Education

What needs to be done to improve Bristol's state secondary schools?

D. Esteve
Accept that there is a problem in the first place and stop playing with data. Stop giving teachers answers to problems they don't have, promote the sharing of good practice at departmental level through Bristol and stop re-inventing the wheel! Bristol is looking so much at its navel it's not taking into account the experience from other areas!

beccy
get the kids to help re-decorate the school lol

ben davis
i am a teenager and i think that everything should be done to improve the secondary schools in bristol, especially as bristol ism not the nicest place to live, so kids who have to live in the ara should be given as good a chance at education as possible, also not oly should the disadvantages be considered, the advantages should also be looked at as these could be built on to greatly improve these schools. i think that the teachers and extra staff employed not only suit the job but also suit the schools attitude towerds learning. thanx xxx

Bernice [ current year 11 student in Bristol ]
I think secondary schools body need to have a efficent displine for students to have boundries . There also needs A GREATER LEVEL OF RESPECT FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS . We need resources to help the students in all areas especially those who are GCSEs

not saying
im currently in yr11 at monks park school in bristol. i am enjoyin school and want to do well in the future it is up to the student to decide if they want to get somewere in life or not. the teachers always help everybody even if the other students are total idiots. not enough credit is given to teachers at monks park when it should.

Edward Dalton
PLEASE please please now get your facts right. You got it wrong: Bristol is not bottom. So put it right.

Mr Common Sense
How about this for a solution: Every child goes to his or her local school. Every parent is accountable for their child's behaviour. That way our teaching professionals can simply get on with their jobs in socially mixed and responsible settings.

Midwife South Bristol
Stop making excuses about chidren leaving Bristol to go to other LEA's schools and the private sector . I know loads of parents whose children left primary school with good results only to be appallingly let down by secondary schools in Bristol which do not set homework, do not encourage achievement and where the behaviour of a significant minority affects the learning of those who want to achieve. Yes there are some fantastic teachers in Bristol and some great kids but two thirds of children are failed in Bristol. Parents need help to help their children and need to be informed when their children fail to produce homework and behave badly. Those who will not be taught need to be educated in small units and if necessary taught practical work skills and "life skills". In Bristol, through my job, I see more and more young people who are in an "under class " unskilled , unwaged and often parents in their teens because they have no qualifications and little self esteem. There are contributors to this site who have played the "go to Church " game to get their children into St Mary Redcliffe. I personally would do almost anything to get my children the education they deserve,indeed I have by sending my children to a religious primary school and encouraging them to attend Church fairly regularly in order to get them into one of the better schools south of the river. Yes parents attitude is important but I would suggest that schools have a duty to educate children even when parents do not seem to care. Friends of mine with children at different secondary schools are astonished at the difference in expectations between one school and another. And stop putting all the blame on the private sector there are parents on quite low incomes making huge sacrifices to put their kids through private school who have struggled with their consciences. They realize as many of us in Bristol realize, your children only get one chance at education,they are not a social experiment! And as for the difficulties for children whose first language is not English, take a leaf out of Tower Hamlets example.Get parents into school to learn how to help their children, and for language classes. The problem is not immigrants but the Chav culture.

Anonomous
‘Every Child Matters’ I have had many reasons for complaint in the past. But maybe this really is the turning point for Bristol's education. Maybe this is the beginning of parents and children being listened to and working together. If we concentrated on nurture of the whole child, and their emotional intelligence during their primary years instead of constantly processing them I‘m sure it would be a positive step in the right direction, and prepare them for the next step. Advertisements for Bristol Council refers to education as lifelong learning, so what’s the rush? valuing people, are children included? We now have the Children and Young persons service working together with all agencies in the best interest of our children and their families. So for anyone interested in health and education working together here is a great website. http://www.independentthinking.co.uk/Cool+Stuff/Articles/40.aspx http://www.independentthinking.co.uk/Cool+Stuff/Articles/40.aspx

Desparing parent
I want the best for my children and am unwilling to compromise on failing education within Bristol. Sure there are a few schools in the City with good results, but if you don't happen to live in Cotham or go to a church school, there is little else available. Of course independent education is available if you can pay or your child is bright enough to pass the tests. I believe in state education but cannot send my children to the local school as it is poor in results and discipline, oh,but maybe the police there could sort that out! I would no less accept a car, house or job that I was 43% per cent happy with. Come on Bristol, stop accepting less than we are worth. Heather Tomlinson, you should be ashamed of yourself and the way in which you behaved, Mr Woodhead may have rattled your cage but someone who is supposed to be professional, getting personal, it was embaressing to watch! And based on results of one of the schools mentioned on the TV prog. in 2004, the result was higher than in 2005, so how do we know Heather's 'rise' in results are no pure flook? We have lovely primary education in the city but nowhere to send the children aged 11. Wake up Bristol.

Jacob Butterly
Why is it that on the extended version of Points West, the presenters constantly interrupted Heather Tomlinson so that Chris Woodhead can carry on saying how terrible Bristol City Council is. Chris Woodhead overruled a decision to put a school in special measures against the wills of the other inspectors and handed the management over to a private company. Then he called it a success.

Mike Dimery
"I am a teacher in a secondary school in Bristol and we are definately (sic)not in the 'dark ages'." So says a 'have your say' correspondent, whose spelling prowess demonstrates a possible reason why Bristol's schoolchildren are underperforming.

Paul Francis
As a Governor for 14 years in Bristol's Primary sector and for the last 4 years been Chair of Governors, I would like to comment as follows:- I have seen many changes over this period of time and it has been discouraging to see Bristol at the bottom or near bottom of the league tables for Secondary Results. However I am very confident that measures now being put in place to establish effective entrance benchmarks for infant school children will help raise standards at Secondary at a later date. It has been surprising that the entrance level for some infant children is below the expected levels for entry as set out by National Standards and as such over the extended period of time to Secondary it is not surprising that exit levels are below National Standards. What is now happening in Bristol is that schools are now focussing on 'Value Added' for each pupil, ensuring that measures can be put in place to ensure that each pupil gets the best possible chance of achievement at Secondary level. In view of this it should not be seen that Pupils / Schools / Teachers in Bristol are failures because they dont necessarily achieve the top grades, because the pupils circumstances may not have allowed this to be the case. Education is not just about exam results it is about equiping young people with the life skills to succeed and to live a full and rich lifestyle. In the future much more enphasis has to be put on engaging parents and families within the community to set their standards of achievement and support high for pupils allowing all the good value added activities now being engaged at school level to really kick in.

ROBERT
Firstly I would like to apoligies for the spelling mistakes I made in my last letter.I now read in the E/POST that H Tomlinson wants to make Speedwell an ACADEMY.is this so that when there next GCSE results come out they will not be counted in the overall GCSE results of Bristol schools under LEA control.Whilst I hope that both SPEEDWELL AND WHITEFIELDs results are much better next year I belive that this is a ploy by H Tomlinson and cronies to make the exam results look better.Although Speedwells results were bad please donot blame the teaching staff as I no that they have had to work under some very difficult conditions,Speedwell is a good school they just need the right senior managment. Just because they are having a new school built will not solve all there problems,but by keeping your children from going to the school will not help it.

Mary Hendry
A fact overlooked is the number of students in central Bristol where English is not their first language. This must affect results!

Incensed
I was incensed by the attitude of Heather Tomlinson during the Schools Debate on Thursday evening. I thought I could simply watch the discussion without reacting as I already know the various arguments from my wife who is a proficient teacher in a primary school, but I was wrong. Although Chris Woodhead may not be a favourite amongst many teachers, Heather’s continued sniping at him just showed how worried she was about the discussion continuing to its logical conclusion. I am astonished that Heather felt she could sway the argument in her direction by whingeing on about the competition from the independent schools and the difficulty of raising standards in Bristol. The reality is that the council are refusing to acknowledge the size of the problem and provide the necessary additional funding directly to the heads to enable them to resolve some of the more obvious issues such as increasing the teacher pupil ratio and adequately supporting the statemented and difficult pupils in a way which avoids them disrupting the whole class. Without that support and under the present funding conditions, the whole class is forced to progress at the speed of the disruptive element who often see it as ‘macho’ to misbehave. In fact, expulsion from the school for those unruly children is often a positive benefit for the rest of the class since they can then return to a normal learning and caring environment. I believe Heather should stop hiding behind the exemplary abilities of the many professional teachers who put in more than 65 hours every week in an effort to ensure that the brightest children get some encouragement and make progress and recognise that her penny pinching policies are the root cause of the problems. If she believes that the money from the secretary of state for education is insufficient then she should supplement the funds from other sources and not complain about how difficult it is. The challenge is obvious. The attainment results speak for themselves. If Bristol is still bottom next year then the council are simply not doing enough to keep up, unless of course you assume that Bristol schools are full of inexperienced teachers who are ineptly trying to educate children whose abilities are substantially below the national average and worst than any where else in Britain.

Debbie Pearce
I have just read through the comments on this site. I work in recruitment so I know only too well how abysmal the standard of education in Bristol is. Here we have L Williams - teacher in a secondary school who can't even spell DEFINITELY. Enough said?!

Chris
What needs to be done is not have Chris Woodhead who is the EX Chief Inspector of Schools giving his very misguided and insulting comments publicly. The situation in Bristol schools is improving and to have people bashing the staff and pupils is unhelpful. Schools have suffered for years from Woodhead and are still probably getting over the legacy of him. In Bristol there is real direction given by the Director of Childrens Services - Heather Tomlinson, she has only been in post a short time, we do not need new person or initiative as suggested on the programme last night. I don't think the BBC have been particularily helpful in the matter of education, they have constantly focused on the things that are being worked on and not celebrated the good such as good OFSTED inspections carried out already this academic year. Schools and the authority are working extremely hard to drive up results.

Jennie Tipler
As a library Supervisor I have seen a marked improvement in the way that the children from ourlocal Secondary school use the library, which is mainly down to the fact that they now have a new modern school which has lifted both the staff and the pupils( Bedminster Down). There results are improving and I am sure will continue to do so they should be encouraged for their hard work not critised all the time. The sad state of our schools has been something that we have lived with for too long it is great to see them improving but this will take time.

Paul
I agree with the comments made on this web page about the attitude and calibre of the Director of education. She came across in Thursday’s debate as extremely sensitive and overly-defensive. On one level one can understand her anger: she doesn't like criticism. But in that job she should expect proper scrutiny and, from what one could tell, she just isn’t used to it. She should soak it up on behalf of pupils and teachers and respond positively in an upbeat way - but she failed to do so. She may have had a long day but her grumpy 'I'm fed up of this' approach hardly inspires confidence.

Paul
I worked in a South Gloucs comprehensive for nearly 10 years, and in that time it seemed that Bristol parents were not sending their children "over the border" to avoid Bristol schools so much as to avoid the children of other Bristol parents.

Katrina Murphy
I thought the "Inside Out" programme presented an extremely one-sided view of education in Bristol. The standard of journalism was unacceptable and I hope the BBC will take a more responsible approach when planning future programmes on such a vital subject.

helen
bring back disciplin in school. I teach in bristol and I am appalled at the behaviour in schools and the language that pupils use especially towars each other. The education system is failing teachers as well as pupils. We need to bring back peoper disciplin and pupils need to be responsible for their actions. We have far too much political corectness. Each child has a right to learn. Its a shame teachers cant always deliver that. Parents also need to support teachers.

anon
I think alot of the problems are due to behaviour which stems from home and a break down in family values. Children spend a lot of time in their rooms watching TV or playing computer games. Children don't read as much as they used to. parents need to contribute by showing an interest and encouraging their children instead of letting them watch TV and play video games

John Waldren
What percentage of Bristol Primary school children move on to a Bristol Secondary School? I would suggest that a huge proportion of high achieving Year 6 pupils move out of the Bristol State system at eleven, and move to South Glos. BANES or the Independent system. If we revised the dreaded league tables to show pupils' performance by home Postcode, there would be a different story to tell. Historically the Independent sector has 'creamed off' a large percentage of pupils in Bristol. The neighbouring Local Authorities are doing the same. The problem is thus perpetuated. Please don't blame the Council for this, or the many skilled teachers in Bristol's Schools. The fact remains that we appear to be doing worse in this great city than many less attractive places in this country, using the league tables in their current form.

