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My school is doing its best to fail us

My School, Queen Elizabeth's School. Is doing its absolute best to ruin our education. Since 1 term in through year 10 (I am in year 11 now) the school has stopped giving us any English Language Lessons, and even in Literature, we are not getting taught how to answer any questions, no practice questions, no essays, nothing. We are getting thrown into the deep end blindfolded in our exams. Many of us are relying on external tutoring to provide the baseline education. My school, last night at a parents meeting, announced that they would change the lesson structure to be 4 lessons a day with 1 hour 15 minute long lessons. This is ridiculous. Lessons have been 1 hour long across the nation for decades if not centuries. All the lessons have been designed around a 1 hour long lesson making them obsolete. Also many people can barely concentrate for 1 hour let alone 1.25 hours!
It also means, to have the same amount of lessons we need one whole extra week worth of lessons to have the same amount as we do currently. Also, most subjects have all the content planned to fit in a specific amount of lessons which will be significantly reduced after this change. They also force us to do line ups before school in most weather conditions until every single person in your tutor group has immaculate uniform. This doesn't even fix the uniform problem. People Unfix it as soon as they get inside.

These, among many other things are examples of how my school is trying to ruin our education and set us up for failure. Our school got a needs improvement in its latest Ofsted report and it isn't looking good for the next one.

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Reply 1

They also proposed to get rid of skill level sets. RIDICULOUS. For context set 1 is the top set and set 5 is the bottom set.
The higher sets learn different things, such as the higher paper rather than foundation, they also learn at different speeds and comprehension levels to the bottom sets. This makes everyone's education worse as nobody will get the support that they need. Higher sets will be held back, lower sets wont be getting support, a majority of people wont get the proper support needed. My school seemingly wants to see us fail. It disgusts me.

Reply 2

Original post
by Amphibious-Rock
They also proposed to get rid of skill level sets. RIDICULOUS. For context set 1 is the top set and set 5 is the bottom set.
The higher sets learn different things, such as the higher paper rather than foundation, they also learn at different speeds and comprehension levels to the bottom sets. This makes everyone's education worse as nobody will get the support that they need. Higher sets will be held back, lower sets wont be getting support, a majority of people wont get the proper support needed. My school seemingly wants to see us fail. It disgusts me.

move schools.

Reply 3

There are multiple schools with that name. The one in Barnet is rated as outstanding by Ofsted, but there's one in Dorset that has a low rating.

There should be ways to complain. Some of the things you described aren't major issues, but the English lessons are a concern.

Reply 4

Original post
by Doomotron
There are multiple schools with that name. The one in Barnet is rated as outstanding by Ofsted, but there's one in Dorset that has a low rating.
There should be ways to complain. Some of the things you described aren't major issues, but the English lessons are a concern.

+1, QE has been historically highly regarded, so your complaints come as a shock to someone who applied there in my own 11+. Do you have any official communication about these changes? Could it be that you're misunderstanding them, as the concensus is that QE is a great school?

While tutoring is beneficial to your progress, it's definitely not necessary now with resources all over YouTube, websites, and even GPT. On a side note, make sure you're using those effectively, otherwise you'll struggle in your A-Levels and further study where self motivation and guided study are the norm.

Reply 5

Original post
by Amphibious-Rock
My School, Queen Elizabeth's School. Is doing its absolute best to ruin our education. Since 1 term in through year 10 (I am in year 11 now) the school has stopped giving us any English Language Lessons, and even in Literature, we are not getting taught how to answer any questions, no practice questions, no essays, nothing. We are getting thrown into the deep end blindfolded in our exams. Many of us are relying on external tutoring to provide the baseline education. My school, last night at a parents meeting, announced that they would change the lesson structure to be 4 lessons a day with 1 hour 15 minute long lessons. This is ridiculous. Lessons have been 1 hour long across the nation for decades if not centuries. All the lessons have been designed around a 1 hour long lesson making them obsolete. Also many people can barely concentrate for 1 hour let alone 1.25 hours!
It also means, to have the same amount of lessons we need one whole extra week worth of lessons to have the same amount as we do currently. Also, most subjects have all the content planned to fit in a specific amount of lessons which will be significantly reduced after this change. They also force us to do line ups before school in most weather conditions until every single person in your tutor group has immaculate uniform. This doesn't even fix the uniform problem. People Unfix it as soon as they get inside.
These, among many other things are examples of how my school is trying to ruin our education and set us up for failure. Our school got a needs improvement in its latest Ofsted report and it isn't looking good for the next one.

Complain to them or move schools

Reply 6

Original post
by nw99pr
+1, QE has been historically highly regarded, so your complaints come as a shock to someone who applied there in my own 11+. Do you have any official communication about these changes? Could it be that you're misunderstanding them, as the concensus is that QE is a great school?
While tutoring is beneficial to your progress, it's definitely not necessary now with resources all over YouTube, websites, and even GPT. On a side note, make sure you're using those effectively, otherwise you'll struggle in your A-Levels and further study where self motivation and guided study are the norm.

