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Head slams grammar system
Wednesday, 2pm - A headteacher has launched a blistering attack on the grammar school system – claiming secondary moderns add 'more value' to their pupils.
The outburst from Chris Walls, of Giles School Old Leake, a Specialist Visual Arts College, comes after he was unhappy with the way his school's A-level results were released by Lincolnshire County Council and reproduced in The Standard.
In a leaked private note to the school's governors he said the reporting had been carried out by 'grammar school peasants' and used the phrase 'educational apartheid' when referring to the grammar school system.
When contacted, Mr Walls said people in the county wore 'blinkers' when it came to grammar schools – saying they were influenced by the way results are reported across the media.
He said: "I think the people in Lincolnshire seem to think the words grammar school mean good. Schools like ours are adding a great deal of value to students."
Speaking about grammar schools, he added: "They do not improve the students the way they should. The point is how well the school does with the children that it's got."
Mr Walls, who attended a secondary modern, backs ups his claims by pointing to the Contextual Value Added (CVA) scores. These assess how much a school has managed to improve its pupils over their five year stay, taking into account the level the pupils were at to begin with and various other social factors.
And he compared his school's results with those of Boston High School. The latest available figures (for 2007) show Giles has a CVA score of 1030.7 with 30 per cent of students achieving five C+ GCSEs including Maths and English.
Meanwhile Boston High School has a CVA of 996.6, but a 90 per cent pass rate for the C+ GCSEs. The Government starting point for the CVA is 1000.
"We got 1030 and Boston High School got 900 and something, and that is appalling," added Mr Walls.
Lincolnshire County Council said it was aware of Mr Walls' note to governors.
Helen Longland, assistant director of children's services, said: "We are always working with headteachers to help and support themmanage their schools effectively.
"However,headteachers are accountable to their governing bodies and this matter would need to be taken up with them."
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Weather for Boston, Lincolnshire
Thursday 24 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 11 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 26 mph
Wind direction: East