Jean
As a parent of 2 boys who have had positive experiences of state primary and secondary education in Bristol I would like to support the hard work and commitment of teachers and senior staff in both Hillcrest Primary and Brislington Enterprise College. They know what they are up against when people like Chris Woodhead make negative statements, they are very aware that they have to convince parents and children that their schools can and do offer positve experiences for children and young people. We need to both support and continue to challenge Bristol schools to provide positive experiences for our children. Criticising and blaming them will not produce positive results. Lets build on the green shoots of improvement we are seeing. Next time you must talk to and listen to children, young people and parents - they will tell you what its like to attend good schools in Bristol.

Kate
I live in Wiltshire and didn't really have an opinion about Bristol schools however having seen the debate I'd suggest getting rid of the director of education. It is questionnable whether she wants to improve the schools, she has her ideas and is not going to listen to anybody. I don't like Chris Woodhead but I found Ms Tomlinson's behaviour embarassing!

ERW
How can you possibly hope to have a serious debate when the BBC presenters are so inadequate?

celia griffin
my son was diagnised with dyslexia just before leaving manchester and had a reading age of 5.9 at six three years later he finally go assessed by his school depisite me requesting this for three years his reading age was 6.6 in other words in three years hes reading has only inproved 6 months yet the school had been aware of his problem from day one yet all the want me to do is pay for extra lessions as a nurse and single mum i cannot afored this because if i could i would put him into private education as he is gong to fail all exams if he stays within the councils schools as they will not statement him and give him the education he needs to pass celia griffin yate

ashley
maybe bristol should stop blaming secondary schools if primary schools taught children to have the right attitude maybe secondary schools wouldn't have so many problems with things like truanting

Appreciative parent.
I am saddened by the blatant bias shown in the Woodhead programme, which should really have been shown a year earlier, but at that time, it probably didn’t suit Mr Woodhead’s alternative agenda. The culmination of several years of poor management by the LEA and in-house Schools hierarchy has seen Bristol fall to its invidious position in the league tables. However in the last 12 months, bold steps have clearly been taken by the Authority on many fronts, and the newly assembled LEA ‘team’ are, through dedication and determination, beginning to move the authority in the right direction. GCSE A-C pass rate up 7% key stage 3 results overall are also improved. Praise should be given to those schools who moved out of special measures and to the schools that are in the upper echelons of the national league performance tables. I believe more time and encouragement is needed for Bristol to achieve a more realistic position. My son, who is now in his second year at University, has been educated by the authority from infant through to 6th form. His excellent examination results were due not only to his own efforts, but to the skill and dedication of his many teachers. These results compare more than favourably with many of his junior school class, who fled to the private sector, rather than go to the local secondary school.

Laura Franklin
Inclusion cannot be applied to every child. Having dedicated specialist provision for different types of special needs and behavioural difficulties would ease the burden on mainstream schools.

Karen Borek
All it needs to improve Bristol State schools is for all children in Bristol to attend them! My daughter attended Ashton Park School until 16 then went to the Redcliffe 6th form Centre. She has just started at Oxford University to read physics. She would not have achieved anymore elsewhere, but her time at Ashton Park would have been more enjoyable had there been a greater proportion of able pupils. My younger 2 children attend Ashton Park and are very offended by Chris Woodheads comments, as they are doing well and comments such as his make their efforts, and those of their teachers, seem futile.

Katherine
Lets be honest..the main reason schools are under performing are because the majority of the 'middle class' (or certainly motivated) families are leaving the state sector, either going out of the area or private. You can throw as much money as you like at these schools but until you have the confident of these parents to send their children to the local secondary schools (and I'm not talking about Redland) they will continue to spiral down.

Richard Wyatt
I have four children, all of whom attend Bristol state schools. All four are doing really well in achieving their potential, thanks to their own hard work, and the hard work of their schools. The huge majority of Heads, teachers and support staff employed by Bristol schools are doing a really good job, often in difficult circumstances. My advice to parents thinking about school choice: Don’t let Chris Woodhead’s criticisms of the Council deter you from backing the city’s schools.

Jeff Britton
Why is Chris Woodhouse condemming the Council and LEA Officers who are trying to improve the current situation? Why is he not laying blame at the door of previous Chief Education Officers who got the children into this mess? Is Chris not partly to blame himself? Afterall, he was Chief Inspector at OfSTED when standards were falling! Surely the children of Bristol, teachers, and all who work in education need constructive comment, not destructive critism!

Vanessa Stevenson
The City Council have been failing generations of Bristol Children. Our children are not the thickest in the country which could be the conclusion drawn from the results. It is a betrayalof their right to a good education. It is our complaisent council. How dare the teachers and coucillors say that Woodhead did not concetrate on the good things or some of the improvements.You might say that to kids. But those guys are paid to sort things out Sack them and take the whole lot into special measures. No one in the real world would keep a job for so long with such a track record of failure and incompetence. Money wasted on a new school for their champaign socialist friends in Redland one of the richest wards in Bristol. Closing schools in poor areas and lumping kids into sink schools. Hopefully the City Academies may help.In my work in the voluntary sector I across young people who deserved so much more.

Victoria
I watched Inside out West with great interest ,having just settled my third child into a secondary school in South Glos. I agree with many of the comments posted here that the programme was biased,of poor quality and did not offer credible evidence to illustrate his point.His choice of JohnCabot CTC as an example of parents bussing their children out was a poor example as CTC is open to all children of Bristol and surrounding areas.He would have been better advised to talk to Bristol parents with children at Gordano,St Katherines or The Castle and Marlwood Schools.Heather Tomlinson did not come over as a confident,knowlegable leader,she constantly looked to Jos clark for support and quite frankly when asked the question "What percentage of pupils reached Level 4 at Key stage 2?",she floundered badly.This type of Data she should carry at her fingertips,it is crucial for tracking and targeting those pupils through to GCSE which is the very point of the programme. With regard to my own choice for my children,I have been to everything on offer at our local secondary school for 6years in an attempt to try and support it,i have tried to be positive and have known groups of pupils start "en masse" in an effort to do the same,only to gradually leave through bullying,not being able to learn and of course poor outcomes for 70+% of the children. My children have enjoyed a fabulous education at their Bristol state Infant and Junior School which were (and still are) well led and amanged with high all round expectations.I have not seen evidence of this at the local secondary school and my children deserved more. The school they attend now has high expectations of all children and can evidence this.70+%of these children achieve A*-C. I genuinely hope with the new builds and a more bouyant and smarter attitude from all leaders that Bristol education will offer something more positive as I have one more child just embarking on her educational journey in Bristol.

St Tom More
I watched the inside out programme as I have worked at several schools around Bristol and didn't find Woodhead's attitude very helpful. He confronted the headmaster of city academy, a new school that is part of the new government initiative, obviously in a public part of the school and in an unhelpful and indirect way. The programme raised some interesting issues but his obvious agenda to present certain people as incompetent meant that the facts were mixed. The programme seemed to offer up some logical questions and then start pointing the finger of blame everywhere. Bristolians would have watched this program and the lack of support and advice from the government figure wouldn't have helped. If the council or government are unhappy they should deal with it not confront innocent hardworking people on local TV. What an nasty piece of work Woodhead is!! How about a program about why the government have closed several small community schools in Bristol to open American style academies?? And whether they are successful?? Maybe that's why all the decent teachers have left Bristol?

claire cook
I am pretty disgusted with the way the BBC have approached this issue. We all know that Bristol needs to do better, but the programme 'inside out' on monday was nothing but a biased rant by Mr Woodhead. He owns a string of private schools- of course he has a vested interest in slagging off state schools. I must have missed the bit where where parents who send their children to a Bristol secondary school and who are delighted with their progress were interviewed ! I am one such person. My children attended Henbury school ( my eldest child when it was in special measures). He did exceptionally well as did my daughter this summer. Parents if you are sat at home vowing that your children will never go to a Bristol school - do yourselves a favour and go and look round when the children are in school. You will be amazed to see that it is not at all like the nightmare you have been led to believe. Bristol schools need to have their fair share of children and families who value education, currently this is not the case as parents have been convinced that they need to send their children out of Bristol or to private schools. We need to shift the balance, come and be part of the solution- not the problem !

Jenny
I am concerned, as a parent, of the position of Bristol LEA at the bottom of the league table. I'm equally concerned about Heather Tomlinson's response to Chris Woodhead (who got several key facts wrong). She seemed ill-informed and had no specific plan of action to address the problems. In fact there seemed to very little analysis of the possible sources of the problems. How can she turn Bristol around if she's not clear what is causing the poor results? I want to believe in Bristol - both my children go to a local state school - but its hard in the face of these results and Heather Tomlinson's poor reaction to Chris Woodhead. The programme may have been biased and ill-informed but , apart from Ray Priest, there were very few specifics offered in response.

Pierre, Bath
I wouldn't exactly call myself a fan of Chris Woodhead, nor a big fan of the city council for that matter. But I am an old product of the great city of Bristol and have a fierce civic pride which borders on the irrational. I don't know why my sister ended up with virtually no qualifications, my brother just a few and me the only one with a degree - we all went to the same schools and lived in the same area. I can't explain why, in my office, one colleague wouldn't even contemplate the remotest possibility of her daughters going to a Bristol state school, while another saw it as her duty to send her boys to the local secondary. My two kids picked their secondary school after visits to three local choices, the fact it was in special measures was a slight concern but not the over-riding concern. They're blooming marvellous, not perhaps A* pupils but much nicer people than me. Although I wasn't too upset with what Chris Woodhead said on Monday (I thought Ms Tomlinson and Cllr Clark responded well on Tuesday's phone-in) I can't help but get the impression that Mr Woodhead has been cleverly briefed by somebody (BBC?) behind the scenes. I sniff a political rat here. But the education of Bristol's children should be above the political bear-fight it has become. Never mind Mr Woodhead or Mr Norris (MP for neighbouring Wansdyke with no kids, it's the government, through the Department of Education, who will have the final say on progress in these schools. They wouldn't be committing millions to the cause if they thought it was a lost cause. Bristol's particular problems are deep-rooted and complex. There is no quick-fix, give the Director of Education a fair chance to help put it right. We all have our part to play in this, roundly denouncing our schools as always being rubbish is unproductive and not helpful.

Malcolm Broad
Schools are for the most part a pivotal and central part of communities and need therefore the full support of parents, community groups and local businesses. The success or otherwise of state schools does not lie fully with the council or its officers, but with the leadership in these schools and the support provided by governors and community groups as 'critical friends'. Cllr. Jos Clark made the point in Tuesday's radio interview with John Turner that Bristol's schools have 13% vacancies for school governors - although improved from 20%, it is absolutely vital that schools are supported by full governing bodies with the appropriate mix of skills and experience and local representation. The business community in Bristol, via ABLAZE (A Business Learning Action Zone in Education), Business in the Community and Business West are supporting the authority and therefore local schools by providing governors from a wide range of businesses, including multi-nationals and small/medium businesses, based in Bristol. More governors are needed from all walks of life to help Bristol's schools in providing support to headteachers and staff but also to challenge the school in strategy, planning and achievement of aspirational goals. Bristol's schools are improving, you only have to read some of the recent Ofsted reports to verify this, but the responsibility and accountability for improvement is a collective one. Yes, in the past both parents and children have had a raw deal, many voting with their feet either switching to independent school education or moving to schools in a neighbouring authority. Bit by bit results are improving so it is time to stop knocking the council but rather to get behind the current leadership and local headteachers. Those of us who live and/or work in the city must do our bit and help to ensure every child has the opportunity to fulfil their potential not just now, but in the future. [Interested in becoming a governor, then call the Governor Development Service on 0117-9031396.]