I'm not sure whether that reply was aimed at me or the OP. The OP did not say which Queen Elizabeth school they are at, so I was guessing.

Reply 7

Original post
by Doomotron
There are multiple schools with that name. The one in Barnet is rated as outstanding by Ofsted, but there's one in Dorset that has a low rating.
There should be ways to complain. Some of the things you described aren't major issues, but the English lessons are a concern.

The one in Wimborne, Dorset

Reply 8

Original post
by reallycringename
Complain to them or move schools

I am going to try and complain to my local MPs as well as the school as the last time that I complained to my school about something, they just didn't care and refused to listen to what I said. The learning trust (initio) also doesn't care, and both the trust and my school are in shambles due to poor management and staffing issues because the school is so poorly run, staff don't want to stay. When I get time, I am going to complain but unfortunately I don't think much will come of it. I can't move schools/ apply to a different 6th form as I don't have a way of getting there and I don't want to leave my friends as I don't think that my education has been compromised enough to leave my friends. Anyway, the school changes the timetable format on average 1-2 times a year. (They are incompetent)

Reply 9

Original post
by nw99pr
+1, QE has been historically highly regarded, so your complaints come as a shock to someone who applied there in my own 11+. Do you have any official communication about these changes? Could it be that you're misunderstanding them, as the concensus is that QE is a great school?
While tutoring is beneficial to your progress, it's definitely not necessary now with resources all over YouTube, websites, and even GPT. On a side note, make sure you're using those effectively, otherwise you'll struggle in your A-Levels and further study where self motivation and guided study are the norm.

It scored poorly in the senior leadership team, which after, I think we are on our 3rd or 3th headteacher now, and 4 new members of SLT , it isnt looking great. They can't even organise when to hold an assembly for the life of them. It used to be a good school :frown:

Reply 10

Original post
by Amphibious-Rock
I am going to try and complain to my local MPs as well as the school as the last time that I complained to my school about something, they just didn't care and refused to listen to what I said. The learning trust (initio) also doesn't care, and both the trust and my school are in shambles due to poor management and staffing issues because the school is so poorly run, staff don't want to stay. When I get time, I am going to complain but unfortunately I don't think much will come of it. I can't move schools/ apply to a different 6th form as I don't have a way of getting there and I don't want to leave my friends as I don't think that my education has been compromised enough to leave my friends. Anyway, the school changes the timetable format on average 1-2 times a year. (They are incompetent)

Lessons have not always been an hour - it's a pretty recent thing.

We had 35/40 minutes lessons when I was at school and one school where I taught had 50 minute lessons.

What did Governors say when you/your parents complained?
Original post
by Muttley79
Lessons have not always been an hour - it's a pretty recent thing.

We had 35/40 minutes lessons when I was at school and one school where I taught had 50 minute lessons.

What did Governors say when you/your parents complained?

Yeah, we had 45 min lessons and 90 for doubles and that was 30 years back.
As above lesson timings are not standardised and determined per school. One school I went to had 1 hour lessons 4 days a week and 45 minute lessons 1 day a week (which was an extended day, so they snuck in an "extra" lesson that way, but all the lessons were slightly shorter to help facilitate that and the additional break required for the longer day).

Also if you find concentrating for 1 hour a struggle...well unfortunate that's something you will need to work on for educational and other purposes now and in the future. It's quite likely you'll have double lessons (which were 2 hours or 90 minutes on Wednesdays at my 6th form) in 6th form, and at uni it's not uncommon to have 2 hour sessions for lectures, and longer for labs etc. I once had a triple (3 hour) lecture for a given module which was basically the entirety of that module teaching each week (with then a 1 hr seminar later in the week). Plus once you move into the workforce well...yes you're going to have to work for several consecutive hours, not infrequently on the same thing. And unfortunately you WILL probably end up with some godawful 2-3 hour meeting in your diary every couple months (or more often if you're more senior!) for something or another (even worse when its mandatory in person!!).

The bigger concern is the (apparent) dropping of English teaching at your school. Where has this gone? What is being done in the time periods this was taught before? Have they actually removed this teaching or just changed the format/name of it...? The other bits are small fry and mostly neither here nor there, and detract from what should be your central focus - which is if you are not being taught in one of your compulsory subjects. That should be your focal point.
(edited 1 year ago)

Reply 13

Original post
by Admit-One
Yeah, we had 45 min lessons and 90 for doubles and that was 30 years back.

One hour lessons became popular with National Strategy ... the Strategy ran from 1998 to 2011. Many schools kept this after this initiative ended.

Reply 14

Original post
by Muttley79
Lessons have not always been an hour - it's a pretty recent thing.
We had 35/40 minutes lessons when I was at school and one school where I taught had 50 minute lessons.
What did Governors say when you/your parents complained?

