Brighton and Hove schools named amongst worst in Britain

3:20pm Thursday 14th January 2010 in News By Emily-Ann Elliott

A trio of Brighton and Hove schools have been named on a list of the worst schools in the country.

Portslade Community College, Falmer High School and Hove Park School all appear in the bottom 200 state schools, when ranked by the percentage of pupils passing at least five GCSEs, including English and maths, at grades A* to C, after the 2009 GCSE and A-level league tables were published yesterday.

Brighton and Hove’s GCSE results ranked it as 127th out of 152 local authorities, below cities such as Birmingham and Leeds, as well as boroughs of London including Haringey and Lewisham.

As well as being ranked 144th on the list of poor performers, Portslade was also named the 14th worst school in the table of value-added results, which show how well pupils have progressed between joining the school at 11 and taking their GCSEs.

Falmer High was named 155th in the table, despite the proportion of its pupils getting five GCSE passes, including English and maths, rising from 19% to 25%.

Acting headteacher Lauren Atallah said more than half of pupils had gained five passes at grades A* to C, although many had not passed both maths and English.

Hove Park School appeared at number 190 on the list.

West Sussex County Council was ranked 54th in the list of local authorities for its GCSE results and East Sussex County Council was ranked 72nd.

Comments(19)

stickman says...
3:47pm Thu 14 Jan 10

My kids are all at PCC. From personal experience if they want to do well and their parents encourage them to do well then they will be OK. This report says more about the schools catchment areas than the staff and facilities.

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longman says...
5:51pm Thu 14 Jan 10

Even if they have all the support in the world from school and home and they want to do well, it doesnt follow that they will do as well as their parents expect. What is equally important is that they come out of school polite, compassionate and with common sense and doesnt expect that 'the social' will take care of them. They know they have to work to earn a living. There is nothing worse than a person who has been well educated, with a first class degree, but has no common sense and is a self centered, arogant twit.

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The Brighton Bear says...
8:02pm Thu 14 Jan 10

Sack the current teachers and recruit some that can do the job.

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pun master says...
9:24pm Thu 14 Jan 10

The Brighton Bear wrote:
Sack the current teachers and recruit some that can do the job.
Oh here we go! More informed comment from our resident education expert.... What an intelligent suggestion, presumably based on evidence and facts about the current status of teachers at these schools...

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The Brighton Bear says...
9:33pm Thu 14 Jan 10

pun master wrote:
The Brighton Bear wrote: Sack the current teachers and recruit some that can do the job.
Oh here we go! More informed comment from our resident education expert.... What an intelligent suggestion, presumably based on evidence and facts about the current status of teachers at these schools...
You can't argue with the rankings!

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stickman says...
9:37pm Thu 14 Jan 10

longman wrote:
Even if they have all the support in the world from school and home and they want to do well, it doesnt follow that they will do as well as their parents expect. What is equally important is that they come out of school polite, compassionate and with common sense and doesnt expect that 'the social' will take care of them. They know they have to work to earn a living. There is nothing worse than a person who has been well educated, with a first class degree, but has no common sense and is a self centered, arogant twit.
And they will get this from their parents too. Good parents just want their kids to do their best. They can do that at PCC, maybe it is not so easy than at other "better" schools but who said life was easy anyway?

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stickman says...
9:47pm Thu 14 Jan 10

The Brighton Bear wrote:
pun master wrote:
The Brighton Bear wrote: Sack the current teachers and recruit some that can do the job.
Oh here we go! More informed comment from our resident education expert.... What an intelligent suggestion, presumably based on evidence and facts about the current status of teachers at these schools...
You can't argue with the rankings!
Like I said - the rankings say more about the catchment area than the school. It's quite clear from having kids at that school for 6 years now that many parents and kids couldn't care less about education. There are good teachers at that school, I can guarantee that, and if you want your kids to do their best they will certainly help.

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pun master says...
11:54pm Thu 14 Jan 10

stickman wrote:
The Brighton Bear wrote:
pun master wrote:
The Brighton Bear wrote: Sack the current teachers and recruit some that can do the job.
Oh here we go! More informed comment from our resident education expert.... What an intelligent suggestion, presumably based on evidence and facts about the current status of teachers at these schools...
You can't argue with the rankings!
Like I said - the rankings say more about the catchment area than the school. It's quite clear from having kids at that school for 6 years now that many parents and kids couldn't care less about education. There are good teachers at that school, I can guarantee that, and if you want your kids to do their best they will certainly help.
And this is the biggest danger with the misguided rankings and league tables system of judging schools. They look at a very narrow aspect of school life, and don't take into account the backgrounds/areas of the students - for that look at CVA scores, which assesses schools according to the overall progress made by the student body, and compares with schools of a similar make-up around the country. There are probably bad teachers, like there are bad police officers, lawyers, doctors, shop workers etc etc, but of all the schools I have worked in I have never come across a teacher who no matter what moans or groans they had didn't put their students first - to be honest you wouldn't last long if you didn't, because you would stand out like a sore thumb. If people really want to improve education standards in this country, then society must recognise the need for good parenting in partnership with schools, must be supportive of teachers in trying to get the authorities to change discipline and attitudes towards education, recognise the difficulties and challenges of our job, and start working with us rather than against us so much... Especially with ignorant comments about us closing schools to play in the snow...