Kate
Oh course there will be individual success stories within the state sector.These children (with very motivated parents no doubt) would do well anywhere. The question is what about the rest? The vast majority who leave without the even basic levels of attainment..THIS IS DISGUSTING! Thankyou the BBC and Mr Woodhead for getting this debate started. Stop knocking them, talk about shooting the messenger!

Alice Youngs
I went to Hillcrest Primary School which was great and I am now in year 9 at Brislington Enterprise College. I am doing very well and achieving good levels, the staff are very supportive and I have made some good friends since I have been there. I think people hear things about the schoool and critise it but if it was that bad I would not have gone and I completely disagree because I think im doing realy well there and I am enjoying it. We are getting a new builidng and the school have asked us what we would lke and are taking our opinions into account. However I don't think a school needs a nice buliding to show they are a good school, the school just needs to make sure the pupils get the grades they should achieve. I like my school very much and I feel proud when the school helps me to get good reports and the levels I need.

Margaret Edwards
It is important to acknowledge and analyse success and progress where it exists. It is not professional to react defensively to plain speaking and hard questions

SDK
With all the Council and teacher bashing going on, haven't we forgotten two rather important groups of people? After all, it's not the LEA sat behind the desks in the classroom or instilling discipline is it? If kids don't want to learn and behave and their parents couldn't be bothered to enforce their attendance at school and instil some decent manners into their offspring - why on earth blame everybody else. It's high time parents and pupils (and Chris Woodhead) took more responsibility for their own failings, after all, even in the worst schools, there's still a proportion of kids prepared to knuckle down, work hard and make a success of their schooling. Why can't more do that?

Suzan Hackett
Communication between schools and parents must be improved. My duaghter has just started at secondary and there has been no communication whatsoever of anything to do with any aspect of her education programme. How can I possibly assist her learning when I don't know what is going on or what the plan is for her for this academic year? Management must be drastically improved. At present it just doesn't exist. Despite my child now attending a brand new school it is quite apparent that the school is not being run efficiently. Teachers are not doing what they should be, noone knows who is responsible for anything, no structures have been implemented - (or even thought of it seems after a parent meeting with the head last night). It is absolutely atrocious and diabolical. As a mother i feel irresponsible for allowing my daughter to even tread over the threshold of that school. There have been fights, 'happy slapping' incidents, gang warfare scenarios, and stampedes since September 4th when the new school started. She has come back from there feeling fearful and scared. At this point!!What on earth are we to do? What is the point of having a brand new school if the professionals are not in place to run the school efficiently?

Julie Cole
I believe that the programme that was shown on Monday 2 October was extremely biased against the Children and Young People's Services of Bristol City Council and that of staff who work in Bristol school. As an employee of that Department I and my work colleagues are extremely dedicated to raising attainment within schools and work above and beyond the call of duty to do this. I am very disappointed with the BCC for permitting such a biased programme to be broadcast - firstly, for not seeking the views from the other neighbouring authorities, secondly for not permitting Bristol City Council to give an adequate repesonse to the allegations that were being viewed. This broadcast has done nothing to build on the relationships that Council staff work so hard to build on with schools etc in fact it has severely damaged morale. Perhaps the BCC should look at perhaps taking the time to visit the Council House and its staff to gauge in an honest and unbiased manner the true extent of the hard work which is being undertaken and the long hours that staff put in to achieve this. Similarly, it would be an ideal opportunity to talk to teachers and school support staff who also work well beyond their weekly hours. I can assume that this has also affected the morale in many of Bristol's schools. Again, I am bitterly disapointed with the manner in which the BCC has conducted itself - I thought that the organisation was above such unprofessional broadcasting.

Ceri Triskel
You have failed in your programme to represent the views of all those parents and students who are very happy with the education supplied. I moved from a very affluent area of Somerset to inner city Bristol. It was only then that my son got a diagnosis of dyslexia (something that I had fought for in Somerset and failed to get) and the appropriate support was given. My son and daughter went on to get 7 GCSEs at C & above grades and 11 at C & above grades respectively through the state system. These included GCSEs in English and Maths, the subjects you illustrated as being particularly bad statistically.

Kelvin Donaldson
One thing I would definitely stop is the building of these so-called 'Academies'. Private money and influence on the curriculum is an absolute no-no. The example of the City Academy in Bristol PAYING students for success in exams earlier this year is an indication of how wrongly they view education. Academies embody the New Labour love of private money and shiny surfaces. They are also being used to introduce even more competition into the education system. It is very sad that parents have to move house in the belief that their children will get better exam results at the local school. If schools need more money, it should not come from private investment or 'donation', it should come from taxes. Furthermore, this money should be available to everyone that needs it, not spent entirely on one or two PR stunts like Academies. Competition in education is a bad example to set the students.

Lucy
The parents in Bristol have lost faith in the Council's ability to deliver a good standard of education at secondary level. How many of the educationalists in Bristol City Council send their children to state schools ? Very few. If they have no belief in what the schools can deliver for their own children then why should the parents ?

Martine
Valuing people and building on strengths is the way of keeping the water wheel of progress turning. We shouldn't even be giving Chris Woodhead the opportunity to further raise his Anne Robinson profile. Bristol school teachers are amongst the most dedicated, dynamic and hardworking in the country.

Trudi
What is the point on spending all this money, if they can't keep the young people within the class rooms to teach them? All too frequently, you see young people hanging around on street corners or in local parks when they should be at school.Until they take a radical look at discipline and operate a "no tolerance" policy, things will remain as they are, with Bristol languishing at the bottom of the pile.There are state schools in Bristol who produce excellent results and not just because of their catchment areas! Why don't "the powers that be" look at how they operate and replicate their example across the city instead of whinging at the bad press they keep getting.They are getting it for a reason and that reason being that they are simply not coming up with the goods.Time might be on their side,they have already achieved their position in life but the young people of Bristol don't have that luxury, they are suffering now through others'ineptitude & incompetancy.

Richard Hardisty
it is always easy to point blame .... however the solution isn't in sole responsibility of the local authority, it needs a holistic approach with parents and children all wanting to ensure & share in the education process.

Ian Scott
A natural fear for most parents is that they don't want their children to be in classes with disruptive pupils. I am a governor at Filton High and we are trying to address this by setting up a learning room where disruptive children can be parked for a temporary period so that they are not stopping others from learning and still have to continue their own learning, which we hope will be to the benefit of everyone. They can return to their normal lessons when they are ready to behave. We are just starting to trial this but I have heard this has worked in other schools and is a better option than suspensions where it more difficult to ensure continual learning and can push problems out onto the street. Their is a resource implication as you need additonal accommodation and additional teaching coverage. Do all the Bristol secondary schools have a similar facility?

Annon
I do not have children as yet but I wouldn't want to send them to a state school in Britol. I also couldn't afford to send them to a private school. Catch 22, hard working people like myself have no choice, isn't this always the way. We are the one's who work hard and pay our taxes but receive nothing in return. I feel we are being let down by Bristol's LEA. The City Council's Chief Executive states that attainment levels are improving but why were Bristol Schools allowed to become the worst in the whole country! Education standards in schools have continued to drop, these children then become the teachers of tomorrow, no wonder teaching standards are so low. I also pity the teachers, who would choose to be verbally and physically attacked whilst carrying out their job?!?! and what can the poor teachers do about it, nothing!

Ian
If Teachers didnt have to run around ensuring that the paperwork was correct for the ofsted inspectors and got on with teaching without interfearing Politicallly correct organisations, it will help a little more. Perhaps if Teachers were encouraged by incentives £5-00 for every pupil they teach and get above an A to C grading, things will dramatically improve. Of course, ensuring the children face front, have discipline is another issue. Due to political correctness yet again the Children rule the class room as they know their rights... Bring back the caine

Emma-Lou
As a year 11 student currently doing my GCSE's I agree with most of what is being said, but what's being done? Are we all going to wait until we fail at the end of this academic year before we do anything about it? I can honestly say I am not doing as I could be doing and that’s just it, we can all be doing better. Don't we all deserve the best education? No matter what background we've come from and no matter what attitude that students show in schools, everyone in education should be doing their absolute best to give us all the best start in life. I feel we're not included in this debate, if the council and others want us to basically do better then include us in this, please. I'm interested In what’s being done to improve education in Bristol and I know my class mates and a huge amount of students across Bristol are interested, it's our education.

Carol Watson
Both my children (one just finshed A levels, one in year 9) have gone to local schools, where-ever we lived. My son had all his primary education in inner city schools, most of his secondary education in South Bristol. He has just left Ashton Park school with 5 (!) A levels. A significant part of that is down to the school, some of it is down to him and to the fact that he comes from a home which understands and can support him in his education. He probably would have done reasonably well academically where-ever he went. Not all children have that luck (and I only came out of the education system with two degrees because I happened to attend a brilliant local comprehensive growing up in Swindon). I won't pretend that we haven't had any problems, or that I have thought every teacher wonderful, but on the whole they have been committed, caring and inspiring professionals. It is important that parents keep faith with local schools: my son might have got as good grades travelling out of the city or to an indpendant school: but he would also have missed out on some very important learning: about being a member of a community, about living and working with other people. If we really care about our children and the world they will grow up in, then that in itself is reason enough to want them educated together, and to support local schools. I do think we need to develop the same kind of "user voice" in schools that we have developed in other services: because that can only help the schools improve more by understanding the issues young people and their parents experience that make it difficult to get the best out of education. We talk a lot about joined up services, actually it is important that health and education can work together, but how can they if people dont use the local schools. Surely education is like anything else, if we never bother to support the professionals who are trying, then they will get fed up and move on. We really need a strong vision for the future of schools in Bristol, and their place in the wider community, so that all parents can understand how their children miss out by being "sent away". All I can say Chris Woodhead is stop damaging my child's education by undermining a change process part way through.

J Allen
As an English and Media teacher in a South Bristol secondary school, and a former journalist, I was highly disappointed by the one-sided and unsubstantial nature of Inside Out last night. I am not here to claim that there are no problems in Bristol schools, or that there is not plenty that needs to be done to improve them, but the programme did not put forward the information needed to conduct a proper debate on the situation. Chris Woodhead's evidence was founded on interviews with 4 parents (one of which claims to have been misrepresented below) and the fact that house prices are high in the Redland area (as they are throughout Bristol - I am currently looking to spend around £150000 for a one bedroomed flat outside of the Redland School catchment area, £400000 for a four bedroomed house in what always has been a prestigious area seems quite in line with this). His visits to two schools and interviews with local teachers were appallingly edited. With the teachers particularly, I was left waiting to hear the opinions of people who actually worked in the system. I was hoping we would meet them individually, and hear their experiences and views. What we got was a snatched comment about behaviour - an issue which was wholly unexplored on the programme. The final, apparently damning, evidence came from an MP for Wansdyke? I was hoping for a Headteacher, or at least a deputy, with a blacked out face and disguised voice. I wanted to hear evidence from someone who is actually involved in education in Bristol, who is actually there. The BBC's editorial guidelines are founded on a principle of impartiality. I feel that last night's programme did not adhere to this key value. It appeared poorly researched and lacking in substantial evidence or content, with the main aim of grasping at straws to support Chris Woodhead's views. Journalism is meant to inspire debate, and I do think there is a place for a real, thorough, debate about education in Bristol, but it should be done in an impartial and informed way. It needs to explore the positive things going on in the city, of which there are many, alongside the difficulties, so that viewers are empowered to reach an informed opinion. I feel the BBC failed in this last night and I hope that the rest of the programmes shown by the BBC this week can go some way to redress this.

