No need to give up on our kids (From Times Series)

No need to give up on our kids

11:16am Friday 10th July 2009 in

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On July 17, Barnet Hill School, off Mays Lane, will close its doors for the last time, having served the community of Underhill for the 40 years that the Dollis Valley estate has been in existence. This will be a moment of great sadness for all who are associated with the school. On indicators of deprivation, our school has one of the highest levels of disadvantaged children in the borough, yet we have produced levels of performance to match the best.

Our SATS results have out-performed many schools who draw their children from much more prosperous areas. There could be no better accolade than The Times Educational Supplement recently identifying Barnet Hill as one of the top ten most improved schools since 2005 in the whole of England and Wales. Many factors have contributed to this success, but I would give particular credit to our headteacher Susan Convery and her management team.

They have been supported by committed hard-working staff who relish and respond to the challenge of dealing with children from a difficult background.

While the Local Education Authority has been very supportive of the school, I have been disappointed that it has not chosen to give greater public visibility to our success. Barnet Hill has demonstrated beyond doubt that disadvantaged children can indeed be educated to the level of the best, and with the right approach there is no need for the country to give up on its more challenging children. This is a message that needs to be shouted from the rooftops if we are to retain public faith that all the money now being channelled into the public education system is worth the price.

My governing body considered closing our small school located immediately adjacent to the children and families that we represent would not be in the best long-term interest of the community and we bitterly resisted the closure. However, it is gratifying that almost all of our staff are moving to the new enlarged school at Whitings Hill, and more than 90 per cent of our children are transferring with them. On behalf of the retiring governing body at Barnet Hill may I proffer every success to the staff, parents, and not least the children at Whitings Hill when they move into their splendid new building in September.

Gordon Massey, chair of governors, Barnet Hill School