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Back to Schooldays
Rowson's Comment
Around the Block
News in Brief
Stop the War
Mini-march
Lysistrata Day
Fringe Festival
Straight to the Point
Time to Finnish
Day in the Nick
Starting Over
Readers Letters
Herbal Cleansing
Local Music
Tripping Out
Tippling at the Tup
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Very Testi
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Gardening
Marathon Man
Surfing N16
Man in North Bank
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p16
Sue Heal's remarks on Stoke Newington School seem to have upset several readers.
Here is a small sample. Sue accepted Mark's invitation and her article on the school is on
page 2.
Dear N16
I have had the article written about our school shown to me by a concerned
local trader. He was rather surprised and alarmed by the characterisation and blanket
generalisations made in your article which do not reflect his impression of the school. I
realise that this is a personal column and the need to stir up some emotions, but cannot
accept unfounded allegations and vague references to serious problems that you have heard
about. Nor can I accept that any difficulties are swept aside, by parents, staff or anyone
else for that matter.
The truth is whether you like to accept it or not that this is a good school, in fact a
very good school which serves a balanced mix of children : 33% band 1; 33% band 2 ; and
33% band 3. The numbers from outside Hackney are small, and we have just had an OFSTED
document which places our results in the top 10% of schools in the country (not London)
that have similar challenging intakes. We are not satisfied or complacent about our
achievements and are still rapidly improving and constantly changing to respond to the
issues we are presented with.
We are not perfect though, we do have the problems associated which any cross-section of
1200 young people would bring. Sometimes we do not deal with things as well as I would
like, but I know my school well, I know what we are good at and what we need to work on. I
also know other schools, including some of the very high achieving schools in other
boroughs, and I know for a fact they are not moving students on as much as we do.
I am not afraid of criticism based on evidence; what I do object to is the publishing of
what amounts to little more than gossip about the school, the community we serve and more
importantly the very many good young people who come to this school, behave well, work
hard and achieve excellent results. I also object to the snide and patronising tone of
your piece, which can not hide the lack of any real research or evidence for your
assertions. Some research might have helped in the article: you ask for contributions, but
have never approached me to 'grace' N16.
I am therefore offering you an invitation to see the real school, warts and all, without
any cosmetic doctoring by me. You can talk to students, they can show you around. You can
look at our results and I can tell you the reality of the admissions issue. You might even
ask the students to write an article, some I am sure would be more than willing as they
have been very upset about the blanket statements you have made. So Sue come and have your
prejudices confirmed....or challenged. Surely that would make a good piece either way, but
at least then you would know the day to day reality of the school.
Mark Emmerson, Head Teacher,
Stoke Newington School
Dear N16
A response from the Stoke Newington Tap Dancing Fame Academy Sue Heal asked to hear from
people. So let's set her straight.
The Stokey schools are not terrible. I'm a product of Stokey's state schools and in my
final year at our local comprehensive. I'm wondering what Sue Heal wants? She moans about
the difficulty of getting into local schools. Five years ago she was probably complaining
about how simple it was to gain entry, which excluded many local kids. In her article she
mentions 'bright little Jimmy'. Could it be that this child is not as bright as his
parents believe?
Finally, the Stoke Newington Tap Dancing Fame Academy could not be further from her
blinkered view. Now we have money for more equipment, computers and good teachers. It is
very possible to be a successful student here. We have good schools for Stokey's
youngsters. What horror – how could things get any worse?
B C Watkinson