Pete W
I am thoroughly sick of the bigoted views of Chris Woodhead being given free reign to trash the education of thousand of Bristol's children. He has a dislike of state education and is promoting an ideal of education which promotes the privilege of of the already privileged at the expense of a system which, if properly funded and resourced, could and has benefitted millions. Comprehensive education was the reform that did more than any other (including the creation of the institutional bullying under Woodhead's Ofsted) to improve educational standards in the Country. As a teacher in an institution which is truly comprehensive, which gets excellent reports, and attracts students into Bristol from the surrounding area, I regularly hear from students who have had a private education in the City who claim that they have been ignored or been badly taught, as their sdhools were only interested in the top few students. The biggest problem in Bristol schools is that they have never been truly comprehensive because of the size of Woodhead's beloved private sector. Of course all schools can improve, as a father of two kids at a local comprehensive I would always expect the school to work to improve. But Woodhead's comments are designed to undermine this at a time when there is real improvement taking place. I would like to know if Woodhead has any vested interests in private education. Has the BBC asked the question?

Kate Murray
As a head teacher of a Bristol Primary School ( as well as a pupil from Bristol Primary and Secondary schools and a mother of a child who attends a Bristol Primary school) I do feel I need to contribute to this debate. As a primary school, our success is measured both against National standards but also against entry points. Therefore the importance of Primary school provision in the secondary school debate is crucial. I am disappointed to see the BBC's "local" newsprogramme joining forces with Chris Woodhead, in what appears to be a negation of all the hard work that staff, pupils and communities are putting in to make our schools better. Bristol needs the support of the whole city to attract and retain learners in Bristol schools- so why is one of our strongest voices, the BBC, choosing to schedule a whole week of programmes "facilitated" by someone whose views on Bristol schools are both negative and well documented. There is also the timing of the programmes when parents are,in the very diffiuclt, process of,choosing just where they think their child will be happiest and achieve best. My school had OFSTED last week and although we are not judged as "outstanding" the inspection report provides confirmation of the changes we have made and endorsement of our plans to improve. This is what we need from local media. Four years ago we were judged to have unsatisfactory standards in English, Maths, ICT and behaviour. A pretty extensive challenge and remarkably similar to the Bristol picture: This year OFSTED describe standards in Maths,ICT and behaviour as good, they describe standards in Literacy at the end of KS1 as "broadly in line with national standards" and we now have the key issue of ensuring EAL learners in KS1 are achieving National Standards.This is a huge and significant improvement that has taken the hard work of everyone connected with the school to achieve, and mimics the Bristol picture.It didn't happen overnight! Please can the BBC celebrate what Bristol IS doing as well as what it is not. Our schools, across the city are depleted because our children are being educated in neighbouring LA's and the independent sector. A knowledge of the city itself, will reveal that Bristol is far from being the affluent, cultural and liberal city that many suppose but is actually a city with huge pockets of deprivation and disadvantage with extremely localised wealth and social advantage. Bristol schools are so very not, "bog standard" yet they do currently cater for a "top sliced" community of learners in terms of ability, affluence and social mobility. Only when Bristol schools receive their full complement of Bristol learners will a true picture of the strengths of Bristol schools be revealed. There is a big difference between "quick fix" and lasting, sustained change. The BBC, particularly local progranmming, should be promoting celebrations in Bristol schools and encouraging parents to join the huge forward movement in improving Bristol schools. But it does take time to make a difference, and as Primaries are addressing our key issues, we will be seeing these transferring to secondary schools. In Bristol schools we are changing "hearts and Minds"- parents in my school gave 100% endorsement to what we seek to achieve and we are now even winning back Bristol learners from "over the border". Please support us and every Bristol school by celebrating success in the city and not pandering to an outdated and ill-informed viewpoint.

Kate
I wish that occasionally the BBC and other organisations could take on board the well-known and proved adage of 'a little bit of praise goes a long way'. Bristol may bottom of the league tables, but there are things we are doing that are right, that are positive, that change the lives of the children we work with, that shape futures for the better. It is a constant struggle against bad publicity, negative backlash, uninformed criticism and poor support from people who matter, to raise our heads above the parapet and still keep positive. It would be easier to keep the focus on raising standards and providing quality education for the children in Bristol schools if there was a little more carrot and a little less stick. If we didn't all waste our energies constantly trying to answer to yet another survey, programme, league table, poll, target deadline, change in government policy, new initiative, improved strategy, press barrage, television interview, we'd have more time to spare trying to effect some positive change into our schools and give teachers and children the time and support they deserve. Perhaps it's just wishful thinking.

Warwick Black.
I have been a governor at a Bristol inner city primary school for 5 years. Chris Woodhead is right,poor performance in english and maths at seconary level is caused by low acheivement at primary level. There is a simple solution, reduce the number of children in each class of underperforming primary schools to 18 to 20 per class. The evidence from private schools and from research in the USA shows that smaller classes greatly improve performance. How could this be paid for? 1.The City Council should get rid of all the expensive initiatives which obviously do not work. 2. The Council should close small inefficient schools in areas of high population density as they were urged to do by OFSTED some years ago. Bristol has an over provision of 19 to 20 primary schools. Closing them and transferring pupils to nearby two form entry schools would save millions of pounds every year.

julian taylor
Chris Woodhead is absolutely right in what he said. Until education in Bristol is taken out of the hands of officers who bow to the political demands of their "masters" things will never improve. Politicians only look to the next election, children have to look at the next 70 years! I spent six years campaigning for a new school in N/W Bristol and have seen this first hand. Bristol is a disgrace, run by spineless individuals. Well done Mr Woodhead.

Marius Frank- Headteacher Bedminster Down
Chris Woodhead used to teach at Gordano School back in the eighties. I was teaching at Backwell. Both schools benefited from a drift of able pupils away from the city centre even then. There can be real confusion when the terms "Standards" and "Achievements" are used. If you study DfES statistics, a respectable 52% of students living in the old Avon area achieved five A*-C grades last year (Standards). Did South Gloucs, BANES and North Somerset "add value" at much greater than national rates (Achievement)? No. Do other Local Authorities at the bottom of Standards Tables have 20% of their most able primary children leave to other LAs or the independent sector? No. And are most Bristol Secondary Schools enabling their students to progress at better than national rates? Yes, the majority (in 2006) have done so. In fact, our collective aim is make progress at a rate equivalent to the top 25% of schools in the country. At Bedminster Down, for example, we have fought hard to become a first choice provider of Secondary Education in our corner of the city. Our results continue to climb, we are in a brand new school, and we are winning back the confidence of the parents in our community (over 300 applications for our 216 places). We cannot stop until every Bristol School is perceived as strong and successful. Bristol parents must be able to make a positive choice regarding secondary education. And I, like all my colleagues, choose to fight from the inside to make this a reality, rather than to criticise from without.

Another Bristol Headteacher
How can the Woodhead documentary help parents to select a secondary school for their child as this website/ the programme suggests? As another Bristol headteacher I would recommend any parent wishing to make an informed decision about the best school for their child to go and see the schools for themselves.

Esther
It's a shame that Chris Woodhead did not check on the unfound allegations made by Dan Norris MP, on the way Bristol Schools deal with bullying. Schools take the issue very seriously as do the staff in the Local Authority. This was confirmed by the JAR (inspection of children's services) carried out in January this year. Also does Mr. Woodhead actually know that we no longer have an Education Committee? That system went long time ago. He seems to be rather out of date! Both Mr. Woodhead and Dan Norris have their own agenda and it is sad to see that the BBC allowed this piece to go out. I want to say to all Bristol schools: Congratulations on the vast improvement in GCSE and KS3 results and the improvement in attendance!

Alice Jennings
Not all school's in Bristol are a wreck,and are trying hard to improve and some school's dont need improving. It's always the negative thing's mentioned! the majority of school's are improving.I think you should back off and pick on other school's. My sister is at Ashton Park and is very happy there.

Sue Albon
My granddaughter attended one of the 'top' primary schools in Bristol from the age of 4 until the age of 9. I feel that the primary school stage is of utmost importance and that this school failed her miserably. Her reading is far below the required level and her maths is also woefully inadequate (unable to understand simple methods or to know any times tables). She is now attending a primary school in South Gloucestershire where she is extremely happy and they are trying to get her work to the required standard for her age. She is growing in confidence every day. Whilst she is not the cleverest child in her age group, she is bright and has, I feel, been let down by her Bristol Primary school. How can children do well at secondary school if they are not taught the basics at primary level? Her parents and I wish she had changed schools years earlier.

Lynne Stevens
We need to stop paying for (give the teachers the money as a bonus if the school achieves) experts to tell us that we need to go back to the basics.Ensure that English maths and science are fun and enjoyable subjects. Give some disipline back to the children. Brand new schools don't mean better education

LJ
Someone has to be at the bottom when there is a league situation, surely the better way of showing results would be the improvement/deterioration for a year in each LEA. This way a small improvement would not been seen as a bad thing even if overall throughout the country Bristol was still bottom. Why are we always trying to look for the negative in this country?

megametatarsals
The answer is not very hard to find if we want to improve our schools and childrens education. STOP merging schools and treating them like business. Ideally a school should be small so that all the teachers get to know their pupils, they know their boundaries and what is expected of them. There is no need to have schools larger than say 1000 pupils, so lets put our hands into our pockets, demand more from Bristol City council and our government and take pressure of teachers and headteachers alike.

N/A
I am a Primary School teacher working in a deprived area of Bristol and have been for the last 5 years. I think it's about time that Education and Schools stop getting the blame for the lack of basic parenting skills and values that are not being instilled in many pockets of Bristol. We are doing everything we can in our school to improve attainment and achievement, however without the support of parents and changing views and attitudes it is going to be very difficult to improve much more. I believe the education the children receive in our school is as good as it can get without positive parental rolemodels and attitudes. I'm not saying that parents are to blame as we have many good families trying their best, however there are many who aren't. You just need to stand outside in the playground in the mornings and listen to the conversations and the way that some parents speak to their children. That is where the real issue lies.

Simon Bale
There is always need for debate and discussion over the standard of education in this and any local authority. However, the approach taken by the BBC in allowing Chris Woodhead to take a hatchet to the schools in Bristol is both unfair and unwarranted, and, sadly only serves to reinforce the jaundiced view many people have of the media in their unending efforts to find conflict and discord. The programme aired on 2nd October was as imbalanced as we have come to expect from Mr Woodhead. It is damaging and destructive in the way it challenges the delivery of education in this city. It was also utterly one-sided in its side-stepping of the great progress made in recent times in Bristol schools. Last year, Hengrove school in south Bristol increased the pass-rate for students at key stage 4 from 17% in 2005 to 36% in 2006. In other words, twice as many young people gained qualifications this year compared to last year. Certainly, a pass rate of 36% is still below national expectations, but why on earth did Mr Woodhead think it appropriate to ignore this and other equivalent figures such as Hartcliffe, who also increased their pass rate to 36% from 19% the previous year. Given the nature of this turn-around, I can only assume that Mr Woodhead came to Bristol (presumably at the invitation of the BBC) to be unhelpful and destructuve. Points West said that the week of coverage was an attempt to start a debate on education in the city. I am surprised that they are unaware of the debate which has been going on for many years, and sad that they see the need to start their own style of debate that serves only to criticise without recognising the progress already well underway. As a parent, and a school governor, I recognise the gap between the performance of our schools and those other areas. However, I am convinced we are moving in the right direction.

Peter
It is very clear where the blame lies - a very badly organised Council. The Director of Education sounds passionate in her hope to turn the situation around - but how long will she be allowed to do her job before the "elected members" interfere.As with education it is clear that the "elected members" haven't got a clue on most issues. Bristol WAS a great City - it is NOT a great City. Just to drive into Bristol tells you this City is run by badly organised people. Clifton is an example of how far the City has deteriated - once proud houses now look like slums! Anyone who disagrees should really get out more and visit other Cities. Perhaps in the end the people of Bristol are responsible - after all they voted for the Council they now have.

