23.03.2016 Views

Press

3_0_woodcote-press-online

3_0_woodcote-press-online

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

HEADTEACHER’S<br />

welcome<br />

We’re Bottom of the Table!<br />

It’s just not something we are used to!<br />

Woodcote has always been up there in the top<br />

echelons of Croydon Schools.<br />

GCSE performance, achievement in the English<br />

Baccalaureate, levels of progress in English and<br />

Maths, sporting achievement and in other areas,<br />

we have always done well and are often head and<br />

shoulders above others.<br />

However, earlier this year the Educational<br />

Funding Agency released a league table which<br />

was very bitter sweet to everyone at Woodcote<br />

High School. The school’s efficiency metric<br />

showed us to be both at the top and at the<br />

bottom of a table respectively.<br />

“How can this be?” “I hear you say!”<br />

Well, in terms of Croydon Schools, Woodcote<br />

provides the best value for money because the<br />

outstanding results we deliver cost the tax payer<br />

far less per qualification than almost every school<br />

in Croydon. In other words, we do more for less!<br />

Looking at the table another way though reveals<br />

a very different picture.<br />

The amount of funding that each school in<br />

Croydon get varies radically. Woodcote is in the<br />

bottom two schools for funding it receives. The<br />

Croydon funding formula means that the highest<br />

funded school gets almost double the funding of<br />

the lowest.<br />

amongst secondary schools in Croydon.<br />

Being at the bottom of the funding table means<br />

that we are unable to do some of the fabulous<br />

things that we have done in the past, without a<br />

little support.<br />

Traditionally we have offered an enormous<br />

amount of support to our year 11 and 13 students<br />

in the run up to their examinations in terms of<br />

after school and holiday revision, as well as study<br />

skills workshops and even some residential<br />

revision courses.<br />

There is no way we would want to cut back on all<br />

of this support, so this year we are asking parents<br />

for voluntary contributions towards the cost of<br />

holiday revision and study skills workshops. Of<br />

course, we don’t like having to do this and we<br />

would never turn students away from revision<br />

sessions, but we feel that most of our supportive<br />

parents would be happy to contribute to these<br />

activities, which are so worthwhile in preparing<br />

our young people for external examinations. Of<br />

course, it goes without saying that if individual<br />

circumstances make it difficult to contribute we<br />

will ensure that this is no barrier to students<br />

attending the activities.<br />

Mark A Southworth<br />

Headteacher<br />

It is fair that schools with more disadvantaged<br />

backgrounds or with English as a second<br />

language, should receive more, but the<br />

table highlights some of the real funding issues

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!