit like the football season as heads have a certain time in the academic year to resign from a post).

[doleofficedad]

For those interested in the facts, the following relates to ARK Schools GCSE student outcomes:

Official GCSE figures released in Jan 2011 confirmed that ARK Schools has secured a fourth year of improved GCSE performances across its academies. ARK’s 5 academies with GCSE results achieved an average rise of 12 percentage points over last year’s results. Since each school opened as an ARK academy, the average annual increase in pupils achieving 5 GCSEs including English and mathematics is now 10 percentage points - up from 7.8 percentage points last year - which makes ARK Schools the most successful academy group for GCSE improvement in the country.

Some examples from specific ARK schools:
1. At Burlington Danes - 89% achieved A*-C in English Lit
2. Charter - 74% in the same subject
3. Globe - 78% in French
4. St Albans - 100% in Eng Lit
5. Walworth - 96% in Biology

It is always worth checking the actual facts when someone writes that ARK has "only 3 schools which had exam results in 2010". As can be seen from above there are 5 schools with relevant GCSE results and they are all doing pretty well in terms of year on year improvment. Myths indeed do abound!

[mrsmilk]

So pretty soon a myth might emerge regarding the choice of organisation to run the school - in the absence of an answer to the question. How exactly was the choice arrived at?

[sw17mamma]

Holy Roses, I may be wrong but Allsorts was funded by the Mitcham Lane Baptist Church. It was approved a couple of years ago by Wands Council for the nursery grant (so you could use it there) but it didn't actually get any funds per se from Wands. The cuts have come from the church as oppose to the council.