Jackie MCCarthy
I was very disappointed at the BBCs support for the programme shown last night. As far as I could tell it was an opportunity for a businessman, who sells private education for a living, to have 30 minutes free airtime, at licence payers expense, to present an uninformed and damming account of Bristol schools. There were no representations from any parent who had chosen to use the Local scecondary schools to present their views, or for pupils to share their thoughts in a meaningful way. All visits to schools were treated with suspicion. My sons both attend Bristol secondary schools and they have out performed many of their friends who attend private schools. In contrast to their privately educated friends they have little experience of drug and alcohol misuse and are aspirational and positive about their education. My sons are pleased they did not attend private school and only have praise for their school. This programme was very damaging as it comes at a time when key decisions are being made by parents about their children's futures. I feel it was irresponsible of the BBC to allow this to programme to proceed as it further damages the fragile relationship between parents and schools in Bristol, which, in my view, is one of the keys to improving education in our city. Only when trust is built up and parents support and challenge schools, when appropriate, will our schools show real signs of improvement. Programmes like this erode and undermine all the hard work that is being done for children and young people in our schools. I have yet to meet a parent, who has chosen to send their child to a Bristol secondary school, who was supportive of the sentiments aired last night.

Steve H
Look at the causes, many of which relate to the context in which schools must operate, as well as the symptoms. Teachers, educational policy, and school buildings in which children are schooled could be the best in the world, but performance standards will still be brought down by so many of the aspects of anti-social behaviour including bullying that will make learning difficult. Chris Woodhead's approach is so negative and must be utterly counter-productive at a time when teaching staff's morale needs lifting rather than further depressing. Bristol's education concerns can be addressed, but not overnight, and will need commitment from the entire community. All parents and carers need to support and encourage their children. It also needs a setting in which children can thrive in a non-threatening environment able to realise their potential for learning. Bullying can be subtle and psychological as well as physical, and their needs to be an emphasis on encourage children to believe that learning is cool and that negative pier pressure is not. Whilst educational standards do need to rise in Bristol, removal of Chris Woodhead would be a great starting point.

Lnd
I think that the main thing that stops a lot of pupils learning in the classroom is the unruly behaviour exhibited by some students. Each school must have an effective behaviour management policy which is enforced by not only the teachers in the classroom but also the senior management team of the school. Sadly I have seen teachers work their hardest to discipline students but the backing from those on high has not been forthcoming. I feel that the education system in Bristol is on the way up there are so many success stories that have already been shared in this forum. However Chris Woodhead has chosen to focus on the negative - which isn't very surprising. My overall recommendation is that someone takes a good look at some of the Headteachers in Bristol to see if they are up to scratch - I certainly think that a couple of them need to go.

Mike Foley
We are lucky to have so many pupils playing truant otherwise just imagine how bad the exam statistics might be.

Ian Oldham
Chris Woodhead's comments failed to take into account the bigger picture involved in Secondary school education. Whilst I agree to some extent that resources could have been managed better, but political wrangling over budgets is another story. It appears that there is a greater social issue that needs to be tackled. Most of the poor and failing schools are in some of the worst areas of social deprivation in the Country. How can you compare these results with schools in other areas of the country that do not have the same social problems? It seems that if you can afford to educate your children in Bristol, you either send them to one of the many private schools or outside of the Local authority area. Sending children to schools run by other local authorities has got to stop. This is an un-neccessary migration of bright, talented children whose parents should show their support for their local school and communities and get involved more in their childrens education. We do not want a system of Education only for those who can afford it. Parents who send their children out of Bristol should be ashamed of themselves. Bristol is one of the best places to live in the UK and it deserves more respect than this.

HJ
Chris Woodhead presented a very one-sided view. He didn't allow the people being interviewed time to speak and likes the sound of his own voice. Whilst there are problems in Bristol's schools, surely there is a better way of discussing it. The programme was designed purely for shock-value and did not focus on any of the positives. Whilst I agree that it is down to school to teach and discipline, what about the parents? Surely the behaviour of the pupils cannot simply be blamed on the schools and staff - parents also need to take responsibility. Chris did not mention this.

Clare
I have just finished watching the programme on Bristol schools. I was tempted to call it a documentary but I feel it fits more comfortably into the category of ‘views from a soapbox’. It felt as though it had been written long before Chris Woodhead ever set foot in Bristol and spoke to anyone. As a piece of investigative journalism it would certainly not have achieved an A*- C grade. More credence was given to a Director of Education who had clearly presided over a period of poor achievement than to a Director of Young Peoples’ Services who had, in her short time with the Council, made significant advances. In the interview with Ray Priest, the head of the City Academy, Chris Woodhead focused on the decrease of 2% in recorded A*-C grades when the question that would have been far more useful to pupils, parents and teachers was how the school had achieved the dramatic improvement the previous year. The transition from underachievement to success can only be made by the careful analysis of many factors. The programme was simplistic and inadequate. The point was made that Bristol children deserve more from their education than they have been getting in the past. We would all agree on that. People I have spoken to agree that we also deserve mush better analysis and more objectivity than we got from this programme. The ‘gasp, shock, horror’ approach won’t do.

Richard Winn
It is sad to see Chris Woodhead so negative. Critism is essential but so is praise for things that are going well. He is a real maverick with his own agenda.

Chris Millman
I am not an “educative” expert like Chris Woodhead but, speaking as I find, I would like to say that I am impressed with the education Bristol City Council has provided for my son. The problems that the education service has had to deal with are well documented, but the attack by Mr. Woodhead seems unfair at a time when they appear to have begun to turn the corner. I note that Mr. Woodhead is now employed as a promoter of private schools, and you have to ask: Whose bread is he buttering? He complained that he had been given a carefully guided tour only of the best schools, but if that were true he would have been taken to St. Mary Redcliffe or Cotham, not Fairfield and the City Academy. These schools are examples of good practice in inner city areas where attainment has traditionally been low. Did he really think that the Council should have offered up their worst examples for his scrutiny? One can just imagine what the programme would have done with that ammunition! In one breath he complained about the behaviour of pupils and in the next he criticised the number of exclusions and the presence of police officers in schools. These are signs that the problems are being addressed. I for one am reassured that a police officer is available to offer guidance to children in my son's school. How is that a bad thing? The overall impression was that this man was out to beat up the Council and he was going to use any stick he could find. The Council has many faults, but you can't hold them responsible for house prices in Redland! Could it be that the massive rebuilding programme and improved results have put the wind up the private sector? They can see an end to the easy money they have made out of worried parents, and this calculated attack was timed to convince people that nothing has changed, at exactly the moment they have to make the decision on their children's schooling. I would encourage any parent considering where to send their child next year to base their decision on observations made on visits to the schools, and not be influenced by the posturing of a man with an axe to grind. Yours sincerely, Chris Millman Southmead

KJ
As a teacher in a successful Bristol secondary school I would like to point out that not once in the last 20 years have I had an opportunity to speak out. There is much that needs to be addressed if the situation is to improved. Every time a consultation forum is presented it is instantly dominated by headteachers and their chums who have much to lose if their short comings are exposed. If classroom teachers speak out they face condemnation.If the government have the political will to improve what is a disgrace they should start by asking those in the front line

Helen
Many people have written in to say that the poor performance of Bristol state school is a result of the strong independent sector. This is probably incorrect for the following reason. The overwhelming majority of children at *primary* level are educated within the state sector in Bristol. If the hypothesis is correct, namely that Bristol state secondaries perform poorly relative to national levels because of the loss of 'the brightest' pupils to the private sector, then one would expect to see a marked drop in the position of Bristol within the league tables between primary and secondary, as this is where the exodus occurs. However this is not the case: Bristol is also at the bottom of the primary league tables. The exodus of pupils at secondary level has virtually no impact on the position of Bristol at the bottom of the league tables. I am a Bristol parent with two children in a state primary. It is clear to me that there are major problems with schooling at all levels within Bristol and that this is the result of many years of mismanagement by the City Council. Bristolians should direct their outrage towards the City Council on this issue, not the makers of this programme. Problems are not solved by shooting the messenger. As a Bristol parent, I am not interested in lazy excuses.

Ella Bisset Johnson (Build Your Own Teacher Core G
We are running a project called Build Your Own Teacher where we have asked over 150 young people in Bristol for their views and experiences of secondary education. Our Core Group of young people with the support of City of Bristol College, Education Unlimited and Eshed are putting together an exhibition of the findings. Will Bristol LEA show their support of this project by attending and taking seriously the exhibition in November? email: ella@urban-renaissance.org.uk tel: 07941290943

Sam
You can't deny the fun of a bit of "council bashing" and it's a well established sport in Bristol. However, this time it is not the leaders and senior management that will suffer most but the children and young people in Bristol schools. They deserve better than this unhelpful and pessimistic attack on their places of study.

C Hobbs
I live in Nailsea and teach in South Bristol. As I drive to work every day I see 2 full double decker buses; one taking south Bristol students to Nailsea and the other taking south Bristol students to Backwell. Whilst I am sure they are both really good schools - we are really good too. However, until our local parents choose to send the children that are in our catchment area to our school they will not know how good we are. When they do, and we benefit from the children and the support of our community, then Bristol will make progress that will make headlines for all the right reasons. On a more specific note - why Chris Woodhead? He has a vested interest in seeing state eduction flounder and a private agenda to follow. Please, BBC, consider your choice of presenter more carefully before you spend my license fee on broadcasting opinion rather than fact.

Chris
Whilst I am disappointed that the BBC had to "employ" a biased presenter in Chris Woodhead, it only endorsed the opinions that I already held about the state of the schools in Bristol. As a father of two daughters in the area I am prepared to make sacrifices in order to send them to an independent school. With so many Bristol children going to either independent schools or schools in S. Gloucs. then this should allow the council to spend more per capita on those that attend the Bristol state schools - this would not appear to be the case. Take the politics out of education and let a governing body run the schools along the same lines as independents using smaller class sizes so as to give students a better chance to learn. They are our future, don't mess about with their lives!

Richard Winn
Chair of Inner city multiracial C.E primary School. We have had tremendous support from LA Advisors and standards are improving as a consequence - and of the great committment and efforts of the Headteacher and Staff. I get very tired of endleass criticism of Bristol LA. Of course they have made mistakes butit is not for want of trying to get things right.

Lisa Waines
I have just left Henbury School with 1A 3Bs 4Cs & 2Ds. One of my Bs is currently on appeal and I also had another B upgraded to an A.I am currently at City of Bristol College studying for A-Levels in French, Maths, Philosophy and Critical Thinking. I started the school in 2001 when it first went into Special Measures. I think the staff - teaching and non-teaching - and pupils did an excellant job of bringing the school up from the depths and am pleased they are still bringing it up! When my year group first started at Henbury there was less than 100 pupils when we left there was nearly 200 pupils! This just goes to show that people living in Bristol aren't just resorting to private schools as they are sending their children to Henbury. Every year since I started here there has been an increased number of year 7s starting at the school! My year group was told by our first Head of Year & Headteacher that we were going to be the year that pulled Henbury up. Many people didn't beleive that but we proved them wrong!!! Henbury School's results went up from 25% A-C grades last year to 36% A-C grades this year!!! Chris Woodhead needs to stop critisising Bristol Schools. They ARE improving it's just that other cities are also improving so Bristol has got no chance of moving up the league tables! GET OFF OUR BACKS CHRIS WOODHEAD!!!!!!!!!

