Schools in Stafford - Discussions & opinions

[littleme]

Go to your catchment high school (if it's the one up I think it is), very happy to recommend after DD got 7 A*'s and a completely happy schooling experience

My 2 elder children went 'there', they both thrived & achieved grades, at the time it had a good reputation - however now its reputation isn't so good....a little birdy told me recently that it is to become a Academy!!! Saying that, my best friends son also attended the same school at the same time as my sons & had a terrible time - & is now a toe-rag from hell....

 

[littleme]

Sorry gareth youre talking out of your arse again.......With the right parents and attitudes towards education any child will find their level and do well no matter what school they go to.

Well said!

 

[kyoto49]

My 2 elder children went 'there', they both thrived & achieved grades, at the time it had a good reputation - however now its reputation isn't so good....a little birdy told me recently that it is to become a Academy!!! Saying that, my best friends son also attended the same school at the same time as my sons & had a terrible time - & is now a toe-rag from hell....

It still has a very good and improving reputation, and the Academy thing , whilst offputting, is purely a way for the school to get more money...........nothing to do with it failing in any way!!!

I always think kids turn out depending on their upbringing, but that might ffend your friend so I should say nowt!!!

 

[kyoto49]

Sorry proactive but your ignorance is mine boggling and downright ridiculous.

A child at any level of intellect will not flourish in just any school especially a school that is consistently a poor performer, too imply otherwise says alot about your understanding of education at any standard.

you don't happen to be Cllr Ben Adams do you lol

What a load of crap! By most metrics Rising Brook ( or whatever it's called now) is not a 'good' school, but my friends child went to Cambridge having been educated there, and another freinds child got 10 A*'s despite English being her second language. Schools can only work with the raw materials they get. If a school consistently gets academically weaker kids from socially deprived areas, as Rising Brook does, it's not going to get the exam results Walton does with it's catchment of affluent middle class kids. If Rising Brook got the kids Walton does and Walton got the kids Rising Brrok does, penny to a pound the results of the schools would also be reversed.

 

[Lucy]

Now I'm trying to work out if we were all at school together, Captainpish, was Janet the one who went To Oxford? If so you were the year above me.

 

[captainpish]

Now I'm trying to work out if we were all at school together, Captainpish, was Janet the one who went To Oxford? If so you were the year above me.

No, not janet

 

[Lucy]

Hmm, your age suggests you were the year above

 

[Chick]

School standards constantly vary depending on the head/staff/pupils that are in attendance at any particular time and the needs of each child vary greatly so what might be a great school for one, is the complete opposite for another

I went to Walton in the 90s and had a pretty good experience. Of course there were things they could have improved on but there were also things I thought they handled better than other schools in the area did, but overall I had no complaints in the education and life experience I gained whilst there.

The year I left, the head who had been there for many years also left. I understand from friends who were still at the school, parents of friends who were still there and teachers I knew socially out of school, that this had a significant impact on standards.

I also think that what makes a "good" school is as subjective as the different needs of each child

 

[Wormella]

What's interesting, that no one yet I've seen mention is 'The Stafford Collegiate' -

" The Stafford Collegiate is a partnership of several state schools based within the Stafford catchment area. The collaborating institutes includes: Blessed William Howard Catholic High School, King Edward VI High School, Stafford Sports College, Sir Graham Balfour High School, Walton High School, and Weston Road High School.

The partnership offers a large range of courses. both academic and vocational, a total of some 40 A level subjects, eight courses leading to vocational qualifications, a general education programme, moreover, some offer the opportunity to improve GCSE grades.

Since its formation, the Chetwynd Centre has played the role of head of the collegiate, offering courses only to sixth form students at participating schools. Steve Smith, Collegiate Manager, heads the Stafford Collegiate and is the head of the collaboration."

This level of cooperation between schools, and choice granted to students is an amazing achievement and should be applauded.

 

[proactive]

What's interesting, that no one yet I've seen mention is 'The Stafford Collegiate' -

" The Stafford Collegiate is a partnership of several state schools based within the Stafford catchment area. The collaborating institutes includes: Blessed William Howard Catholic High School, King Edward VI High School, Stafford Sports College, Sir Graham Balfour High School, Walton High School, and Weston Road High School.

The partnership offers a large range of courses. both academic and vocational, a total of some 40 A level subjects, eight courses leading to vocational qualifications, a general education programme, moreover, some offer the opportunity to improve GCSE grades.

