April 1996 – August 2013 To Isle of Dogs in Tower Hamlets as Principal of George Green’s School for 17 years. Always worked in inner London schools. Ethnic make up of the school 40% White British (30% when I left) 40% Bangaldeshi (50% when I left) 20% others

Some of the issues in 1996 Endemic racism Poor attendance – 88% Challenging behaviour in and outside school Poor support from many white working class parents, better for other groups Underachievement of all groups (except those of Chinese origin)

More issues in 1996 Poor literacy & oracy skills Small numbers going on to FE or 6 th Form Poor attendance at Parent Teacher meetings A very loud vocal, often aggressive group of white working class parents ….

More barriers Poverty (60+ FSM) Poverty of aspiration Fear of failure Fear of each other Fear of going off the island.. Lack of emotional resilience

The barriers  White working class pupils’ particularly boys quickly became demotivated & turned off by education.  High achieving white w/c boys at primary schools regressed or made little progress at secondary school  They were not ‘invisible’ but were targeted right from the beginning.

More barriers Many white w/c boys & refused to be on the G&T lists and participate in various programmes Many white w/c boys wanted to work with their Dads, Uncles etc in local garages, businesses etc. girls wanted to be hairdressers of beauticians…. Few white students wanted to go to 6 th Form or College or University

More barriers The local FE college was not considered by white w/class pupils who saw it as a Bangladeshi college Those who did go to college went far afield & subsequently dropped out because of long journeys White w/c boys and girls underachieved massively

Many other issues to deal with! Getting the best teachers & training & developing them (in times of teacher shortage) Getting behaviour right so pupils felt safe in school Working with the community to ensure the neighbourhood was safe Making sure teachers could teach & pupils could learn

Where did we go next? We started with improving attendance – a very slow process (95% when I left) Making seating plans the ‘law’ Getting pupils on-side & giving them a voice Getting parents on side (Holding parents meetings during the day….) Developing good transition arrangements

Identifying problems Using data and our knowledge of our pupils we identified individuals & groups who were underachieving Distributing leadership & developing middle leaders so they could tackle the issues with their teams Openess & transparency about the issues we identified although this was difficult in early years…..

Finding solutions Taking risks Reflecting & questioning our own practice Stop doing it if it was not working Learning from each other Working closely with local primary schools Looking at and using the research Learning from other schools who were doing well by white working class pupils

Some solutions Introduced Careers Education for all from Year 7 upwards Harnessing the business community to provide role models –( more recently Future First) Whole school language & literacy policy Focus on improving the quality of teaching Rigorous monitoring & evaluation processes

Changing our curriculum A more relevant curriculum Pathways suited to individual needs (personalised) Regular assessments & data gathering BRAG groups to ensure pupils knew how they were achieving against their peer group Collaboration between English & Maths

Interventions & extra – curricular activities An Extended School; Saturday school Holiday programmes Study Hall until 6 pm every night Study/Revision Residentials We monitored attendance & outcomes of these activities carefully and targeted white working class pupils who were obvious by their absence

Interventions  1:1 Tuition  Small group tuition  Mentoring & coaching  All boy group in English  Various differentiated reading programmes & whole school approach However, we got the point where we focused in on two main issues:

Focusing on two main issues: 1. Further improving the quality of teaching & learning 2. Whole school approach to Language & Literacy In order to ensure more pupils were able to reach top grades at GCSE & IB

Language & Literacy – some of the issues White working class pupils had poor literacy and oracy skills They arrived from primary school with relatively good knowledge of grammar and punctuation but lost these skills in secondary school because subject teachers were not reinforcing them They were not confident readers

Language & Literacy – The issues Vocabulary & general knowledge was very limited in both ESW pupils & EAL learners Most found writing extended pieces difficult and often repeated themselves Pupils struggling with problems with their writing - grammar, vocabulary and structuring of their writing

Language & Literacy – The issues Involving all teachers and support staff in delivering our whole school Language & Literacy Policy. Training led by English & Media Faculty The Literacy Toolkit for every teacher & TA Improvements were seen across the board but still a long way to go!

A project in Tower Hamlets Aimed originally at 6 th Form students who are not reaching top grades at A Level & IB Started as 1:1 helping students to develop their language skills

The Tower Hamlets Projects The project was very successful and now is being further developed with tutors coaching teachers to incorporate activities into their lessons that develop academic writing skills at KS4 & KS5. If I was still a headteacher my next steps would be…..

So what’s the answer? There is no one answer. What works well in one school may not work in another. Schools must be clear about the issues & context work together to resolve them. Ask the pupils for their views & involve them in the solutions. Any steps you take will help all pupils..