AMB
Part of the problem with Bristol's LEA stems from the problem with Bristol's politically-divided city council, which is often so divided on issues that no one policy comes across strongly. The result has been (in my 4 years experience of teaching in Bristol secondary schools) a wide range of initiatives put in place for one year only; these are then seen to have 'failed' if results are not instant and impressive, and so the policy is thrown out of the window. Choose one policy and stick with it for a while before running into the arms of a new initiative! Literacy would help - many of the children I teach have very low reading and spelling ages and this affects their overall achievement. I would also agree with comments on this page about the impact of home life - a consensus that our schools are rubbish does nothing to encourage parents to support schools or teachers. If they do not appear to have a positive attitude towards the school then their children will learn from that and behave accordingly - as I have found in the classroom and the corridors. I hope that the BBC is intending to show some positive aspects of Bristol schools in its coverage this week, for there are many. Standing up on television lambasting our schools may be good PR but it doesn't help us address the issues seriously or constructively.

Phil
I read the comments with interest. I am a parent who has elected to send my son out of Bristol to a Secondary School in South Gloucestershire - one of the 4000 or so that Chris pointed out make the trip every day. I recognise every point that Chris Woodhead made as being reflected in my experience of Secondary Education in Bristol. My daughter went to a Bristol school and I look back at her time there with regret as a wasted opportunity and one where I badly let her down. I wish I had the experience and knowledge to recognise then that this council has no idea what it is doing to many many children. Such a waste. I hope the new builds make a difference but I fear the real problem is the blame culture in the local council, and to get a new vision and direction.

Richard
Bristol is a great place, but it does have some very difficult problems to solve. Chris Whitehead's view was paritial, and gave a highly unbalanced view. The Council is to be applauded for taking the big risk of cooperating with this programme. Improvements will not happen by re-inforcing the sense of failure - which is what Chris Whitehead seemed to be wanting to do - but by affirming all the excellent work that is being done by Head Teachers, Teaching Staff, Governors, and local communities. The heart of the problem is not the failure of schools, but of Chris Whitehead's own policies when he was Chief Inspector. Rather a case of the Pot calling the Kettle black, I fear.

Simon C
The council does a fantastic job. Stop knocking it.

Headteacher, Bristol
I would like to thank Richard for his helpful comment about the spelling of Headteachers! It is a shame he will not grant me a 'typo' having just finished working a 16 hour day for the sake of our Bristol children! Never mind, let's hope we can all pull together for the greater good of our children rather than jumping on the bandwagon of an ex-chief inspector. By the way Richard, how do you spell the name Joss, or is it Jos?

anne marie brennan
I was moved to Bristol as my son was due to start secondry school, too late to apply for 'good' schools. i cant afford the catchment areas for schools withreasonable results. So I moved to South glouc. Still could not get into the highest achieving school but we are very happy with what we got. If they dont sort out the schools it will put people moving to Bristol and also there will not be school leavers with the skills that employers want.

Helen
In the last 12 months or so the city has seen a new director of education, a new political administration, the highest GCSE results and attainment for many years, increasingly positive inspectors reports, news schools being built etc etc. Now obviously it's not all positive - but it's not all negative as Chris Woodhead tried to portray. The man is a bully and it was clear from his interviews with 'the people in charge' like Ray Priest, Heather Tomlinson and Jos Clark that a lot of footage had been shot before the stuff they they showed and that he was being deliberately rude and obnoxious to them. Things in Bristol are getting better - that's demonstrably true - but Chris Woodhead, because of his own business agenda, just didn't want that new sense of cautious optimism to come across. He has done a disservice to everyone in Bristol and to the reputation of reporting at the BBC.

Tim Waite
I thought the BBC did not allow advertising in their programmes. Mr Woodhead managed to get a 30 minute, cynically timed, advert for private education and we have to pay for it through the licence fee. Come on BBC, can I have a similar fee for stating the obvious. I am sure every parent in Bristol is aware of the education problem but did Mr Woodhead offer any constructive suggestions? Many parents have been campaigning for decades to get better state education and are finally seeing some concrete changes.

LISA
CAN HEATHER THOMLINSON RESIGN AND CAN THE COUNCIL PUT SOMEONE IN CHARGE OF EDUCATING OUR CHILDREN WHO CAN ACHIEVE RESULTS NOT JUST TALK A GOOD JOB THE COUNCIL ARE AT THE MOMENT FAILING EVERY CHILD AND PARENT I PAY COUNCIL TAX FOR EDUCTION WHAT IS THE POINT. JUST RESIGN AND DO US A FAVOUR

Sue
Having watched myself on last night's Inside Out, and seeing myself quoted on this website, I feel that the bbc edited out the point I was trying to make! Last year, there was one child, and one child only from the primary school where my children go that went to our local comprehensive school (Henbury). The playground is divided between those who can afford to move into the catchment for Redland and those that can't, with those of us who can't, being made to feel like left over "rubbish". With the prospect of my child being that "one", is it any wonder that we feel as we do? I was trying to suggest that if all the poeple, and I know I am not alone here, stuck together on this and acted as the community that we are, rather than bailing out at the first opportunity, maybe, just maybe, there's a chance that we may be able to make a difference. It would certainly help increase the morale.

Steve K
OK, perhaps the answer is removing Bristol's secondary schools from LEA control but what then? Give them to a private organisation such as Chris Woodhead's Cognita? I think not, the LEA has been employing private education consultants for years, including several who still hold senior posts. Fat lot of good they've been so far.

Mary Phipps
It would be good for the BBC to visit St Mary Redcliffe School in Bristol, 77% of whose pupils achieve GCSE grade A-C. Like many successful schools it is a Church school and is over subscribed. This is a school which has much to teach others in the city and exploring what makes the school succeed would be a positive contribution to the debate.

Richard
Heather Tomlinson and Joss Clarke came across in your programme as total lightweights, clearly not up to the job. As a parent I worry about the future. Let's clear them out and get a directly elected mayor for the region. Just as worrying to me is the way someone signing themselves as 'Headteacher, Bristol' has made a spelling mistake in his/her submission - 'devestation' should read 'devastation'. If the Heads can't spell what hope for our kids? It would be funny if it weren't so tragic.

Alison
Some of the problem with secondary schools in Bristol is caused by parents sending children to schools out of the city and this situation will not get better until Bristol Schools improve. Even Bristol's 'best' Secondary school - Cotham, had a truly mediocre Ofsted report. The council has embarked on an ambitious school building programme when the money could be much better spent. I think to improve failing schools in Bristol it might be a good idea to look at Ashton Park. A few years ago this was failing spectacularly but is now oversubscribed. Whatever happens, the one thing that we can be sure of is that the council will never, ever accept any of the blame. Maybe at the next council elections we sould only vote for the candidate who says 'yes it is our fault, we are deeply ashamed and will try to do better'.

Bob
It's not just the secondary schools. A significant proportion of children coming up from some (not all) primary schools have very low reading ages. These children can't access the secondary curriculum and can cause disruption for the rest of a class due to sheer frustration. Then not streaming children for ability means that the intelligent children are held back as it is almost impossible to differentiate for the wide range of ability in some classes.

suspicious parent
What a biased view this man presented! It was almost as if he had an axe to grind about state schooling. What's that? He is Chairman of Cognita? Oh - what does that do? It owns private schools and is profit based? Well isn't that strange. Perhaps he is buying a school in Bristol and wants to boost future pupil numbers by running down the state system... Or perhaps he just got paid to say something controversial. It wasn't the criticism of past results that made me suspicious - as this is quite justified. It is the mystifying lack of optimism despite the investment that doesn't add up for me.

Headteacher, Bristol
As someone committed to the progress of Bristol's fantastic children, I would like to ask how Mr Woodhead's arrogance and destructive attitude help us to move forward one iota. I hope that all parents will see him to be the man behind the methods that themselves contributed to so much devestation in the educational world, not least in Bristol during the 1990s. Of course our children deserve better - that is why most of us are here and what we are striving to achieve every day. Thank you Mr Woodhead for setting us back another few months...

Bill Willcocks
I have just finished being a governor after 8 years at a local infants' school where pupils loved learning and the results showed it. But that was down to the team in school, and in my opinion, had very little to do with the local authority. With very few exceptions, my experience of the LEA officers was not impressive. I can't help areeing with Chris Woodhead that the sooner Bristol's schools are removed from this LEA's control the better for Bristol children.

Tina
I think that parents need to take more responsibility for the behaviour of their children at school and out of school.Its shocking the amount of parents whose attitude is that its up to the school to terach them and sort them out.It should be a partnership which is how the school my children attend works and as a consequence good results acheived.

SJ
Whilst I no longer live in Bristol, it is where I was born and grew up. It is a beautiful cosmopolitan city of which I am proud. I am however enormously sad about the way state secondary schools in Bristol are struggling. In the mid sixties, at the age of 11, I started at one of Bristol's last grammar schools. By the time I went into the lower sixth/todays year 12, my school was combined with two secondary modern schools to become a comprehensive school. Although the total number of pupils doubled, our sixth form only increased by one. A year or two after I left school, the classics dept no longer existed. Over the following years many original staff moved on, some into independent schools.I believe in the ideal of comprehensive education, however, I also believe in newly created comprehensive schools. I think mixing old grammar and secondary modern schools sometimes provides less solid foundations. It is a most important fact, that Bristol has a high ratio of independent schools compared to elsewhere. Going through the rocky period of change, towards a completely comprehensive system, more and more parents opted for independent schools for their children. It was a self perpetuating situation, and over the years more and more parents were in a position to afford to opt out of state education. As the pendulum continued to swing, we had a situation where many parents altomatically dismissed state schools altogether. What do we do now? I'm not really sure, maybe investigate what carrot might entice parents planning for independent schools, to send their children to a state school. I realise that this may sound as though I think that children of parents who cannot afford independent schools, are less academic, and I most definitely do not think that. After all, plenty of wealthy parents pay a lot of money for a non state school education for a child who struggles to gain any G.C.S.E.s. at all. It is a matter of increasing the number of potentially able pupils within the state school system. If school results improved, more parents might learn to trust the state education system in Bristol. I have seen a parallel example where I live now, of ambitious parents sending their children to a school which has excellent exam results - more high achievers drawing in more high achievers - the pendulum swings, and so on, and this was between state comprehensive schools, to one of which my daughter went. I should also like to comment on something MP Dan Norris said on the "Inside Out" programme on Monday 2nd Oct. - Mr.Norris was not happy about Bristol Education Department's adoption of the "No blame" system to bullying. I have mixed feelings about this method, but know it to be successful at my daughter's school, - not some strange method used solely by Bristol schools, perhaps he should do a little research about it, and how many other authorities use it.

Sarah
"Simon Jenkin, director of the city's schools in 2002, expressed his concern that the situation had not improved since he left" So, not from you the 'tail of success' following on. No green shoots to grow on from your time then! Take responibility for that!

Ray Tilley
Towards the end of his programme Chris Woodhead said "free our schools from the constraints of local goverment". Are there any politicians prepared to state the obvious that nationalisation didn't work for telecommunications, gas supplies, electricity etc etc so why do we keep education and health in the failed structure of nationalised industries? The governments' job should be to buy these important services on behalf of all of us, paid for of taxes. But not to try and run the schools and hospitals. These services should be provided by businesses. The present dismal performance of education in Bristol would soon be spotted as a golden opportunity. No more need for the PM to run round setting targets like a Commissar in the Soviet Union. No more ministerial fingers in the pie. But I doubt it. The worse it gets the, the more we'll be told it needs more meddling from politicians telling teachers how to teach and nurses how to nurse.

H. Jones
I was extremely disappointed by the BBC ‘Inside Out’ coverage of Bristol’s education system this evening. The choice of Mr Woodhead as presenter makes it clear that the BBC had no intention of presenting a balanced debate. This egotistical, attention-seeking professional sabre rattler simply cannot stand the fact that Bristol’s kids, teachers and Local Authority can do it without him. And we can, as has been proven by the rising results across the city. The increasing confidence and support of parents has been crucial to this success, and local media coverage that seeks to undermine this is entirely unhelpful. The BBC should be ashamed. Where is the programming that celebrates this year’s successes, and supports the city in its efforts to continue the upward trend?

