(5 Sept 05)

Xxxx comments in black, mine in blue.

Xxxx> Alan

Xxxx> I agree with you they cant be a top performing Academy they must be a most improved Academy, cos lots of those Academies are old CTC's - who do really well. That's poor just being the top one for improvement.

Alan > I never said it was poor, I said it was misleading to take statistics that indicate improvement & misinterpret them to indicate performance. Trinity Academy has obviously made a good recovery, well done.

Xxxx> It will be interesting to see how those other schools in Doncaster did , like Northcliffe- the paper siad that they got 33% this year and the BBC site said it was 33% last year that must mean they stay rooted to the foot of the tables?- you seem to know the details - I'd really likke to know what was their figure with English and Maths this year?

Alan > Your guess is as good as mine!

Xxxx> If the paper publishes it I 'll email it to you

Xxxx> If we are in to averages what was the average GCSE pass rate in Thorne Grammar over its last 4 years? Isnt that the key figure?

Alan > I was discussing Trinity’s figures because after all, that is what you contacted me about. Trinity Academy only came into existence 2 years ago; therefore, you can either look at its figures on a yearly basis, or average them to give a more general picture. I really don’t see any other sensible way of judging its performance.

Alan > As for Thorne Grammar School, I think everyone accepts that there was room for improvement & improving it was, achieving 35% good GCSE pass rate in its last year. Remember this was 1% better than the academies result for the first year. And who’s to say that the improvement would not have continued if the school had continued?

Xxxx> Wasnt it 15% in its last year with English and Maths? So doesnt that make progress to to 20% (with kids tey only had for 1 year ) in year 1 and 40 % in year 2 significant?

Alan > Yes, it is significant; however, it should be kept in mind that many schools are also achieving significant improvements as results improve yearly across the board. I have given you one example of our local school achieving good results without converting into an academy (although I dare say they would improve even more if they had the same facilities).

Xxxx> Also the Dfes site says Vermuyden last year was 31% Eng and Maths what was it this year? Up or down

Alan > I can’t help you there; I obtain all my figures from press reports. For example, I obtained this years & last years figures on our local school from a recent edition of the Goole Times. My main focus is on the issue of creationism & highlighting the fact that groups with extreme religious agendas are exploiting perceived weaknesses in our educational system in order to justify forcing their extreme beliefs onto vulnerable children. I really have very little interest in exam statistics.

Alan > Judging from your use of figures though you seem to know a lot about it, care to explain your interest in this matter?

Xxxx> Hs any one offered Goole an Academy? What do you have to do to get one?

Alan > If I recall correctly, an application to renovate parts of the existing school & some new build work was recently approved. I think it is going to cost around 12 Million pounds (half, or even a third the cost of an academy).

Xxxx> I have not heard any teachers or students ( and the press and wikipedia say a few have left ) saying any thing in the papers about creationism at Trinity or anti - gay stuff , hell fire talk etc so where do you get that from? Would they blow the gaff i- that would be a brillaint story

Alan > It’s hardly rocket science Xxxx; I mainly get my information from press reports like everyone else. I have put a lot of them on the creationism website that you got my e-mail address from if you care to look. You can also easily find them by searching the internet. Take this story:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3120924.stm

Alan > Here, speaking about Emmanuel College, Gateshead (another ESF school), the report states,

Quote > “In philosophy and theology lessons, sixth formers are taught a simple message - that homosexuality is wrong.”

Alan > That sounds pretty unambiguous to me.

Alan >The report is examining the effect of the infamous section 28 which was repealed in about 2004. Anyway, this report is from 2000 & also quotes the then principal of Emmanuel College, Nigel McQuoid, who was arguing for the retention of section 28, even though it would not have had the slightest effect on his school.

Alan >Creationists tend to move in small circles. Goldfish in a bowl are confined together by the glass that surrounds them. Likewise, creationists are confined together by the extremism of their religious views which tend to alienate them from large sections of society, whom they presumably view as rapture fodder.

Alan > It therefore comes as no surprise to find various connections between a creationist ESF & a creationist Christian Institute. Nigel McQuoid has even written articles for the CI website.

Alan > The Christian Institute was responsible for a great deal of the opposition to the repeal of section 28. They seem to spend much of their time on what is best described as political campaigning on issues such birth control & homosexuality. You know Xxxx, all the usual things that get creationist’s knickers in such a twist.

Alan > Recently, Colin Hart the CI’s director even went so far as to criticise the HPV vaccination program which it is claimed will save the lives of around 700 women a year in the UK; women who would otherwise die from cervical cancer. This prompted one expert to say that perhaps he should meet some of the women concerned & their families before commenting.

Alan > It therefore seems to me that not only are the ESF promoting creationist nonsense in the school system but that they are just part of a wider effort which is intent on promoting it at a political level as well.

Alan > To date these issues have yet to raise their ugly heads at Trinity, although judging from the EMF’s reputation, it is only a matter of time before they do. That it hasn’t yet is not the point. The fact is that the government have handed this school & others over to people who are creationists. It is not that the owner just happens to be a creationist, because this wouldn’t be a problem if this was kept in the personal sphere. No, not only is the owner a creationist but he has also appointed creationists to senior positions within the schools. As indicated above, many of these people such as Nigel McQuoid, have clearly stated their determination to disseminate their beliefs (And there are plenty of indications that they are doing just that) & influence popular thinking.