Since its formation, the Chetwynd Centre has played the role of head of the collegiate, offering courses only to sixth form students at participating schools. Steve Smith, Collegiate Manager, heads the Stafford Collegiate and is the head of the collaboration."

This level of cooperation between schools, and choice granted to students is an amazing achievement and should be applauded.

Don't know about other schools but I believe Walton are pulling out of that next academic year.

 

[Wormella]

Don't know about other schools but I believe Walton are pulling out of that next academic year.

That's a shame if they are - fostering ambition and giving students choice in what they study is such a strong motivation for further study.

 

[Lucy]

I guess it's thanks to the collegiate, although possibly in an earlier form, that I am doing my career today. I couldn't do Computing Science at school, so I did it at Chetwynd (although with my GCSE teacher!) and from there did a computing based degree, which lead me onto my placement year. I went back to that company when I graduated.

 

[kyoto49]

What's interesting, that no one yet I've seen mention is 'The Stafford Collegiate' -

" The Stafford Collegiate is a partnership of several state schools based within the Stafford catchment area. The collaborating institutes includes: Blessed William Howard Catholic High School, King Edward VI High School, Stafford Sports College, Sir Graham Balfour High School, Walton High School, and Weston Road High School.

The partnership offers a large range of courses. both academic and vocational, a total of some 40 A level subjects, eight courses leading to vocational qualifications, a general education programme, moreover, some offer the opportunity to improve GCSE grades.

Since its formation, the Chetwynd Centre has played the role of head of the collegiate, offering courses only to sixth form students at participating schools. Steve Smith, Collegiate Manager, heads the Stafford Collegiate and is the head of the collaboration."

This level of cooperation between schools, and choice granted to students is an amazing achievement and should be applauded.

The collegiate was the reason that my child is now at a state Grammar school for sixth form!! The format is such that kids often find themselves doing 3 A levels at 3 seperate schools with all the travel each day that this entails between schools. My daughter's choice of A levels were timetabled as such that she was ending up doing Maths & Physics at Walton, Chemistry at King Eddies and German at Balfour. What a mess that is, and why would she want to spend half her day travelling from one end of Stafford to another? Further, they don't have a home school, a base they belong too. There is no PE provisions, they are basically just orphans in the system. I agree the range of A levels offerred is broad, but it's not enough for the brightest kids and alot of them left to go to schools with proper traditional sixth forms (Adams, Newport Girls, Stafford Grammar, St Joseph's et al) or sixth form college.

 

[kyoto49]

That's a shame if they are - fostering ambition and giving students choice in what they study is such a strong motivation for further study.

From the cohort of kids my daughter went to high school with, very few took the option of the breadth of subjects offered. Most just wanted to do the subjects offered by the school they had spent the past 5 years at. Those whose subjects weren't offered by the school they had already studies at tended to leave the collegiate system completely and attend a school that offered a more traditional sixth form.

 

[Wormella]

I admit, it is the reason you can't get a taxi around 3ish - but a choice of courses and no pe provision does sound like bliss to me - but I've only heard positive things about it from the 6th formers I know but I'm sure that isn't always the case.

 

[db]

I guess it's thanks to the collegiate, although possibly in an earlier form, that I am doing my career today. I couldn't do Computing Science at school, so I did it at Chetwynd (although with my GCSE teacher!) and from there did a computing based degree...

ditto (i think).. i couldn't do computer science at 6th form, so had to get a bus a couple of times a week to do it at the chetwynd centre..

 

[Gramaisc]

Marcus Brigstocke looks at GCSEs - worth a listen.

 

[Mikinton]

ditto (i think).. i couldn't do computer science at 6th form, so had to get a bus a couple of times a week to do it at the chetwynd centre..

My son did the same choosing to do Computer Science at the Chetwynd instead of ICT at Walton (or was it the other way round?).

Ditto my daughter who did a different flavour of Business Studies at the Chetwynd rather than the one being offered at Walton. I think it was the chance to get out of Walton and (don't tell her I said this) the proximity to the shops.

 

[neverwhere]

My 2 elder children went 'there', they both thrived & achieved grades, at the time it had a good reputation - however now its reputation isn't so good....a little birdy told me recently that it is to become a Academy!!! Saying that, my best friends son also attended the same school at the same time as my sons & had a terrible time - & is now a toe-rag from hell....

Which school would that be?

 

[littleme]

Which school would that be?

www.sirgrahambalfour.co.uk/