John Lang
Your programme has done more to damage state education in Bristol than anything the politicians or bureaucrats could ever do. Chris Woodhead speaks to a very specific ultra-right wing agenda which seeks to drive more people into independent schools (like his) and to weaken the control of local authorities. Anything he says needs to be accompanied by a serious health warning. The assertions he was allowed to make throughout the programme were frequently without recourse to evidence and 'witnesses' including Dan Norris were fed leading questions designed to elicit agreement with his own extreme views throughout. All that your programme will achieve is the 'flight' of yet more middle class parents into city independents or the leafy suburban schools beyond the city limits. The basic problem remains the huge number of independent schools which cherry pick the pupils most likely to succeed academically. Most Bristol comprehensive schools do not get a balanced intake and are left to cope with considerable levels of social disadvantage. Next year's results will probably be worse .... not because the teachers or Education Department have failed but simply because the number of more able pupils in the state schools in Bristol will have fallen.

Paul Michell
The answer to the underperformance of Bristol schools is simple: Bristol's state schools perform badly in league tables because many of the brightest students go to private schools in the city and state schools outside the area. Why do they go to these schools? Because Bristol state schools appear to underperform in league tables. A classic chicken and egg situation. If all children were obliged to go to their local comprehensive, standards would rise. It's not going to happen. Politically and morally perhaps it shouldn't happen but that is the simple situation. Bristol children are not stupid. Bristol teachers are not bad teachers. Bristol council has as little impact on what actually happens in the classroom as councils anywhere else in the country. Woodhead does the easy hatchet job but has no positive suggestions of any merit whatsoever.

Stuart Curtis
A fantastic put together documentary with all views put forward except perhaps the failing pupils! I would suggest inspired leadership in both the Council and heads of schools would help. The parents need to have a voice and be able to get more involved and work with the schools allowing the teachers to do what they are good at! I loved school and never missed a day because I was afraid of the fun I would be missing! How things have changed.

Rob
My three children have all travelled to secondary school in South Gloucestershire. I firmly blame the council for the failing education system in Bristol as tax Money should not be spent on Bribing children to do well, daft political correctness schemes or in the latest political fad but in the basics. My decision to send my children out of the city for their education is based on my belief in the 3R's, discipline and being educated in English in an English school. Not attempting to learn in a class where the teacher spends more time watching their own back, worrying about upsetting some child’s religious or racial rights or attempting to translate the lesson into anyone of one of 20 plus languages that maybe spoken in a classroom. In my opinion exam results speak for themselves when a child is happy at school with a stable teaching environment, without politicians interfering on a year to year basis with more and more ‘improvement’ schemes. Without resorting to bribery, special incentives or bonus schemes my eldest son managed 7A-C grade GCSE’s and 4 A-C grade A levels, His Brother managed 10 A-C Grade GCSE’s and is currently studying for his A levels. These results although good where nothing above the norm for there respective years in a state school for South Gloucestershire.

Ian Campion-Smith
I'm disappointed that such a one sided agenda was put across in the programme. It seems strange that Chris Woodhead can criticise the bussing of pupils to South Gloucestershire, a result of long term govenrment policies, and then "bus in" an MP from outside Bristol to say what he wanted to hear! Why didn't he discuss the position with local MPs such as Dawn Primarolo and Stephen Williams? On the subject of "letting teachers teach", it often seems that teachers are doing the paperwork to justify themselves to Ofsted and that diminishes their energy for teaching.

Peter Tulk
I have just watched Inside Out with a growing sense of dread. I have a young son who has just entered the state system at the age of four, and such is our postcode, he will be eligible to attend one of the worst secondary schools in the country in seven years time. Has he no hope? I have been a lifelong opponent of private sector schooling. Must I sacrifice my principles to make sure he gets a fair crack of the whip? The two councillors with responsibility for state education in this city are stuttering fools who are more intent on covering their own backs than doing what must be done, which is attracting the best teachers to our city. Politics must not be an issue here, and neither must finance. If we can show the wider education community that Bristol pays it's teachers well, and supports them in their day-to-day work, then the best will come, and there will be no problem. What can we, the parents, do? I suspect it is better not to protest, but GET INVOLVED. Do not run away to "better" postcodes, but challenge the system at the point of impact. Join boards of governors, PTAs, and weed out the jargon-spewers wherever they raise their heads. Get behind men like the member for Wansdyke, who was the only official on the programme who talked any sense at all. Congratulations to Mr Woodhead for a fine programme. I hope it does some good.

mrs s whiteway
Building only one new school in Redland to cover the troubled north Bristol area which is suppose to feed all the north bristol schools is crazy,they should build two schools on each of the proposed sites at least this would then help, panicked parents, disparing, asking what should they do, move, borrow, or let there childrens future be at risk.

Andrew
Get a director of young people and children's services who directs! Heather Tomlinson came over a woolly and not in control. She agreed that problem exist and something needs to be done but that’s it. What is needed is action. Too many Bristol children have already been failed by the system and continue to be failed. I have to ship my daughter to Bath in order to stand a chance of a decent education. By the way, in most service industries there are penalties for failure – can I get anything back from the council tax as a result of the failure to provide an adequate service – I doubt it. Give the people teeth to bite back and make these people accountable.

Fred Taites
One problem is that the parents who did badly at school do not see the value in Educations and a viscious spiral ensues. Of course thre are exceptions sto this rule but those that value their childs education move them out of the state system. the other is the bahaviour of the kids and the failure to admit there is a problm. i am married to a secondary school teacher who has teached in other authoritiees and she say the behaviour of the kids in Bristol schools is getting worse each year. The problem gets worse if the school is scarerd to address the issue in fear that it will publicise a problem. Meaning all the better kids will move to other schools. The answer is to bring in more discipline to the schools.

Jane Hewer
I believe that you have to go back to junior/primary school where the problems begin. I know of quite a few incidents in different schools where bullies are allowed almost a free reign of terror. Children are taught at a young age not to goto teachers for help of any kind whether it be a personnal problem or academic problems. This goes with a child onto secondary school. Bristol needs a more stern approach and needs to be seen doing things to improve childrens views. Because from personnal experience I know that bullying starts when you are young and follows you right the way through your education. A lot of children are slipping through the net this way. Also I know again of a school who due to lack of teachers has combined two years together. How can this help their education? I think children need to learn respect because that is what a lot of children seem to be lacking in these days. Respect for others and respect for themselves. I have 2 children and i am dreading having to send them to secondary schools in my local area. I cannot afford private education, else that is the way i would go.

Mrs D. Nowell
I am not political but am hugely disappointed with the BBC for allowing itself to be used to deliver a thinly disguised conservative attack on the libdem council by chris woodhead who incidentally forgot to add to his reference to his teaching career at Gordano the fact that he was kicked out for shagging a pupil.Dan Norris who takes every opportunity for destructive criticism of public services was used at the end to put the labour boot in. A totally biased and unbalanced programme in which parental responsibility was not even mentioned. This has done a disservice to good teachers and the pupils of bristol schools.

Kate
Some schools in Bristol have improved this year and over recent years - but no mention of these was made in the programme. This portrays an unbalanced view of education in the city. In addition, we have sunk into a spiral where more able kids from supportive homes are sent outside Bristol, which means Bristol schools are left with students who may not have such supportive and stable homelives and students who are not able enough to get into private school. When you consider the intake of Bristol schools you may consider that some of them are doing the best job they can. You cannot compare a school with one of the most challenging catchment areas in the country with the success of private and independent schools who select their pupils. I admit that many schools have some way to go, but if we keep criticising, and fail to recognise the good work done by some, we will undermine the progress that has been made. It seems ironic that when we teach, we are told that we need to encourage students and point out the good or positive in what they have done in order to help them want to succeed more. It is a shame that such programmes fail to follow the same advice.

Carol Baby
I am a retired headteacher from Hertfordshire. When I moved down here I did some supply teaching. I soon stopped because of appalling pupil behaviour. I think that, and that alone, is what is ruining our education system. We must have a system where children have to take responsibility for their own actions and where lack of respect for teaching staff won't be tolerated. Head teachers need to be able to use realistic sanctions to enable this to happen.

Max
I came out of compulsory education 2 years ago, the main thing that really distracted a class in my opinion were the misbehaving children! It's never the teachers fault however hard he/she tries to control the class. When I was at school learning was hard when you had the odd student starts to misbehave and ruins the learning for others.

David
For me the issue is clear. Children can not learn in an environment that is rife with bullying and poor discipline. How to solve this? well it has to come from the leadership inthe education system and here i mean the council policy makers and teachers. So please stop the mangement psycobable, statstic quoting and the knee-jerk defence of teachers (head and below) and get to grips with this problem. However as Chris Woodhead said, I can imagine any one will be holding their breath based upon the performance of those on tonights show.

Gill Waines
I think it is a shame that Chris Woodhead is only highlighting the negatives of our local schools. My daugther started at Henbury when they went into special measures. She has seen many changes including a new Head and watching the school being rebuilt. The staff at the school work incredibly hard, not just within the curriculum, but in making them well rounded human beings equipped to go out into the wider world.My daughter has just left Henbury with 8 A-C grades, which include English and Maths.

sl
i think that the blame shouldnt always be put on the teachers and the staff of the school as they work incredibly hard! it is the parents of these children that need to enforce some ground rules, so that they will respond to these in the classroom!

n/a
Im a teacher in a Bristol Primary school and the amount of nonsense we have to put up with from the LEA is incredible. The first thing they need to do is admit their responsibility for the position we find ourselves in. How can you change anything if you don't admit you've made mistakes and Bristol LEA don't admit it they just blame teachers, it's easier! Secondly get rid of 90% of the LEA advisors who are clearly past their sell by date and thirdly support their teachers instead of bullying them. But i doubt they have the guts for this!

June Greenway
It's very simple if draconian. Selection of pupils, single sex schools, enforcement of uniform, decent sport facilities, banning of mobile phones in classrooms, support of teaching staff. Selection enables the brightest children to 'spark off' one another without fear of ridicule; single sex schools enable children to concentrate on the studies without trying to impress the opposite sex; enforcement of the wearing of school uniform ensures the pupils respect themselves and this naturally follows on in respect for their school and greater environs; decent and well equiped sports facilities encourage children to offload their boundless energy in a constructive way (hitting a squash ball is an extremely good way of releasing tension); mobile phones are an integral part of today's lifestyles but their place is NOT in a classroom and last, but by no means least' support of the teaching staff. My husband IS a teacher and one of his greatest 'tests' each day is finding the support of staff, pupils and parents. PC has taken such a hold that everyone is so afraid of being sued. It is also very evident that the rights of disruptive children are prioritised over the rights of the children who want to learn. If these types of measures were introduced it would encourage a learning environment, children would want to attend school and oh, what a surprise exam results would improve. As I said, simple really........

Peter
Unfortunately what we have seen in Bristol for at least a generation if not longer is market forces in action in education. Parents who can afford to send their children to private schools will do so, in part becuase they are motivated for them to do well and will make the necessary sacrifices both in time, effort and money. Not all children who went to independent schools come from wealthy homes - some are on scholarships, and in others the parents forego many of life's luxuries. Many are also sent there so that they don't have to mix with children from areas that are not so salubrious, and where the parental emphasis on education may not be so high. If you can't afford a private school then sending your child to a "good" school outside the city boundary is seen as the next best option by motivated parents. And why are there good schools in such areas - partly population mix, partly funding priorities when Avon was still around. All the newer and better facilities were outside the city boundary before "the split", and that left the Bristol LEA at a distinct disadvantage. Finally there are the rest. In some instances committed parents do send their child to the local school, and these children can evidently do well in some cases, if there is the right parental support. Otherwise the options boil down to Voluntary Contribution schools like St Mary Redcliffe where again there is a commitment form the parents for their children to get on in life. Unsurprisingly it & Cotham always come out top in the Bristol State School results. Unfortunately at the rest of the schools there are large numbers of children from parts of the city which have generations of underachievement, where expectations are low or non-existent, and parents who take no responsibility for their children and just are not committed or motivated to help them learn. It is on that background that the LEA exam results must be seen. In most cases they highlight the efforts of children from lower end of the spectrum from the primary schools in Bristol, those that have had the least encouragement and involvement from their parents throughout their school careers. That good teachers might feel somewhat frustrated in Bristol state schools and this then leads to further problems is not surprising in the circumstances!

