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| St Olave’s use of exclusions was no secret – we pupils all knew about it | |
| (about 21 hours later) | |
| The public reaction to claims that St Olave’s grammar school unlawfully threw out sixth-formers who struggled with their AS-level exams has rightfully been one of shock and disgust. But having been a pupil there, I feel only the disgust. | The public reaction to claims that St Olave’s grammar school unlawfully threw out sixth-formers who struggled with their AS-level exams has rightfully been one of shock and disgust. But having been a pupil there, I feel only the disgust. |
| Let me be clear, my experience at school was a good one. The vast majority of staff genuinely cared about their students and were good at their jobs. I did my seven years’ time and came away happy. But on an institutional level I bore witness to priorities that can only be called twisted in the context of education. It was always made clear to us that the focus was on overall performance of the school. This philosophy goes hand in hand with a neglect of individual pupils’ welfare, judging students not against themselves but against their peers. | Let me be clear, my experience at school was a good one. The vast majority of staff genuinely cared about their students and were good at their jobs. I did my seven years’ time and came away happy. But on an institutional level I bore witness to priorities that can only be called twisted in the context of education. It was always made clear to us that the focus was on overall performance of the school. This philosophy goes hand in hand with a neglect of individual pupils’ welfare, judging students not against themselves but against their peers. |
| The particular object of media scrutiny has been the exclusion of students after AS-level (year 12) for failing to achieve three B grades. By law, students should not be excluded from sixth-form for non-behavioural reasons. It is hard to believe, but this practice wasn’t hidden or veiled in some sort of secrecy. We all knew about it. We were all told about it. I suppose we just didn’t think it was illegal because, if it were, why on earth would the school be so open about it? And by then we were used to it. We had already lost friends who hadn’t achieved 6As and 3Bs at GCSE. Why should we take exams without the risk of being kicked out? | The particular object of media scrutiny has been the exclusion of students after AS-level (year 12) for failing to achieve three B grades. By law, students should not be excluded from sixth-form for non-behavioural reasons. It is hard to believe, but this practice wasn’t hidden or veiled in some sort of secrecy. We all knew about it. We were all told about it. I suppose we just didn’t think it was illegal because, if it were, why on earth would the school be so open about it? And by then we were used to it. We had already lost friends who hadn’t achieved 6As and 3Bs at GCSE. Why should we take exams without the risk of being kicked out? |
| This wider lack of concern for individual students was perhaps best exemplified a few years ago when I was in year 12. That year the school significantly increased the size of the sixth form, and AS-level requirements were raised from 3Cs to the current 3Bs. Logic said these changes would lead to a greater number of students left by the wayside after year 12 – students whose education and welfare the school had supposedly taken responsibility for less than a year earlier. But the school did it anyway. | This wider lack of concern for individual students was perhaps best exemplified a few years ago when I was in year 12. That year the school significantly increased the size of the sixth form, and AS-level requirements were raised from 3Cs to the current 3Bs. Logic said these changes would lead to a greater number of students left by the wayside after year 12 – students whose education and welfare the school had supposedly taken responsibility for less than a year earlier. But the school did it anyway. |
| This pressure on exam results exists outside sixth form too, and while it may not be illegal, that doesn’t make it right. When I took my GCSEs, students were required to achieve 6As and 3Bs to stay on to sixth form. The school had the right to impose that boundary, but I remember it being more than enough pressure for a 15- or 16-year-old. Last year the school decided to raise these requirements, and met a fierce student backlash. A petition gained more signatures than there were pupils attending the school. The school didn’t listen. Such a backlash wasn’t the response of a happy student body, but as the institution has shown time and time again that isn’t its priority. | This pressure on exam results exists outside sixth form too, and while it may not be illegal, that doesn’t make it right. When I took my GCSEs, students were required to achieve 6As and 3Bs to stay on to sixth form. The school had the right to impose that boundary, but I remember it being more than enough pressure for a 15- or 16-year-old. Last year the school decided to raise these requirements, and met a fierce student backlash. A petition gained more signatures than there were pupils attending the school. The school didn’t listen. Such a backlash wasn’t the response of a happy student body, but as the institution has shown time and time again that isn’t its priority. |
| The school clearly has never been very good at gauging happiness and welfare, or at least it has never been good at caring about it. What it was good at gauging was performance. And it was good at telling us about it, too. A visit to its website will quickly have you inundated with statistics of attainment almost beyond belief. It’s not just the public that saw those. We saw them too – a lot. The previous year’s achievements and the names of top performers were plastered all over school noticeboards. | The school clearly has never been very good at gauging happiness and welfare, or at least it has never been good at caring about it. What it was good at gauging was performance. And it was good at telling us about it, too. A visit to its website will quickly have you inundated with statistics of attainment almost beyond belief. It’s not just the public that saw those. We saw them too – a lot. The previous year’s achievements and the names of top performers were plastered all over school noticeboards. |
| We were treated to a yearly results assembly from the headmaster, Aydin Onac. A series of graphs and percentages told us how much better this year had been than all before it. Details of the school’s yearly haul of Oxbridge offers were placed above all others. Illogically, we were all told to be like those exceptional students. | We were treated to a yearly results assembly from the headmaster, Aydin Onac. A series of graphs and percentages told us how much better this year had been than all before it. Details of the school’s yearly haul of Oxbridge offers were placed above all others. Illogically, we were all told to be like those exceptional students. |
| While it might initially come as a surprise that a school got away with such behaviour for so long, with some consideration it becomes less so. On the surface, everything seems fine – exceptional, in fact. Ofsted-rated outstanding. Near the top of school league tables. Sending enough students to Oxbridge for 10 “normal” schools. After all, the students being mistreated here are high-achieving ones, selected as academic at 11. | While it might initially come as a surprise that a school got away with such behaviour for so long, with some consideration it becomes less so. On the surface, everything seems fine – exceptional, in fact. Ofsted-rated outstanding. Near the top of school league tables. Sending enough students to Oxbridge for 10 “normal” schools. After all, the students being mistreated here are high-achieving ones, selected as academic at 11. |
| It is understandable that the school is held to less high scrutiny. But it is naive to think that this institutional attitude is limited to one school. Awful though these policies are, they make sense for a school trying to maximise its nominal results and climb league tables. Because grammar schools select children who are academic, it is academics on whom they are judged. It makes it easy for the institution to forget that these are children. And as St Olave’s has shown, it makes it easy to forget any sense of responsibility for the individuals in their care. | It is understandable that the school is held to less high scrutiny. But it is naive to think that this institutional attitude is limited to one school. Awful though these policies are, they make sense for a school trying to maximise its nominal results and climb league tables. Because grammar schools select children who are academic, it is academics on whom they are judged. It makes it easy for the institution to forget that these are children. And as St Olave’s has shown, it makes it easy to forget any sense of responsibility for the individuals in their care. |
| Schools that seem high-achieving beyond belief should be scrutinised further. Because, after all, they are beyond belief. This cannot be passed off as the doing of a single misled headmaster or school board. It is likely to be at least in part a product of how we assess the performance of selective schools – forgetting that education is about individual improvement, not nominal benchmarks. | Schools that seem high-achieving beyond belief should be scrutinised further. Because, after all, they are beyond belief. This cannot be passed off as the doing of a single misled headmaster or school board. It is likely to be at least in part a product of how we assess the performance of selective schools – forgetting that education is about individual improvement, not nominal benchmarks. |
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