martonschool.myfreeforum.org

Pauline · Fledgling Poster Joined: 12 Feb 2006 Posts: 4

I copy my post from the PANDA thread because I believe it to be so important.

Pauline

So now we have it - the trouble and strife of this last year. And for what. Everyone who cared about Marton knew precious things were being lost to the school. But in the modern age perhaps targets and tests were all important and so long as the children were succeeding many parents and people in authority such as Mr Lund, and recently, Councillor Blackburn could ignore them.

SATs results were sent out last week. I will give credit first to the improved Maths. The average has gone up 10% since 2005 - wonderful - until we realise that it is still 1% lower than when Mrs Lancaster retired. Until we also remember that the Year 6 children had to undergo 9 hours of Maths every week. What learning experiences were replaced by this ? Mrs Coupe also used Advisers from the authority to help to teach the children and help the staff - even supporting a class during the Easter holiday. I do wonder if other schools in Blackpool received the same help and support in raising their levels.

What of English. The PANDA information on this forum shows that with Mrs Alderson responsible for it the average was above the national school average for 2004 and 2005. In 2006 without Mrs Alderson, the average score has dropped to 78%. I didn't think this seemed too bad because I realise that different groups of children can achieve differently each year. BUT then I read reports on the SATs in this weekends press. Massive increases in English scores are predicted across the country because of changes in questions geared towards boys. Where is that going to leave Marton - how far behind the national average will they now be ?

Now I have to mention Science. A huge drop this year of 10% - what can I say ?!?

All the money wasted. Staff lost. Learning experiences narrowed. For what ? Yet still the MSAG and posters on this forum are blamed for trying to wake people up to the plight of the school and its children. All the hundreds of you who are reading this site each day, now is the time to speak out if you haven't done so before. Facts speak for themselves.

WAYNE HEYS · Posted: Mon Jul 17, 2006 10:23 pm Post subject:

Pauline, I fully endorse your comments BUT, you can lead a horse to water,but you cant make it drink, maybe parents will now sit up and take notice of these SATS resultsyet it will be intersting to compare Marton to other schools in Blackpool and and then take into account just how much money those other schools has had thrown at them by the LEA !!!!!
I know one group of people who certainly not surprised by these results, the Marton School Action Group, I wonder if Mr Lund will be good enough to give us an explanation,after he has spoken to some of the worried staff of course !!!!!

Liz · Fledgling Poster Joined: 11 Feb 2006 Posts: 3

I would like to ask the following question of Mrs Coupe, Mr Turner and the rest of the governors.

Why didn't the Year 6 children receive the usual results sheet alongside their own personal SAT results?

For those who read this forum and are not familiar with the reporting procedures for schools I reproduce here QCA's statutory requirements.

you can find them at : - http://www.qca.org.uk/eara/337.html

What must be reported to parents?

The following information is a summary of what must be reported to parents at some point during the final year of key stage 2:

comparative information about the national curriculum levels of attainment of pupils of the same age in the school

comparative information about the national curriculum levels of attainment of pupils of the same age nationally.

www.naa.org.uk/tests

As these are legal requirements, is there an explanation of why details such as comparative data, has been kept from parents ?

mary · Reaching Full Speed Joined: 05 Oct 2005 Posts: 81

Liz, I think the explanation is obvious: the less said about this year's SATs results the better.

I wonder how much more can be brushed under the carpet??
_________________
EVENTUALLY THE TRUTH WILL OUT, JUSTICE WILL BE DONE.

KATIE · Mildly Opinionated Joined: 10 Nov 2005 Posts: 17

Why after all the promises the school has made about getting new experienced staff in, do we find another supply teacher in Year 6, within the second week of a new school year?
The SATS results have gone down last year, after there were at least 7 supply teachers in one year 6 class. What is going to happen this year? How much worse can the results get? How much more will the children suffer as the crumbling of this school is hidden by the Governors?
A friend of mine is a supply teacher with an agency, and has said that he will not go into Marton. Its reputation precedes it.
DO SOMETHING QUICK.

Alan Veale · Master of Posters Joined: 07 Oct 2005 Posts: 118

Shame about those reluctant supply teachers, isn’t it? I wonder what their problem is? Just a thought, Mrs Coupe – I hear there’s an excellent teacher looking for a post in this area who could do wonders with the children at Marton. What a pity her name is “Alderson”…

JOE · Fledgling Poster Joined: 18 Sep 2006 Posts: 1

Katie, there is some improvement at Marton that must be worth a mention.
Internet security is now second to none- no more children at risk of accessing pornographic sites and inappropriate images.
The reason - none of the computers at Marton are working and haven't been since the start of term - 3 weeks ago.
Safety definitely guarenteed!

billandben · Mildly Opinionated Joined: 06 Oct 2005 Posts: 29

Nice to see that the IT technician is proving again how talented he is with computers!!!!!!!