I emailed the board of trustees at initio. they never replied. the school itself talked to me and refused to actually respond to any of my points. The 75 min lesson is unsuitable for us for reasons including:
we would lose 195 lessons in an academic year. the extra 15 mins does not make up for that. The added lesson time is negligible. It would be a lot harder to fit the course content into less lessons, the added 15 minutes cannot help that.
Most people's attention span for a lesson cannot extend that long, doing the same subject for 75 minutes adds to the mental fatigue of school and exams. The main point is the lost lesson time with the proposed new timetable. Our school also has many students with learning difficulties such as ADHD, among others. The school does not have the staff to support them, and they will suffer the most with these longer lessons. The school can't provide support with the 2 members of SEND staff we have for an at least 800 pupil school.

Reply 15

Original post
by artful_lounger
As above lesson timings are not standardised and determined per school. One school I went to had 1 hour lessons 4 days a week and 45 minute lessons 1 day a week (which was an extended day, so they snuck in an "extra" lesson that way, but all the lessons were slightly shorter to help facilitate that and the additional break required for the longer day).
Also if you find concentrating for 1 hour a struggle...well unfortunate that's something you will need to work on for educational and other purposes now and in the future. It's quite likely you'll have double lessons (which were 2 hours or 90 minutes on Wednesdays at my 6th form) in 6th form, and at uni it's not uncommon to have 2 hour sessions for lectures, and longer for labs etc. I once had a triple (3 hour) lecture for a given module which was basically the entirety of that module teaching each week (with then a 1 hr seminar later in the week). Plus once you move into the workforce well...yes you're going to have to work for several consecutive hours, not infrequently on the same thing. And unfortunately you WILL probably end up with some godawful 2-3 hour meeting in your diary every couple months (or more often if you're more senior!) for something or another (even worse when its mandatory in person!!).
The bigger concern is the (apparent) dropping of English teaching at your school. Where has this gone? What is being done in the time periods this was taught before? Have they actually removed this teaching or just changed the format/name of it...? The other bits are small fry and mostly neither here nor there, and detract from what should be your central focus - which is if you are not being taught in one of your compulsory subjects. That should be your focal point.

they have replaced teaching English language which equates to a whole GCSE, and just done more English Literature in its place, whilst not even teaching that effectively.

Reply 16

Original post
by Amphibious-Rock
I emailed the board of trustees at initio. they never replied. the school itself talked to me and refused to actually respond to any of my points. The 75 min lesson is unsuitable for us for reasons including:
we would lose 195 lessons in an academic year. the extra 15 mins does not make up for that. The added lesson time is negligible. It would be a lot harder to fit the course content into less lessons, the added 15 minutes cannot help that.
Most people's attention span for a lesson cannot extend that long, doing the same subject for 75 minutes adds to the mental fatigue of school and exams. The main point is the lost lesson time with the proposed new timetable. Our school also has many students with learning difficulties such as ADHD, among others. The school does not have the staff to support them, and they will suffer the most with these longer lessons. The school can't provide support with the 2 members of SEND staff we have for an at least 800 pupil school.

You need to make a formal complaint to the school's Governors. Some schools have longer lessons than yours!

Reply 17

Original post
by Amphibious-Rock
they have replaced teaching English language which equates to a whole GCSE, and just done more English Literature in its place, whilst not even teaching that effectively.

Just wanted to ask if your school is entirely scrapping your English Language GCSE or just heavily concentrating on literature. If it's the latter, then you should know that a lot of schools spend more time on literature than language - my school took also took it to an extreme as we basically spent a total of maximum 2 months doing English language, but more than 5x more on literature. Initially seemed a bit frustrating that the school neglected a critical subject... but in the end the results were strong - only one person got below a 5 in language (and the same for literature). I hope that that can act as some consolation - you might initially think that a school is doing everything wrong but usually they are right. Not always the case though :dontknow:

Worth complaining/moving if it really is a big problem.
Original post
by Amphibious-Rock
they have replaced teaching English language which equates to a whole GCSE, and just done more English Literature in its place, whilst not even teaching that effectively.


As above you may need to take the bigger picture perspective of considering the total hours of English language vs literature specific teaching and also considering shared skills/material being developed for both of them in lesson for just literature. If you have concerns it's worth raising but I wouldn't immediately jump to major conclusions about it.

I'd say anecdotally my school didn't really formally distinguish between English lit and English language teaching and all were accommodated in the same teaching blocks for just "English", and it was just up to the teacher's lesson plans what we focused on and when. We still ultimately covered the full syllabus for both over the two year period. So your school may well be doing that too, or may have "frontloaded" the English language teaching earlier in the two year period to focus more on the literature material later.

Reply 19

Assuming what others have said is what's happening with your school regarding English literature and language, you don't have much of a basis for a complaint. If the school is entirely getting rid of one of the English subjects, this is very likely against the rules and you'd need to elevate the complaint beyond the school's management.

Even if you don't like the timetable, it is up to the school to decide that, and there is no basis for a complaint at all with it.

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