I have been looking at Kent schools that have abnormally large numbers of pupils dropping out before completing their statutory education, and trying to work out some of the reasons. Three schools leap to the fore because of their exceptional disciplinary requirements, which are clearly unpopular with families, but I also look at several other schools of note below.
Each of these three Kent schools have featured in the media in the last year because of controversial and tough disciplinary policies, often on minor uniform issues, designed to raise standards of behaviour and which they claim will make them popular with families. They also all have large parts of their hinterland which are areas of social deprivation.
However, they share two other common characteristics which raise serious questions about this approach. Families try to avoid all three when choosing secondary schools; and all three have a large number of children being removed from the school to take up Elective Home Education. I look at the relevant data below, along with a look at the approach of each school individually.
From Year Seven secondary places offer day in March 2016, to the October Census the same year, the school lost 36 children, or 23% of those offered places, the highest percentage fall in the county. For this September, it has made a total of 100 offers for places, a sharp fall from the 158 of 2016, its 67 vacancies being the fourth highest percentage in the county. 13 places offered were to Local Authority Allocation Children (LAAC) who did not even apply for the school, which was the only one with vacancies in Dartford. Between September 2016 and Easter 2017, 17 children took Elective Home Education, the highest percentage in the county, with three out of every 100 pupils leaving a school education for ?. Six of these were from Year 11, schools with this pattern often having encouraged children to leave in order to boost GCSE results, which is of course unlawful. Another three had been taken off the school roll and registered with a Pupil Referral Unit, an alternative to exclusion for some pupils, although intended to be a short term solution with the pupil remaining on the home school roll (see below). The school had eight permanent exclusions, the highest number in Kent, in 2014-15, although this had fallen to under five for 2015-16. Overall the first Year 7 cohort after the current Principal was appointed, which has now reached Year 11, has lost a net 17 pupils over that time, 13% of the original figure, and one of the highest in the county.
The school is proud of the GCSE results achieved from its remaining pupils, and whilst some found an alternative, at what cost to those who couldn’t cope and left or were forced out.
The school had previously picked up a large number of pupils after the highly unpopular takeover by Ellington and Hereson School of the disastrous Marlowe Academy now closed, so that its Year 11 cohort has increased by a remarkable 50 pupils over the five years they have been in the school, with the now renamed Royal Harbour Academy having lost 39! The school will also have picked up families moving into the area from other countries and from London replacing others who have left, so the school probably has more challenges than any other in the county.
The new headteacher, appointed September 2016, has completely and controversially changed the ethos of the school, introducing tough love; time will tell if it works in this very difficult climate, although it certainly hasn’t in the other two examples. Eleven year old children, faced with the trauma of going to a secondary school they may not have chosen, on their first day were turned away at the school gate by the Headmaster and fellow staff for minor uniform infringements. What a dreadful impression to make, which may scar that child's view of the school for ever. Will the scene be repeated next month? I hope the school has realised the damage this does to those children, or do they just see it as tough love.
In summary: By October 2016, the school had lost 17% of the 322 pupils given places in Year 7 the previous March. 53 of the total offers were to LAACS, the second highest figure in the county that year. For September 2017 entry, there were 98 vacancies, a quarter of the total available, the school being the only one in Swale not oversubscribed, as many Sheppey parents struggle to get their children into Sittingbourne schools. The total number of children offered places has fallen by 33 over last year. There were 47 LAACs who had not even applied for place. Most of these will have come from the Isle of Sheppey itself, desperate but failing to avoid the school. Each year I am asked for advice from a number of these families.
An astonishing 33 families had pulled their children out of the school in the seven months to Easter 2017, ‘electing’ for Home Education, some testifying they were given no option, as this became a ‘strong recommendation’ by the school, which is unlawful. This is almost twice as many as any other school, Ebbsfleet Academy having come second (along with Cornwallis Academy, Maidstone) with 17, just ahead of Hartsdown, third with 15. What is most worrying amongst many other factors to consider, is that 18 of the Oasis EHE pupils came from Years 7 & 8, many from families who clearly care about education, some concerned about bullying, which appears less of a serious issue than uniform regulations to the school leadership according to correspondence I have seen. These families have made a positive decision, that arranging for private tuition (which is a thriving business on the island) for the remainder of their children’s years of education is the better option. What an indictment! I doubt these arrangements offer anything like a full curriculum, for this would make them illegal schools, which would then be closed and the children forced back to Oasis!
I am awaiting FOIs for the number of children appealing for places at the Sittingbourne schools from Sheppey, which should provide a further indicator. The school also got rid of six pupils for each of 2015-16 school year, and 2016-17 to January (see below), who were permanently moved to the Swale Pupil Referral Unit, intended to be a short term solution for pupils at risk of exclusion.
My previous articles explain how the school uses the misnamed and humiliating ‘Reflection’ punishment applied to 39% of the whole student body since March which, instead of reflection, has the effect of alienating many pupils and families. This punishment, which sees the pupil withdrawn from lessons for the whole day, losing the day’s schooling, kept in a room allowed refreshment of just a basic lunch, but nothing else to drink, appears to be often applied for minor uniform misdemeanours. For families who think this unfair, parents allege that the school suggests their children leave the school to try and find another or take up home education (including comments below and in previous artciles), although this is denied by central academy staff not based on Sheppey.
However, the centres in Dartford and Sittingbourne operate very differently, with 21 and 27 pupils registered wholly with the PRU respectively in January 2017, without a home school, contrary to the prime purpose for the centres. I have had discussions with parents confirming that in some cases children are threatened with exclusion if they don’t transfer wholly to the PRU, the preferred option of dual registration not being pointed out. One advantage for the school of this is that pupils who are removed from the roll do not count in GCSE statistics.
The biggest users, according to the January 2016 and 2017 censuses were: Sittingbourne Academy (13 in 2016, 7 in 2017); Abbey School Faversham (5,7); Oasis Isle of Sheppey (6,6); and Westlands Academy, Sittingbourne (8,3).
Handily, the Chair of Governors of the Swale PRU is also a Director of Swale Academies Trust (including Sittingbourne Academy and Westlands School), ex headteacher of Sittingbourne Academy, Chair at Westlands School, also Vice Chair of the North School, Ashford (another SWAT school), and a Consultant who carries out work for the Trust.
Oasis Isle of Sheppey and Hartsdown both had new headteachers last September, so may argue that the new system is simply bedding down and will begin to work in time. However, there is already plenty of evidence at both that ‘tough love’ is not working, and certainly one could hardly argue that the pioneer of the approach in Kent, Ebbsfleet Academy, is a shining example of success.
What I find most alarming of the many signs of failure of tough love is the high number of families pulling their children out of the three schools, many being forced out to take up what is called Elective Home Education without the tools to do the job properly. Others are simply vanishing from the system. In areas of social deprivation, a high proportion of these will not be provided with an alternative education to prepare them for a decent future, heaping up social problems for years to come.
I know that many of these children will have presented problems in class, and so schools wish to see the back of them, but those schools have a legal responsibility to work out ways of coping without damage to others. There are examples of other schools in areas of deprivation who do manage for the benefit of all, without going to such extreme measures.
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