Which Do You Think is Wisbech’s Best School?

By Laura_Spodula | Saturday, August 28, 2010, 00:50

Ok, ok the topic is still school, but hey, it’s the season

for it. I know there is plenty of discussion to be had about what we think

makes a good and bad school and there is probably a school in your opinion for

every spot on the spectrum.

Now, lets us start with Secondary schools. My reasons for

starting with this is because these are more in the press because out of these

come GCSEs and the teens then get let out into the real world. It is at these

schools that the youth of today grow up and are moulded into the citizens we

see before us, whatever you may think of them. Feel free to voice your opinion

on such.

Unsurprisingly first up is the state school Thomas Clarkson

Community College. The TCCC used to be called the Queen’s School but after much

bad publicity and terrible Ofsted reviews it changed its name as it went

through its overhaul. We have gone over and over about what we think of the TCCC

but in the end this is one of the most central schools in Wisbech and many good

decent people with good grades have come out of it, something nobody can deny.

Next up to mention is the independent Wisbech Grammar School

which is one of the oldest schools in the county. This school caters for both

junior and senior years as well as sixth form, but it comes at a price. The

charges (according to the website) for the full 2010/11 year are £10,275 for

the senior school and/or £7,065 for the infant and junior school. If a sibling

attends the school also they will be given a 5% discount. If you get up to a

fourth child in you could receive 50% discount depending on circumstances. What

do you think to pay what I believe to be extortionate fees for a child’s education?

What are listed to be paid for are what children at state schools get for free.

Having said this the results seem to be better here than at Thomas Clarkson, is

this because people are paying for a “better” education? I say better lightly

because I have no personal way of knowing whether this is true.

Marshland High School is probably next based in West Walton.

Now I have no personal experience of this school either so I would love it if

anyone could enlighten me on whether you think it’s a good school or not. They

are making “outstanding progress” according to their most recently published

Ofsted report from November 2009, information of which I found on their

website. Having visited their website it is in my opinion that their site is by

far better than TCCC. I think even this is important when parents are choosing

where to send their child.

If there are any schools you wish to add or talk about

please feel free to do so, I would love to read your thoughts on the matter.

When it comes to Primary schools there are so many more to

choose from because practically each surrounding village has its own school

including Elm, Emneth, Gorefield, Guyhirn, Leverington and Murrow! All of which can be found in our directory. Then of

course there is Peckover County Primary

on Leverington Road which is within Wisbech’s walls.

At the moment catchment areas are ever

increasingly important, so depending on where you live, the government chooses

which school your child goes to and not you. A perfect example is someone I

know wants their child to go to the school that a lot of their family went to

even though there is a school closer to them. They dislike the school that is

closer to them for whatever reason and wish their child to receive what they

think will be a better education and school experience. However it is unlikely

that this will happen when it is so obvious that this other school is much

closer. Is it wise to have a catchment area system in place that determines

what school your child goes to? Surely it should be their parents’ choice?

Oh, I almost forgot.. I'm not sure where I heard this, so don't take it for gospel. I think I perhaps saw it on television as a discussion where there were thoughts about giving children a gap year between primary and secondary schools! What an utterly ludicrous idea! Surely you must agree. What purpose would this have? This would be a strain on the parents more than anything and I can't see how it would benefit the child! Do you agree?

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Comments

Wisbech Standard just turned my comments here into their front page headline on the paper's website. Ah well. It's a useful debate to have even if my comments are now going to be taken out of context and muck-raked by anybody with a bee in their bonnet. -grin-

By Cllr Steve Tierney at 14:29 on 02/09/10
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I would certainly never criticise any individual school in our area - or in any other area. The schools are stuck with the system that has been set up around them and do the best they can. Nor would I ever blame the pupils - who are equally caught in whatever catchment area they live. It is the system which is failing our kids. A system which sometimes features vested interests, sometimes unions, sometimes tired old dogma that everybody is too frightened to rethink. Any attempt at doing something new or innovative meets massive opposition from often the most unlikely quarters. There is nothing so dangerous in education as "one size fits all." We wouldn't tolerate it in any other industry or service, would we? Academies and the new Free Schools go some way towards addressing all this and I support both enthusiastically. But we need to go further still to deliver what our children and families need and deserve. A real, honest chance in life.

By Cllr Steve Tierney at 14:12 on 02/09/10
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I can see your reasoning, theories and ideologies on this subject. However, like it or not,for the forseeable future we have a local secondary school that is failing and with a poor reputation. Far from sticking our heads in the sand...i believe this is the general opinion amongst local people. The question is what to do about it, here and now? Whilst we ponder...whole generations of local youngsters are not getting a fair deal within the educational system.

By Fibreshack at 12:45 on 01/09/10
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I agree with RegTheFrog (Annie) that parents are as important, or more important, than teachers in regards to their children's education.

I do not agree that we have "wonderful choices". We have the "one size fits all" comprehensive method which is great if you luck into a good one and tragic if you get stuck in a sink school. Or we have the grammar which you can only go to if you're wealthy. This is not "great choice."

What delivers "great choice" is a free market and the availability of funding. Allowing different types of school to set up, and supporting poorer communities with larger grants for their kids, is the first thing that will deliver genuine choice and better outcomes. Sticking our heads in the sand and refusing to be honest when a school is systematically and repeatedly failing helps nobody.

The second thing is to stop pretending everybody is the same and must follow the same regimented paths of education. We aren't, and we shouldn't. All this thinking does is alienate and isolate young people with talents that don't "fit the model" as prescribed by academics in their ivory towers. Those alienated youths then end up outside the system and fall into the hands of darker influences.

By Cllr Steve Tierney at 12:24 on 01/09/10
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Do you not think - all said and done - we're so very lucky to have such a choice of schools for children to attend? I think the problem of non attendance, low self esteem and lack of ambition within our youngsters should be the discussion issue here...Children in many countries abroad would give anything for the opportunities British children have. Having worked with many of our local schools, including the Grammar, the same issue raises its head- lack of parental back up. There are still many parents who believe that the teacher is paid to educate their child - giving them a 'get out' clause. A child who receives parental interest in projects they're working on, homework etc etc usually thrives at school whether state or private. Yes the Grammar school pupil probably does have more opportunities to go on trips abroad and more one on one tution - but no-one should dismiss the fine academic achievements that have shone from our state schools just recently!

By regthefrog at 19:48 on 31/08/10
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