Published: Thursday, 12th June, 2008 09:00
Two schools threatened with closure
By Annabel Williams
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TWO Reading schools have been told to improve exam results or they will be closed down.
John Madejski Academy and Blessed Hugh Faringdon School are among more than 600 nationally warned by education minister Ed Balls on Tuesday to shape up or face shutdown.
The principal of the showpiece John Madejski Academy in Hartland Road has this week criticised the Government threats.
Catherine Shaw says ministers fail to realise 40% of the Whitley school’s youngsters have additional needs, from those fully statemented with Special Educational Needs to children in care.
Mr Balls set a “floor target” of 30% for pupils achieving five or more A* to C-graded passes, including English and maths, for schools to reach within three years or be closed and turned into an academy.
Last year at JMA, 7% of pupils got the five or more passes, but Ms Shaw says she hoped officials and parents recognise that the school is already some way along the very path to improvement being recommended by Mr Balls.
Speaking to The Chronicle yesterday, Ms Shaw said: “What we are doing is starting from such a low level and our ability to make progress is very, very challenging.
“It is hard to achieve but we are all working very hard to raise standards.
“The system is not fair without the context that we are working in, that’s why everybody in our community was so angry when this bland statement was made about improving standards.”
Last year was the first time figures had been published for the academy, which opened in September 2006 to replace the former Thameside College.
The academy has been at the centre of controversy after 58 youngsters from its Whitley catchment area were refused places for next September.
Ms Shaw added: “We are part of the solution, we are two years in on the Government strategy and we have already had significant investment here.”
Ms Shaw would not reveal the academy’s own internal exam targets, but said she is “as confident as we could be” that the school will reach them this summer.
They are higher, she said, than external targets of 40% achieving five or more A* to C passes, and 15% getting five or more A* to C passes including English and maths.
She added: “We are still not achieving as we should be, that’s a fact. We have to and will continue to drive the standards agenda.
“But you have to understand there’s no quick fix to this, there are complex issues to address in an area of significant generational under performance.”
In last summer’s exam results, exactly 30% of pupils at Blessed Hugh Faringdon School in Southcote achieved the floor target, down from 38% in 2006.
Headteacher Paul Barras did not return The Chronicle’s calls this week but Reading Borough Council education spokesman Chris Branagan said: “We have been working very closely with the school since last summer’s GCSE results, and we are very confident that this year’s results will be well above the Government’s floor target.”
*Only one West Berkshire school, the John O’Gaunt Community Technology College at Hungerford, was named on the list.
Wokingham was one of only 15 education authorities in the country not to have any of its secondary schools listed.
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