Leader: Education is a beacon in Shropshire
Thursday 15th December 2011, 12:04PM GMT.
Amid all the gloom that is around at the moment, there is one shaft of shining sunlight for Shropshire.
By and large, parents who send their children off to school in the mornings in Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin areas can be confident that they are receiving the best start to life thanks to a good education.
You can argue about the school league tables, their relevance, and how much they show and how much they conceal, but taken at their basic face value level they paint an encouraging picture.
The challenges faced by teachers within the county of Shropshire are not the same as the challenges faced by those in tough inner cities and places where English may not even be the first language of many pupils.
That is not to say that teachers in Shropshire have it easy. They are charged with bringing out the best from the raw material of bright young humanity that they are working with.
There is the age-old argument over whether those that truly succeed are those who uncover the potential of the child, or those who gain the headline top marks.
What is particularly encouraging is the great leaps forward some schools have made in their performance. This shows they are moving in the right direction.
Inevitably, the tables show winners and losers. There are stand-out schools, and schools which have some ground to catch up.
For the latter, these performance tables are like a “must do better” note on their school report.
While those with problems must address those problems, the overall picture is comforting and reinforces the reputation of Shropshire as a fine place to bring up a family.
See the full league tables in today’s Shropshire Star
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The article begs the question of whether the council leaders, who have been hell bent on changing the system by closing schools, despite the rising birth rate, know what they are doing. Let us hope their actions do nothing to spoil the great results being seen in Shropshire.
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Really?
Shropshire is ranked 58th in terms of the % of children who achieved the expected level (Level 4) in English & Maths.
Yes there are areas of deprivation but it is outperformed by many locations with much higher social and economic problems.
Well done to Shrops schools but poor marks for the Star in its inaccurate analysis.
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Here’s the full list – Teford is even further down….
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-16188584
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