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Sandwell LEA drops in tables
Wednesday 1st April 2009, 11:30AM BST.
Sandwell was the only Black Country authority to drop down today’s primary school league tables.
The borough fell from 134 to 140 in the list of the country’s 150 Local Education Authorities (LEAs).
Wolverhampton rose from 130 to 122, Walsall from 105 to 94 and Dudley from 101 to 66.
Staffordshire maintained its position at 51. And Shropshire was ranked 39th in the national list, which is based on the performance of Year 6 pupils in the English, maths and science Sats tests.
Shropshire climbed from 46 to 39 and Birmingham from 131 to 123. Worcestershire fell from 91 to 99.
Smethwick’s Victoria Park Primary was named as one of the worst 200 schools in the country based on the results of its youngsters in the three core subjects. Sandwell is also home to some of the country’s worst schools for persistent absence – Burnt Tree Primary in Oldbury and Hateley Heath and Ryders Green Primaries in West Bromwich.
But there were some success stories in the borough. Summerhill Primary, in Tipton, and Harvills Hawthorn and Hargate Primaries in West Bromwich were named among the country’s most-improving schools.
See how your child’s school performed in Wednesday’s Express & Star.
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Keep your head up Sandweli LEA your a fairing slightly better than your football team !!!
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I suppose that’s all you can expect from a slum area with slum kids in it. Well that’s what most people think about Sandwell, and even people who live there! we live in a world that loves it’s league tables don’t we? For what they are really worth (Useless dribble and never based on what budgets schools are given which can vary immensely
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So will all those people who have spent the last four years criticising Dudley LEA now please acknowledge that not only are its schools far superior to Sandwell’s, but it is providing a better standard of education at a fraction of the price.
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What do you expect in a culture that’s been brought up to place so little faith in one’s education? A lot of students are leaving school as minors, heading straight to the sweatshops and unfortunately everyone else is put in the same boat. There’s no shortage of sweatshops in Sandwell and it’s shocking to see the almost complete disregard for further education..come on folks, forget ya big ideas you got work to do.
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Based on my own experience I’d say that Sandwell also has some of the worst-behaved pupils. For instance, some pupils from Tipton Alexandra really do need an education in manners, and when it’s time for them to come home it’s absolute chaos. Their mouths are terrible and they seek insult and upset..before they’re due to come out it’s like the calm before the storm and a lot of people refuse to go out because of the environment they create. It’s a disgrace to see and an insult to the kids who try their best to be good citizens. Clean up you act, Sandwell the world is leaving you behind.
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I would not send a kid of mine to a school in Sandwell, if I could afford it. From what I have seen the standards are low, and in some places more people graduate from prison than they do college. Now compare that to kids in America; see how many of them are still in school in their 20′s whilst in Sandwell they’re offered a very poor range of subjects, predominantly associated with manufacturing and not media or business. Sandwell really needs to change it’s attitude towards it’s young people..maybe then we’ll stop seeing so many of them hanging around causing hell on earth, graduating with honours in turning the rest of the world away from this place instead of towards it.
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Luke- dudley is ok if you don’t mind sending your kids on two bus journeys to get to school. Dudley currently has the most over subscribed schools in the borough. At least 30% of parents are not being able to send their children to their local schools and are being offered choices miles away!!
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Brian – why are Dudley’s schools so oversubscribed? Why are parents (including many from neighbouring boroughs like Sandwell) willing to put their children on two buses to access them? Precisely because they offer a good education and are therefore popular. And if Dudley’s schools received the kind of money from the Government that Sandwell’s does think how much they could do over and above the excellence they already offer.
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thats what you get when spineless councillors waste millions on white elephant’s like the public,sandHELL will suffer in the years to come if the kids don’t do well at school,shame on you sandwell council.
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Helen you missed my point. Some dudley children can’t get into their local school bacause of over subscription. Because the local council allows kids from other areas into their schools. Some parents use grandparents and friends address’s so this can be achieved!! My own sisters child cannot go to a school five minutes away and is going to have to catch 2 buses to his new school. Yeah so much for the great Dudley council educating other peoples kids.Nthing to do with how good it is. Its just that lazy parents need grandma to pick up their kids after school!!!!!!
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Brian – legally (and perversely) LEAs have no choice but to accept applications from children in other Borough if they live closer to a school than local children do. It’s called the ‘Greenwich Judgement’, and despite lobbying over the years by Dudley’s officers and councillors the Judgement still stands.
Yes, it has caused parents in Dudley some headaches, as indeed it has the Council, which has to try and plan for such an influx. And, as Dudley LEA has found out, the better and more popular your schools are the bigger the influx.
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Most performance figures if they are really to be believed are biased crap. I live in Dudley and know of some schools that are really quite useless.
Jim if you live in dudley you will see just as many kids hanging around the streets its not just a Sandwell thing. Subjects offered are part of the national curriculum and are thesame in all boroughs. there are some people on these forums who talk a load of nonsense and no nothing of education in our schools. They are probably th esame people who hate council tax and councillors. It sounds like most of you are in need of a good education
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Helen unfortunately it is not in most peoples nature to choose dudley because the education is good. In fact its usually in people’s lazy nature to choose a school because its closer to home ( Not in all cases i agree) but in most. If you follow the sandwell and dudley boarder lines you’ll find that schools in the area are strategically placed quite well and there should be very little need for a sandwell familly to need to use a dudley school. As for league tables I think saint joe says it all!
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Brian – if what you say is true, why do some few Dudley parents send their children to Sandwell schools that are just across the border? Almost all of the traffic appears to be the other way.
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What do you expect from an Authority that closed two successful schools – Hollyhedge and Charlemont Primary, both scoring in the top 15% of schools and opening the huge Pennyhill school which has performed in the bottom third of Sandwell schools. Will there be an inquiry and will officials, including elected members be held to account! I think not.
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And????????
Why is this news?????? This has often happened in Sandwell why is it being treated as new news???
Jim of Bearwood.
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