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davyboy says...
7:59am Fri 15 Jan 10

it is not only the teachers who make a good school, but the pupils too. pupils with attendance and behavioural problems also bring the standard down. discipline is important, and teachers MUST be able to hand out suitable punishments to pupils who break/ignore rules, without fear of some parent or other do-gooder sueing them. we had the strap or cane, and detentions after school, and on saturday mornings. can you really see any of todays pupils either staying after school, or even going to school on saturday morning in full uniform!!!!! there's another point, uniform. schools have these to allow everyone to look the same, so that no-one stands out as 'different', and gets bullied etc. how many kids actually adhere to uniform policy? not many, and the schools seem to do nothing. this is a fundamental part of the school, and teachers should rigidly enforce these policies, as they did years ago. schools are only as good as their various parts, teachers, support staff, pupils and parents, and if any part fails, then you have a poor school. everyone needs to work together to produce a quality product. teachers need to make lessons interesting, parents need to instill good behaviour and manners in their children, and the kids need to realise that a good education is vital. disruptive kids should be removed from class, and taught separately, but not punished.

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kraftwerker says...
10:04am Fri 15 Jan 10

davyboy...spot on. People shouldn't criticise the schools and teachers. Take a look at some of these kids. Half of them can barely wear clothes, let alone stay awake to listen to the teachers trying to get through to them. Why do people give teachers such a bad time? What about the parents? Unless the parents can show discipline and willingness for their kids to learn, how can the kids pick anything up? We're too scared to be strict with our kids anymore, for fear of reprisal.

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joker says...
10:39am Fri 15 Jan 10

I`ll just add that i have a child at PCC and another who left last year who both have manners and wear full uniform everyday,and whilst a handfull of the teachers can handle secondary pupils alot of them cannot.
Communication between parents and staff is at an all time low and unless your child is an A star student or throwing chairs around in class then your child will get passed by.

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chrisbrighton says...
11:15am Fri 15 Jan 10

The Brighton Bear wrote:
Sack the current teachers and recruit some that can do the job.
"sacking" the parents would probably be a better option if only this were possible

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Txa says...
1:31pm Fri 15 Jan 10

As a parent the lost of trust in school start earlier when they start school. Personally I support my children, but I misstrust the actions that schools take. They often ignore parents' consultations (so I won't bothered anymore) and many times use our children as commodities, to obtain financial gains. I do not doubt that school need as much financial help as they can get, but using our children is not the way. I just wonder sometimes if children are kept in the same status, say per example free school meal, or to receive extra learning support to keep some of the extra support assistants in the jobs? How many children are being damaged from that?

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Gaz the great says...
5:45pm Fri 15 Jan 10

From what i see of my nephews homework, aged 15, i can only assume the goverment & education boards believe their dealing with 10 year olds. The level of education in this country is a joke, but do not automatically blame the teaching staff. However, poorly educated teachers equal poorly educated students & there appear to be plenty of them across the UK.

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whichone says...
6:01pm Fri 15 Jan 10

Printing negative comments about schools that are trying to improve does not help at all. It simply reduces morale among students and staff making a difficult situation even worse. What would help is the newspapers giving these schools a chance to show what they are doing well and what they are improving, concentrating on the negatives never helps a situation whereas focussing on the positive boosts morale and leads to a will to improve further.

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goodparent says...
6:11pm Fri 15 Jan 10

whichone wrote:
Printing negative comments about schools that are trying to improve does not help at all. It simply reduces morale among students and staff making a difficult situation even worse. What would help is the newspapers giving these schools a chance to show what they are doing well and what they are improving, concentrating on the negatives never helps a situation whereas focussing on the positive boosts morale and leads to a will to improve further.
I have 2 children at the school and i agree that reports like this damage the moral of the staff and the whole school.Give the school a chance it has a new head ,new ideas are being acted on all the time.I have faith that this school will improve.They need the help and encouragement of the parents and people to give them a chance.There are many parents that don't give a **** about their kids education but lets not let them drag us down!!

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another village idiot says...
7:40pm Fri 15 Jan 10

The Brighton Bear wrote:
Sack the current teachers and recruit some that can do the job.
A typically inflammatory comment. Why don't you go in and show them how it's done Brighton Bear(ly able to spell your own name)

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TheInsider says...
12:59am Sat 16 Jan 10

Hopeless parents breed hopeless children.
Hopeless parents blame everyone except themselves for poor education.
The basis for a good education starts with parents giving children a thirst to learn and an ambition to progress.

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Jill Clough says...
2:37pm Sat 16 Jan 10

It's a long time since I left Comart as Principal but I am still sent the occasional piece of news by friends in Brighton and this one is sad, but recognisable. Since leaving I have worked with headteachers and schools all over the country and don't think Brighton is different from anywhere else in its problems. What I have found in other areas since is a really high degree of partnership and support between the schools, instead of intense competition. In those schools, the good results of one school are celebrated in all its partners. Heads share ideas, staff, resources, pupils. The LA trusts the schools with a high degree of delegation. Instead of subtly undermining other schools, heads and their staff work on the principle that what's good for one is good for everybody else. What I experienced in Brighton was not only intractable snobbery about different social areas, but deep divisions of interest between schools. It takes a real shift of values to accept that children are essentially the same wherever they are - full of energy, talent and potential intelligence - and that it's the job of all the adults in a community to pool their own energy, talent and intelligence on behalf of the children. It wouldn't take long to change things in Brighton, if people were willing to pool their ideas and belief in children. It took my team just one year to get Comart out of special measures, because of that faith in children. We couldn't do much on our own, though, about the underlying suspicion of the school in the city of Brighton. This news item sounds like history repeating itself. It doesn't have to.

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