Jenny · Fledgling Poster Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 2

I can tell you that the SATS results HAVE been sent out late. My daughter has now left the school, but we received a letter now that she is at high school! I spoke to her new form teacher, who told me that some very strange goings on have occurred at Marton.
I was directed to this site by a leaflet from this group that told of problems with the results. I have read some of the site and have been shocked.
Why has a letter come out after my child has left? I think there is some truth in the Cover Up theory. My friends daughter goes to Haweside and she got her results before she broke up.
Wish you the best in getting to the bottom of these problems, but I am glad my daughter is no longer there.

WAYNE HEYS · Posted: Thu Oct 05, 2006 2:46 pm Post subject:

Jenny, you use the words "cover up" and personally I think these words just about describe some of the antics that have gone on at Marton for quite some time.The Questions which need to be addressed are,who is covering up and who are they covering up for.
Fortunately my child left after Mrs Coupe first year,but in that time we still had the opportunity to seek answers from the head in relation to an incident at school where my son was punched by another pupil and yet HE was going to write a letter of apology to the boy who hit him,we were lead to believe that my son had volunteered to do this,absolute rubbish,
This is only one instance of some very strange decisions that have come out of Marton and Progress House,hopefully the DFeS will act with integrity and see through all the hogwash which we as parents past and present have had to endear to for the past 2 years.
No doubt Mr Turner will be putting some more propoganda out soon stating what a vile lot we are in the MSAG, but then again he has gone very quiet lately,I wonder why,........................... answers on a postcard to......

E. Maltby · Mildly Opinionated Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Posts: 17

Hello Jenny, thanks for your post. Would you be able to post details of the content of your letter on the site?

Jenny · Fledgling Poster Joined: 04 Oct 2006 Posts: 2

Sorry E. Maltby, I do not have a scanner. This is what the letter says.
I am now able to send the end of Key Stage 2 results. I apologise for the delay in sending this information to you. Unfortunately as a number of scripts were returned for remarking I couldnt provide this earlier. I have enclosed the individual pupil results again. Any changes are highlighted.
R Coupe.

Why were we not told all this when our child went to Marton? W e should surely have been given this information with the report we received before the end of school year.

How long does it take to remark the scripts?

What is the point in sending them to us now that my child has been at High school for over a month?

Should the High school have been given the late results?
Will it affect my childs sets?
Sorry for all the questions, but this has been really playing on my mind.
Jenny.

JACKIE · Mildly Opinionated Joined: 26 Jul 2006 Posts: 26

It is now apparent that the SATs results did actually get to parents over two months later than they legally should have done. There has been a cover up, since Mrs Coupe continually told anyone who would listen that the school was failing when Mrs Lancaster was Head, but with a further decline in results since then, for both years of Mrs Coupe’s Headship, it must now be below failing. Mrs Coupe has had help in covering up this failure, because it reflects so badly on another – who had such faith in her leadership ability, which would raise standards!
David Lund knew that the results had been deliberately not sent out. He told staff off on the 18th of July for “leaking” the results, as they had been put on this website on the 17th of July, the previous day. However, parents had received reports and the individual results by the 17th too. For Lund to refer to the % results as a leak, he knew full well that parents hadn’t been sent them – otherwise any one of those 70 parents could have put the results on the site.
As the school is being inspected this week, Lund must have instructed Mrs Coupe to redress the lack of results for parents, when it suddenly became so public. Hopefully if HMI fail to notice this cover up when they come, the DfES will add it to their list in the continuing investigation.

R. Thornton · Reaching Full Speed Joined: 13 Oct 2005 Posts: 99

Just a few quick questions following on from Joe's and BillandBen's posts.

Is my information correct that new computers were installed in the Summer in one of the small group rooms ?
I obviously wouldn't wish to accuse anyone of anything BUT -
Did Mr Hill's personal company supply these computers ?
Were competitive quotes obtained by the school ?
Can the school show that they are of the quality needed for school use ?
Did Mr Hill set these machines up or were they set up by the authority's technicians ?
Is there any connection between the addition of these machines to the network and the rest of the machines not working ?

As usual questions, which I hope have been raised by the finance committee of the governing body, which no doubt will see no answers.

E. Maltby · Mildly Opinionated Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Posts: 17

There are a few issues raised by your post, Jackie.

Firstly if SATs papers are returned for review, these are returned to the school in September and the head teacher has 15 days within which to send these out to parents - which probably takes us to the end of September. However, reading the QCA's site the comparative results should be sent out during the final year. I have written to the QCA to clarify this.
Whatever, it is clear that Mrs Coupe and Mr Lund have either once again been totally incompetent in not informing parents what was happening or at worst attempted to cover up poor results. An explanation of why comparative results were not included could easily have been given with the original results sent home.

Secondly, please be very careful, Jackie, of accusing Mrs Coupe of saying that the school was failing under Mrs Lancaster. If you have any evidence of such statements, or witnesses who would make a statement I urge you to send it immediately to the MSAG, or to myself. There is no evidence whatsoever that the school was failing.

Finally, please don't hold any hopes for the HMI to do the 'right thing'. They have failed the children and the school before and I am not sure they are of the calibre to uncover Mrs Coupe for what she really is. No-one has been so far. Pity we do not have the quality of HMI of 30 years ago.