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Gold star for the head who got results by excluding 300 pupils
Tim Ross, Education Correspondent24 Feb 2009
A HEADMASTER who suspended 300 unruly pupils in his first week in charge received a glowing report from school inspectors today.
Paul Grant believed parents and children needed to "taste" change if the appalling behaviour he inherited at Robert Clack school was to improve.
Ofsted praised the 1,800-pupil comprehensive in Dagenham - along with four others in London - for "defying" the link between poor results and deprivation.
Mr Grant spent his first six months in the job disciplining pupils, touring lessons and meeting parents. At one point he drove the school minibus around Dagenham looking for truants.
On his first day, he suspended 100 pupils for poor behaviour, a figure which rose to 300 after a week.
Mr Grant said he took a "radical" approach because he wanted people to "get angry" about the poor behaviour that was blighting children's and teachers' lives.
"We would have foul-mouthed abuse of teachers, deliberate disruption of lessons, children refusing to go to lessons, and a significant number smoking openly," he said.
"The school had a serious fire started by pupils and there was a significant gang culture. Consequently we had a lot of frightened children.
"I believed that if I could lay down a marker for every single child, soon it would not be 300 going home, it would be the hard core ringleaders who are always at the heart of this type of poor behaviour.
"It was a matter of weeks before the feeling came through that the children could take pride in themselves - and the school. They understood that bad behaviour would no longer be tolerated." Mr Grant also offered children £100 in cash for turning up to every lesson and re-instated formal assemblies.
During the following 10 years the school was transformed. Ofsted has just given it a second "outstanding" rating in a row.
In a report, Excelling Against The Odds, Ofsted praised the clear commitment of headteachers to sorting out poor discipline as crucial to raising academic standards.
The study said: "When Paul Grant took over as head-teacher, behaviour was appalling. In his own words, he began by 'stirring up the hornets' nest', doing 300 fixed-term exclusions in the first week. He made a point of seeing the parents of every excluded child, sometimes at 06.00 or 23.00.
"In many cases, parents were initially aggressive and abusive." But through his efforts to get to know all pupils and staff well, Mr Grant keeps them "on their toes".
Inspectors praised 12 state secondary schools across England as "outstanding" despite serving some of the poorest communities.
The four other London comprehensives identified in the report were Seven Kings in Redbridge, Lampton in Hounslow, Morpeth in Tower Hamlets and Plashet School, Newham. At Lampton, head Sue John quickly identified teachers who would not contribute to raising standards when she took over. Many quit as a result. But young, talented staff were quickly promoted and a once unpopular school with poor results is now judged "outstanding".
Teachers at Morpeth are confronted with the school's one-page plan for the year at regular intervals - it is pinned on the back of lavatory doors.
Discipline has been so good at Seven Kings that ministers recruited headteacher, Sir Alan Steer, to become a behaviour czar.
Bushra Nasir, head of Plashet School, inspires her diverse mix of pupils by telling them she is just "a local girl made good".
Reader views (19)
I used to teach at this school, and I would suggest this isn't such a rosy picture as suggested. Although clearly there have been improvements made since he arrived, Paul Grant does not encourage creative teaching. The school's excellent results are more probably a result of creative marking and an exam culture which relies heavily on coursework enabling teachers to do their students work for them. Ofsted aren't very good at looking into this. How can they be? They spend 2 days at the school every 3 years, and the pupils are fully prepared by the school's senior management not to misbehave when Ofsted arrive. The worst pupils are kept well out of sight on such occasions too.
- Anon, London, 31/03/2009 03:35
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Paul Grant for Minister of Education !
- Nickie, London, 24/02/2009 21:12
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John, London, in response to your query, firstly I have no idea what a "wolly-haired liberal" is, as neither myself nor Ron mentioned it, perhaps you could tell us? Secondly, of course it took him 10 years, he probably had to fight tooth and nail against the PTA, the teachers, the unions and many other pandering liberal groups moaning about their little cherubs' "human rights". Thirdly, there isn't enough information on the scale of the £100 payments to make an informed judgement, who were they paid to, what the terms, etc, presumably this is why neither of us commented on it.
