New school’s layout ‘is boosting results’ (From York Press)
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Clifton With Rawcliffe School’s layout ‘is boosting results’
10:37am Friday 28th September 2012 in News
By Haydn Lewis, haydn.lewis@thepress.co.uk
A PRIMARY school head teacher in York claims the innovative “open plan” layout of his school is helping boost results.
Chris Wigley, head at Clifton With Rawcliffe Primary, said the £7 million school has been open a year and in that time the school’s Key Stage 2 SATS results were above the national average and above the city average as a whole.
He attributes some of this success to the way the school building is designed with open plan areas allowing teachers to teach in either small groups of focused learning or larger group activities all in the same space.
He said: “We can move the furniture around to break up the space and configure it as we like.
“I feel that every time I walk around the school I hear working noise and the system means I have all my best teachers on show and there is nowhere to hide.”
The school’s open plan design has come in for criticism from some parents who claim that it has led to disruption and three children have been taken out of the school which has 594 pupils.
One mum, who did not want to be named, said she had put her children in another school with a more traditional layout, because she felt they were falling behind.
She said: “It all just seemed a bit chaotic to me, the teachers are lovely there and I am not blaming them, but if you have large groups of young children all in one space with some doing one activity, while another group are doing something else, then it is bound to lead to distractions.”
But Mr Wigley said that the mum is in a minority and the majority of parents are happy with the new school design and he hopes the school will continue to go from strength to strength.
Comments(4)
Ayemgee
says...
5:51pm Fri 28 Sep 12
caggyjd
says...
10:18pm Fri 28 Sep 12
I have two children at the school and they are doing very well indeed. I put this down to that fact that the teaching staff are excelent and very positive. They strive to get their students to achieve their highest capability through encouragement and modern techniques of teaching. Thanks to the open plan system they have also learnt to focus on their tasks and not get distracted by what is going on around them. At first they found this hard to do but as they have grown with the system it has become second nature. They enjoy the fact that they can go into 'breakout'groups etc. They are proud of the modern technology available at the school (as any body should be).
Mr Wigley is proud of the school,staff and more importantly the students and their achievements. In this day and age this should be supported and embraced. He has bought an old school up to date in its methods and attitudes and I for one have seen the superb results through my childrens joy of 'going to school'.
People who spend too much time gossiping in the playground playing judge and jury, making threats of 'the govenors getting involved', need to ask themselves wether it is their negativity that is reflected in their childs attitude toward the school and the resulting grades. As we know all kids are prone to exaggerate the truth and they see the world in a different light, lets face it,one teacher for 90 children,I have never seen this during any visits to the school. I think a slight reality check is needed there before accusations are made.
All in all 'hats off' to all the staff at the school, from the receptionists who do a great job aswell all the way through to Mr Wigley. This school is the way forward and its methods do work.
yorkiemum
says...
11:00pm Fri 28 Sep 12
Andyp1962 says...
2:29pm Fri 28 Sep 12
My son and daughter have both said they prefer this distance. Another thing is that on many occasions, my daughter has told me that when they are in the open environment, when all the shutters/doors are open, some teachers end up looking after the whole floor of kids, in the region of 90 for one teacher and assistants. The whole open plan idea is failing this school, when it has so much potential. I have raised these issues with my kids teachers and get the old "this is the way we do things here" speech. I am giving this experiment with my children’s educations one more term to see if these issues can be resolved, if their marks start to be affected the governors get involved.
What does …” the school’s Key Stage 2 SATS results were above the national average and above the city average as a whole.” mean, where are the results good and where are they failing?