martonschool.myfreeforum.org

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

I have just been passed a copy of the latest weekly newsletter from Marton School. Once again, it is full of meaningless propaganda, so much so that I am beginning to wonder whether any parent can possibly take it seriously.

Writing about the parental survey on how the school communicates with parents, Mrs Coupe tells us that there was an “overwhelmingly positive response, with 99% of responses indicating that there are no problems at all.”

I find the 99% satisfaction (no problems at all??) very hard to swallow. Are parents really happy with the disruption that has occurred since Mrs Coupe’s arrival? The highest turnover of staff, and sickness levels on record? The loss of a huge number of senior and experienced staff? A record number of complaints from all quarters? A school that has, by all accounts, lost its heart? A school that has become a laughing stock in the local community?

The only reason I can see for the so-called high level of satisfaction, is due to the fact that the survey obviously cannot take into account the dissatisfaction of more than one hundred parents who have removed their children from Marton over the last two years.

And how many surveys were actually returned? Have those parents who are still unhappy with the school given up trying to make their voices heard? After all, who could blame them? Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’ve not heard of any parents who complained to the school or questioned Mrs Coupe who got satisfactory answers to their questions – that is if they were lucky enough to get any answers at all. No wonder so many removed their children in despair.

The news letter continues, “However, we are not complacent and take any negative responses or constructive criticisms and comments seriously.”

Is this the same sort of “seriously” that met those parents who questioned or challenged or criticised when they weren’t happy with what was happening at Marton School? Their “negative responses and constructive criticisms and comments” were soon dismissed as being inappropriate or unnecessary. They certainly weren’t treated seriously.

First the misleading SATs results, now more meaningless figures about parental satisfaction. When is Mrs Coupe going to realise that parents and interested parties are not as gullible as she seems to think they are?

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EVENTUALLY THE TRUTH WILL OUT, JUSTICE WILL BE DONE.

HM · Something to Say Joined: 16 Oct 2005 Posts: 48

Remember, Mary, we have seen this type of statistical analysis before. December 2005, and an HMI visit - the extrapolation of the views of a handful of parents standing at the school gate, to the statement 'the majority of parents are happy with the school.' Truth is not determined by majority vote !

"I can prove anything by statistics except the truth."
George Canning

Lisa · Reaching Full Speed Joined: 06 Oct 2005 Posts: 69

[quote="mary"]Writing about the parental survey on how the school communicates with parents, Mrs Coupe tells us that there was an “overwhelmingly positive response, with 99% of responses indicating that there are no problems at all.”

Laughing

I'm just a little bit suspicious of those results. I seem to remember that scores of questionnaires went missing at the last OFSTED inspection ALLEGEDLY. These were ALLEGEDLY those completed by the pupils.
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Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.

Albert Einstein

Tracey · Reaching Full Speed Joined: 16 Oct 2005 Posts: 69

as i am sure many people will agree, i do not take any survey as an accurate form of statistical analysis. There are many variants that can not be accurate 100% of the time. How many parents filled in the forms?
How many were returned to school? How many answered every question? If there were 10 questions on information(an example) if there was 1 item that was negative, would this be taken into account or would it be viewed as positive overall?
Personally any survey can be interpreted differently depending on who is proccessing the information. By that i mean simply that how a person feels on a subject can not be controlled and this is again a further variant to take into account. I did however enjoy the latest 'spin' via the newsletter, can't wait for the next interpretation of information.