- Bob, Cheam, 24/02/2009 15:49
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A Headmaster with principles and determination is indeed a rarity.Many are Jobsworths serving their time out and getting on advisory committees with the the hope of a job away from pupils.Never forget the definition of a Deputy Head "a mouse training to be a rat".
- Doff, filey yorks, 24/02/2009 14:55
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Does anyone know if this school was a Grammar School or a Technical College in the late fifties and sixtees please?
- Mj, East Anglia, 24/02/2009 14:49
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It seems to me a bit like the NHS not dealing with sick people their results would look a a lot better but there would still be sick people.
- Mike Melbourne, Bedford England, 24/02/2009 14:40
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Well done Paul on your achievement. However, to all the sycophantic commentators, don't forget it took him 10 years from his "first day" before he achieved this...coming down hard is not exactly an instant cure. And Ron/Bob, since when was giving them a £100 cash proving those (seemingly invisible) "wolly-haired liberals" wrong?
P.S. Liz, no-one got 'expelled' - these kids were *suspended* - its quite clear if you read the article properly. If schools were allowed to expel c. 10% of their pupils in a day, society and our streets would be in far worse a state!
- John, London, 24/02/2009 13:34
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Can I ask a serious queston - one which might be answered by people in the teaching profession. What is preventing all (or at least a majority of) schools making an improvement such as this? It seems so simple. Dare I say it, the Head approached the problem like a sensible businessman would turn around a failing business
- Dc, London, 24/02/2009 13:29
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Very good indeed. Top marks Mr Grant. But shouldn't the parents not be let off disciplining their kids too? It shouldn't be all down to the teachers.
- Cally, London, 24/02/2009 13:24
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Mr Grant still votes labour though. Mmm
- Keith Price, Luton, England, 24/02/2009 13:16
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I can only agree. I must admit I'm sick and tired of parents blaming the system and everyone apart from themselves for their failures .... a headmaster has a responsibility to his pupils and this is exactly what's being done here.
- Marianne, SW France, 24/02/2009 13:09
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Why on earth arent there more head teachers like this, my wife works in an 'academy' in maidstone the habitual violence, obscene language and total lack of discipline are destroying the prospects for all the kids, and it all comes from the top.
- Chris Milburn, Tonbridge,England, 24/02/2009 12:48
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As a result of classroom misbehaviour, billions of pounds wasted in the last decade, because of the poor classroom learning environment of the vast majority of our pupils. Appoint headteachers whose principal remit is to maintain a disciplined learning environment, with zero tolerance towards miscreants, who undermine the educational entitlement of the majority of our pupils. But it takes a tough-minded individual to confront the liberals on the staff, on governing bodies, the local authority, and Ofstef. Not forgetting potentially litigious parents, who feel their child is being victimised if excluded. All time consuming and emotionally draining. Paul Grant's achievement is awesome. Appoint him Discipline Czar!
- Ron Oldham, Bournemouth, 24/02/2009 12:48
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A great achievement, which must have taken a lot of courage, knowing that many parents of excluded children would react aggressively.
- Geoff Hall, Alicante, Spain, 24/02/2009 12:01
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Who'd have thought coming down on them like a ton of bricks rather than pandering to their whims would make them conform? Will the woolly liberals take heed though?
- Bob, Cheam, 24/02/2009 10:51
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Well done Mr Grant. I always admire and respect adults with zero tolerance to unruly children. My mother smacked me when i was younger and it didnt do me any harm. I am actually grateful to her for it!
- Kataobi, London, UK, 24/02/2009 10:42
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If every Head in the country were alowed to expel the 100 worst troublemakers, there would be an overnight improvement. sadly, this is not possible.
- Liz, London,UK, 24/02/2009 10:29
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I have had the priveiege of visiting this excellent school and have experienced the culture and sense of community. Grant is a straight talking no nonsense Head who cares passionately for his students and works hard; Head Teachers like this are rare. My only concern is legacy - is there some way we can clone him?
- Ray Lewis, London, 24/02/2009 10:16
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what a great example lets hope other schools have the courage to follow a true star
- Phelps Robert, bussiere poitevine, 24/02/2009 10:09
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