Failing’ Schools Can Succeed

AS A Lambeth resident, I acknowledge the problems parents such as Will Self face finding a secondary school, because of the acute spaces shortage (1 March).

Schools are thus obliged to use some kind of allocation criteria, but doing it by proximity or academic ability only widens social and educational divides.

The parents in Brighton objecting to admission by lottery reportedly fear the system would bring “disruptive, low-achieving pupils” into “good schools”.

Surely, our schools should reflect the diverse society we live in. Many schools with poor local reputations featured at the top of yesterday’s “value-added” league tables; they could improve further with a balanced intake and stable pupil numbers.

Parents should stop judging schools on league tables alone. Our daughter travels six miles a day to Pimlico School, one of Self ‘s options. The school was recently judged to be failing by Ofsted, yet has a rich musical environment;

my daughter will be sitting two GCSEs two years early this summer.

Micon Metcalfe, SE27.

A LAMBETH education boss told me and other parents campaigning for new schools in the borough that “beggars can’t be choosers”. Politicians have made Lambeth children beggars by selling off secondary schools and allowing “luxury flats” to be built on the old sites.

About a quarter of Lambeth’s children commute three miles to schools performing well below the national average.

In 2004, the Government promised funding for an Academy in the borough that Nelson Mandela had given parents permission to name after him. It was supposed to open this September, but Lambeth has failed to provide the land.

What the politicians did not count on was parent fury. The Secondary Schools Campaign in Lambeth backed parent candidates in last year’s council elections, helping turf the leadership out of office. Parents have made our local primaries

successful through their support.

level. March should be when 11-yearolds are eagerly looking forward to “big school”, not dreading the rejection letter.

Devon Allison, chair, Secondary Schools Campaign in Lambeth.

CAN understand why we are appalled by the fact that some children are failing to master the three Rs by the time they reach secondary school (1 March).

My husband works for a retail game company and was shocked to find that a teenager he was serving was unable to add eight and four together. But it is not just schools’ responsibility to teach the basics; it is also up to parents to reinforce them at home.

I was raised by a single working mother yet she still found time to help my sister and I with our reading and maths. If parents are not interested in the value of education, what hope is there for their children?

Sarah Humphries, Barking.

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