... and the same applies if you don't wear uniform properly or you fail to complete your homework properly. In return, teachers work hard to provide appropriate teaching for every child in their charge and assessment and feedback is careful and targeted. The children come from Hackney primary schools, where many of them were failing before they arrived at secondary school. Last year 10 of their sixth form left in possession of offers from Cambridge University.
In a world where the most stubborn educational statistic to shake, more so than differences in race or gender, has proven to be the social background of a child, this is a cheering story. This is Mossbourne Academy under the leadership of Michael Wilshaw, much beloved of Michael Gove.
Check out the video on this website: www.mossbourne.hackney.sch.uk
Being something of a zero tolerance teacher, I think this is great. I was taught very early in my teacher training that hildren live up OR DOWN to their teachers' expectations of them. It is the first rule of my classroom practice. People think that the idea of imposing strict rules to achieve ends is a right-wing attitude, and I feel uncomfortable sometimes espousing that notion, but if the end goal is that the child's life chances should be enhanced, then surely that is the over-riding consideration. I'm sure that a lot of sneering goes on when Mossbourne is mentioned, but quietly I wonder how many people would like to give their model a whirl.
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