Alan > Do you really believe it makes sense to allow people with such extreme views such close contact with children? Oh, but the mantra goes, “yes, but they sure know how to get good exams results.” Well I couldn’t care less whether they achieve good results or not. There are other, more conventional ways of improving educational standards that don’t involve wilful disregard of such serious matters. The simple fact is that creationists should never have been given control of these state schools to start with.

Xxxx> About the figues ( slice and dice) how can the figures be lies, arent they examined by the Government?

Alan > I’m not suggesting they make up the figures, what I am saying is that the exam results generate a great deal of statistical information & that it is therefore possible to selectively highlight only those parts of it that support a particular position. Actually even these figures are too crude to make accurate assessments of a schools individual worth. A school could be struggling or doing well for a whole range of reasons. For example, a school that has developed a good reputation will find that to an extent its good fortunes are a self perpetuating result of its good reputation with more able students competing for places. The Academies Program seems to be an example of this situation, with many academies oversubscribed as people buy into all the hype.

Alan > Another example of slicing & dicing is the way you switched from quoting 5 A to Cs when you thought it would help you, to quoting English & maths results instead.

Xxxx> On that thing about fancy new buildings doing the trick, didnt that Telegrapg article talk about one Academy failing:

Xxxx> "The £46 million Business Academy, in Bexley, Kent, designed by Lord Foster and sponsored by Sir David Garrard, saw its five A* to C measure including maths and English fall from 27 per cent last year to 19 per cent. As one of the first academies to open, and one of the most expensive, its poor performance is a blow to the programme."

Alan > Actually Xxxx, this appears to be another good example of the slicing & dicing technique I mentioned above. In other words picking & choosing your statistics to suit your position. The Telegraph report also stated that overall academies were performing above average compared with other schools. In other words, on average, Vermuyden School students would have done better in an academy.

Xxxx> So musnt Trinity be doing something else that works.

Alan > Yes, I have no doubt that good teachers, a good reputation, good morale, decent buildings & equipment, firm but fair discipline, instilling a sense of motivation into students & a lot of other things besides, all go into the making of a successful school. The extreme religious opinions of the owners are totally irrelevant, regardless of how much they play on exam results in order to justify their REAL agendas.

Alan > I would say that it was not so much that Trinity is doing something that works as that the previous school or the system associated with it was doing something that didn’t work. Perhaps the best course of action before blowing billions of pounds on the inefficient solution of running around like a headless chicken knocking down serviceable schools, rebuilding them in the most outrageously expensive way possible & topping off the absurd business by handing them over to creationists, would be to actually sit down & carry out a bit of market research & identify what the problems were to begin with.

Xxxx> I'm jsut trying to be balanced here Alan - cos your site says they have failed but the figures say otherwise.

Alan > My site is mainly about creationism & although I have criticised the takeover of Thorne Grammar School, the nearest I can remotely close to saying they have failed was when I reported on their exam figures from last year. And why shouldn’t I take a critical line? After all, the justification for handing over these schools to these people rested on premise that they were failing schools. Why shouldn’t I be able to point out Trinity Academy did worse in its first year than Thorne Grammar did in its last?

Alan > I have no wish to demean the achievements of the staff or students at this school; all I am trying to do is expose the infiltration the state educational system by Christian fundamentalists.

Xxxx> Any way it looks like some Councils dont agree - heres another artice for your site:

Alan > I suppose the majority of them have simply decided that if they want the investment, then they are going to have either like or lump the creationists. Sorry, I meant that other people’s children are going to have to lump them. Some people just don’t have any principles.

Xxxx> Who's Professor Richard Dawkins ? Is he something to do with Child Protection?

Xxxx> I'm confused

Alan > When I wrote that I was specifically thinking of this article:

http://richarddawkins.net/article,118,Religions-Real-Child-Abuse,Richard-Dawkins

Alan > “The threat of eternal hell is an extreme example of mental abuse, just as violent sodomy is an extreme example of physical abuse.”

Alan > This also includes the opinion of a psychologist.

Alan > I assume that you really know who Richard Dawkins is & that you are really just being sarcastic. What you are really trying to say is that Richard Dawkins is not an authority on child abuse. Well, Peter Vardy is not an expert on evolution either, but that doesn’t seem to have stopped him exposing thousands of schoolchildren to his misconceptions about it.

Alan > Here are a few stories as an examples:

Where frivolity has no place?

Quote > “Mr O'Duffy says he was shocked by assemblies where pupils were warned of hellfire if they failed to heed the Christian message at the controversial school, which teaches biblical creationism alongside evolution.”

&

Quote > "If assemblies touch on the terrible and eternal consequences of rejecting Jesus Christ they are acting as responsible warnings,"

Academy denies claims from job candidate

Quote > "I replied by saying how important it was to prepare pupils for state examinations, but I was cut short by a sarcastic and disturbing comment - 'What is the point of sending young people out into the world with 20 GCSEs when they're going to go to Hell?'

Alan > Finally Xxxx some of Dawkins books are well worth a read. I would recommend The God Delusion for you; it’s been on the best seller list for ages now & had many good reviews. As a hard-boiled member of the NSS, I personally found it a bit tame, (Teapots, Zeus, biblical morality & all that sort of stuff) but you might find it interesting.

Alan > Best wishes,

Alan > Alan

Xxxx

UPDATE – The Goole Courier (6 Sept 07) reports the Vermuyden School refurbishment will cost £15 million.