Hereford school falls below government GCSE standards

7:00am Tuesday 5th February 2013 in News

Aylestone Business and Enterprise College Aylestone Business and Enterprise College

A HEREFORD school has fallen below the standard expected by the Government for its GCSE results.

Aylestone Business and Enterprise College fell short of the national target requiring 40 per cent of pupils to gain five or more A* to C GCSE passes including English and maths.

This category is now considered to be the benchmark by which schools are judged against each other and this year Aylestone recorded a 35 per cent result, according to figures released by the Department for Education.

This was a drop of 23 percentage points from 2011.

According to national figures this puts Aylestone as one of 195 secondary schools in England that did not reach the 40 per cent target. These schools face being closed and converted into academies.

The school, based in Broadlands Lane, did not respond to calls from the Hereford Times this week.

Department for Education spokesman Gina Malatesta said: “We want to help underperforming schools to improve.

“We cannot just stand by if a school is failing children – we need to step in and make changes quickly.”

Comments(18)

silentbull says...
7:18am Tue 5 Feb 13

Sorry, but Im not surprised.

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Ubique5740 says...
7:47am Tue 5 Feb 13

I do not know much about the modern education system but after all the fuss the Council made about Dilwyn school recently perhaps they should have been concentrating more on this school. The pass benchmark does not appear to be very high. Sad for the pupils who have been let down by the poor system in place.

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Clarkester says...
8:40am Tue 5 Feb 13

Ubique5740... It's the Council's fault?
I'm sorry, they are to blame for a lot of things, but a school's 23 percentage point drop in GCSE results? In one year??
Councils fault???
Really?
How about the teachers?
Or the students??
Nope... blame the Council.
It's snowing today, is that the Councils fault too?

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Biomech says...
9:38am Tue 5 Feb 13

"Aylestone Business and Enterprise College"

I'm confused, is this "Aylestone Highschool"? If so, then why do they keep renaming all the bloody schools to stupid names and if this IS Aylestone Highschool, then this name implies it's just for business studies - do they not teach standard GCSE subjects?

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Ubique5740 says...
11:48am Tue 5 Feb 13

Clarkster, I am not really sure that I blamed the Council - of course there are a number of people at fault. I still believe that the Council took their eye off the ball. Therefore must take some of the blame .
. If I am wrong because of my lack of knowledge of the education system today please accept my apologies.

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Herefordian07 says...
12:27pm Tue 5 Feb 13

I have to agree with GDJ the system is flawed, any competition that changes the rules half way through is unfair and a downright scandal, how can the pupils or teachers know what to expect when the course work is set and then altered at a later date, the previous effort is rendered almost useless or at best lacking of the new standards set, if the goevrnment wanted to change the rules it should have been done at the beginning of the next educational year.

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user258 says...
1:52pm Tue 5 Feb 13

My children attend Aylestone & I have nothing but praise for the teachers for what they have acheived in a short time for what was a failing school, and for the support they offer the pupils.
If you wish to read the correct facts you can get these from the school website.

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Biomech says...
2:27pm Tue 5 Feb 13

Why are they calling it a Business College if it's a high school?!

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likkleme says...
5:16pm Tue 5 Feb 13

I can not fault Aylestone as a school, the support they offer to the pupils is brilliant, between them my children have done three high schools and Aylestone is the best by far. My daughter took her GCSE's last year when Micheal Gove decided to move the goal posts and the teachers put in extra hours over the holidays and after school to help the pupils who needed it. This week its pick on Aylestone week who they going to pick on next week?

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CAH123 says...
8:12pm Tue 5 Feb 13

In answer to Biomech, it's no different to Whitecross High School calling itself a Sports College - they don't just teach sport.

And in answer to Clarkster's comment of "blame the students?" my daughter is a pupil at Aylestone and works incredibly hard. She reads the Hereford Times and will no doubt have read your unhelpful comments - fantastic when she is about to sit her own GCSEs. Something that perhaps the HT reporters should think about. I may be mistaken but I don't think the paper bothered to report the excellent Ofsted report the school had. As mentioned by a previous blogger perhaps anyone with negative comments to make needs to look at the information on the school website to get the facts. Don't suppose the HT will report that next week.

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Biomech says...
9:07pm Tue 5 Feb 13

But I don't see the point. If it does anything at all, it adds confusion. And surely it falls outside the definition of a college? Maybe I'll rename my business to Microsoft College, because, sometimes, I use Office.

It is absolutely ludicrous.

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oldergit says...
9:43pm Tue 5 Feb 13

To User258 " i before e except after c "

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GDJ says...
10:40pm Tue 5 Feb 13

To oldergit,

Well done you. You noticed a typo and decided to make an issue of it. That really has added to the debate of a serious issue. Sleep well.


To user258.
Thank you for your comments - it is good to hear an opinion from someone for whom the quality of the school is of paramount importance. Shame about oldergit's pettiness.

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Clarkester says...
9:29am Wed 6 Feb 13

CAH123...
Thanks for spelling my name wrong...
Anyway, I didn't actually blame the students now, did I?
I said "Why blame the Council?" Then proceeded to list other things that COULD be to blame rather than the Council not giving Aylestone enough concentration.
I'm sure your daughter does work very hard, and good luck to her in her exams. I'm not sure that my comment is enough to really wreck anybody's chances in their exams. If it is, then I am extremely sorry indeed.

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oldergit says...
10:14am Wed 6 Feb 13

To GDJ. Thank you. I slept very well last night, just a shame you don't appreciate sarcasm when you see it.

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Biomech says...
12:06pm Wed 6 Feb 13

oldergit wrote:
To User258 " i before e except after c "
...weight, seize, neighbour, weird, veins, deceive, being, freight, heir......

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wyesider says...
12:33pm Wed 6 Feb 13

I like to think of myself as a reasonable human being, who attempts to see the good in most people.
A fuller report in the Hereford Times might have produced a more balanced report and avoided some of the trauma caused.
It is worth reading the head teacher's letter to parents on the college website. A pretty full picture of the situation is given, in my humble opinion.
Acquiring full facts, rather than soundbites, is an essential element of fair play.
My knowledge of education in Herefordshire is not extensive, but having followed other 'posters' advice to read the Ofsted report, etc. a fuller picture can be gained. Whether you agree with the Hereford Times report, or see the school/college in a different light is your choice.
At least if fuller facts are examined, the situation can be analysed by an individual from an intelligent point of view.

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Biomech says...
12:53pm Wed 6 Feb 13

Acquiring all the facts and doing research is journalism. I haven't seen a researched piece in the HT for a LONG time. It's a rumour engine that err's on the side reality. A few choice sentences - floating somewhere between Twitter and a national tabloid.

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