Matt Munro
Why do people keep talking about class sizes - it is a complete red herring. I went to a local Grammar (St Brendans, closed by the labour government of the late 70s) where most classes were 30 plus and 36 was not unknown. We were taught by one degree qualified, motivated and able teacher, no "teaching assistants" and most of us wanted to learn. The difference now is teachers are not allowed to impose disciple, the quality of teaching is poor and the whole thing is "managed" by inept politically correct bureacrats at the council house. I'm fed up of people making apologies for those who don't care about their childrens education and are ruining it for everyone else. Get them out of the mainstream and into remedial schools where they can disrupt each others education all they like ! Bring back grammar schools and bring back competition and streaming in state education.

steve r
my daughter is int eh final year at a brilliant inner city primary school which has given her a wonderful and rich experience, both in learning and social way. She is bright, confident and growing into a lovely, eloquent young adult. This school has very bad looking SATs results, until you dig deeper, and see the stupidity of these tables in terms of individual child's achievement. It is lazy to condemn schools without looking at the broader picture, partly given by the OFSTED report. Look at Fairfield's OFSTED report and glow with pride that this school is in Bristol, what it is achieving with a challenging intake, and stop the broad brush attacks on Bristol's hard working teachers and schools. We all want the best for our kids, and supporting the local schools is a good start

Matt Munro
Bristol City Council have used their standard "things are getting better, these are old figures" defence again !! They should be ashamed of themselves, more concerned with imposing a politically correct agenda than they are with childrens education. How come they can find the resources to issue "guidance" on playing conkers, or print council leaflets in a dozen languages, but not to improve GCSE results ? Why are they so concerned with "inclusivity" and meeting the needs of immigrants ? Bristol is a relatively wealthy City and should in my opinion be near the top of GCSE tables. It's a disgrace that even with 50% of my council tax alledgedly being spent on education we are languishing at the bottom of the league table. Sorry I forgot the council don't believe in competition so won't care about league tables !! I will certainly consider moving home or going private when my son is old enough for school.

Paul Clayton
For me its a simple no brainer. Would you send your child to a school that's worse than the one you went to? I could not, so I'm forking out over £100k for my children's education. If you think that the quality is the same in state school, open your eyes. At the open evening at Cotham last year the head appeared to be proud that he had not prepared anything and related a tale of having to clear the yard of kids after break on his own. As an ex teacher that is not good enough. I was shown no respect and the staff are seen as useless by the head because clearing yards of kids is not his job. Yet he did not know it wasn't.

B. P. Tower
The statistics on Bristol's GCSE performance require careful analysis. Of the 32 schools listed in the GCSE performance tables 11 are selective/independent schools and these take in over 21% of Bristol's pupils. Bristol, therefore, has an inordinately high number of selective schools that are creaming off the most able of the City's children. As independent schools results don't count towards LEA averages in the performance tables it is no wonder that Bristol is at the bottom of the league tables.

michael owen
Without a good seconday school system, this city faces a significant decline in the quality of its future workfore. The city will not be attractive enough for outside investment unless there is a greater determination to improve the qualtiy of schooling. This is the key issue, do the politicans want to make the city an economic sucess or not?

Paul, Bristol
The council deserves the flak, not the schools. I hate to find myself agreeing with Chris Woodhead but he's right: control of our children's futures should be taken from the bigwigs at the council. Every large organisation has its share of people who are at best not terribly sharp and at worst incompetent. The difference at Bristol City Council is that they put those people in charge. The end result? Schools feel unsupported and even in some ways, obstructed from moving forward. Having worked in schools for years I know there are some fantastic teachers and Heads in Bristol. They deserve better than the shambolic crew at the helm. More importantly, so do our kids.

Sham
Sorry - I live in one of "those" areas where the local comps are almost war grounds - the local comp now has a permanent police presance on site with his own office and eveything in a bid to bring control to the corridors. A child is a sponge and will absorb what ever its exposed too. Thats the issue around where I live - the children aren't encouraged by the parents - if the parents dont care the child wont. The performance of the school wont improve without the co=operation of the parents of the children - I know from experince as I came from one of the worst schools in the area (its now long closed down due to poor attendance and performance)an managed to attain a very respectable grade on leaving and I think that the support and effort of my parents to encourage me to try, made all the differnce. So in anutshell you cant expect a school to improve if the pupils attending aren't being encouraged by external sources. A lot of parent around my way expect the school to teach all social and educatiuonal things and the parents take no part or responsibilty for the upbring ing and social education of their children - just let the schools ort it out - and if the parents dont support the schools then anything the schools try to do wont work as the kids can just ignore it.

A. Hetherington
League tables do not measure individual success, it is disheartening as a teacher who works hard to ensure every child makes progress, that headlines like these prevail. They know they have achieved and we celebrate their success.

Richard Bond
Stopping parents in Bristol from sending their children to school outside the boundaries of the city would havea big, positive, impact.

F Higginson
What about the successes of our schools. the pupils I teach are upset because they work hard and keen to learn and take pride in their school

Charles Grant
In my experinence, the performance of Bristol schools is actively impeded by the LEA. They make the day to day running of schools a major headache - in my children's school they cannot even be relied on to repair the windows - and appear to have no coherent policies except a slavish obendience to whatever happens to be the latest education orthodoxy. The schools could not be worse managed - get rid of the LEA, and watch the results improve.

Steve Woods
I have no children of my own, so am personally unaffected by the performance of Bristol's schools. What galls me is that education accounts for the majority of the council tax I pay. I do not mind subsidising the education of other peoples' children (indeed I am very grateful that I got educated up to degree level at public expense). However, I am extremely annoyed that Bristol City Council's incompetence means all the money I give them is being wasted. Bristol City Council could not run a bath, let alone an education authority.

rachel
teaching standards should be alot higher, to educate our children, at presant i blame the teachers, although alot of disruption in classes affects our childrens learning.

catriona Mundle
Have extra staff to exert discipline, so that teachers have some time to teach. A South African friend doing supply work in Bristol for a year was horrified by aggression anarchy marauding gangs and no back up at all from the top. Teachers have no control and cannot teach. My daughter had an assisted place, otherwise I should have left rather than subject her to such horrors.

Martin
I have two children, both at primary school. I would rather not have to pay to send them to a private school. I would rather they could go to a good local state school - but it doesn't exist in my neighbourhood, and so we make the financial sacrifice to sen them private. I don't know how we will find the money to pay for private secondary education, so we are earnestly hoping that the Bristol secondary schools will have improved by then.

Bill
The state of education in Bristol is typical of every other service provided by the Council. The people of Bristol only have themselves to blame for continuing to vote in the same inept councillors at every local election. Until these self-serving cronies are removed from office, Bristol will continue to have one of the highest rates of Council Tax in the country, but still the worst performing services. A number of years ago the Council had a referendum to ask residents if they would like a 6% increase in Council Tax to be spent on schools. When the vote came in as an overwhelming No, the Council decided that there was no desire for an improved education service in the city. The true fact of course is that with already astronomically high rates of Council Tax, no-one could actually afford to pay any more, especially with the knowledge that any extra money would simply be wasted on more mismanagement.

Bernadette
We talk of the huge increases in truanting amongst secondary school children, we talk of bullying, loss of motivation, mental health distress, we talk of our children lacking respect for all around them. This is the symptom, what is the cause? Maybe we are missing the point, stop blaming our children and look at what we need to do as adults to encourage and support them. Give them back ‘their’ childhood (taken without there permission), embrace all children for what they have to offer. We have some wonderful teachers who have the natural gift needed to inspire our children, let them share this enthusiasm with our children instead of spending many tedious hours drawing up programmes and graphs measuring our children against each other, so tied up in bureaucracy it has taken the joy out of teaching. Our children are all unique human beings, stop processing them and trying to make them the same. Teaching is not for all, maybe those who find it rewarding, and feel a real sense of pride when ‘that’ child/young person achieves something he/she thought they would never achieve because they were inspired and encouraged. Its these teachers we need to value and encourage, and maybe others who are talented/gifted in other areas need look for a more fitting vocation. We all have a place its just finding the right one.

John
65 years ago 8 boys from the Sea Mills estate were in my year at Cotham, then called a secondary school, predecessor of the 1944 grammar schools and successor to the old Merchant Venturers' college which produced a Nobel Prize winner in the '30s. Others had places at other state 'grammar' schools, the technical school and even scholarships to QEH, Colston's etc. About half the Sea Mills boys in any one year got 'grammar' school places. To get what I got free I and my children have had to pay fees. A measure of success would be that the next generation doesn't have to. You have to start young by the way and no poverty of expectations. One teacher I remember used to say that one of us might be Prime Minister one day. Dream on, but most of us did put something back in.

Ruth
My daughter just left Monks Park School with 10 A*s, a GNVQ with merit and an AS level at B grade. She wasn't tutored. She was evidently taught adequately well (and exceptionally well in art, in which she wants to make a career) and used the revision books you can buy from school and WHSmiths. She also made many good friends across the whole ability range and from different religions and races. Bright children, if well-motivated, can achieve perfectly well in state schools and will come out with a wide understanding of the many kinds of people they are going to meet later in life.

Iftikhar Ahmad
Muslim children in Bristol need state funded Muslim schools with Muslim teachers as role models. Children attending Muslim schools tend to achieve better exam results.

Margaret Thomas
Start valuing our children and their right to childhood. Embrace all children for what they can offer regardless of social standing. Nurturing our children and their belief in themselves first, not their ability to pass test constantly undermining their natural ability to want to find out more. Guide our children in their area of expertise (childhood) not control them. Give them back their childhood, their natural need to explore, physically, emotionally , and intellectually. Trusting, encouraging and valuing our children as individuals will prepare them for the the phase of life, secondary school. Our children will enter this stage of education with their zest for learning intact, they will want to be there, want to find out more, be ready for the exciting challenge ahead of them, but they will do this for themselves not someone else's reward i.e. to increase performance related funding, league tables, etc. Education starts from birth, all the positive nurturing of these early years will reap its own rewards on reaching secondary education. The high level of mental distress / failure experienced by these young people will decrease enabling them to grow into well balanced individuals able to take their own place in society.

Nick Hatter
I hate this idea that bullies are so hard done by. If anything, they get it EASY in school. I was bullied quite badly in year 8, and the bully was forever getting praised for doing the tiniest amounts of work, whereas I always did the work and received no praise whatsoever. I think teachers need to praise those who continously work well, in order to keep them motivated. Otherwise, they might become lazy. And when children become lazy, that's when they start to fail.

Paul
Disproportionate numbers of private schools and plenty of opportunities for wealthier parents to send children to "better" schools out of County completely undermine the learning prospects for pupils in Bristol's state schools. When the new Redland school opens in a few years and the exam results start coming in, no doubt the council will crow over the resultant huge improvement in average grades. Until then the cycle of poor performance will continue year after year, boosting the egos of Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Southwark. By the way, what makes Mr Woodhead such an expert on Bristol's schools - from my understanding, his only direct experience was as a trainee teacher at Bristol Cathedral School, hardly at the sharp end of education in the city!

Rosie's daughter Daisy
Ashton park school ROCKS!!!! Mr Gardiner is doing a great job of the school and yes we do have graffiti but you cant ever have a none posh school that isnt perfect!!

Paul
Bristol was Labour controlled for many many years and those two decades of dogmatic education policy are bearing bitter fruit now. Yes, there are an abnormally high number of children in the independent sector in Bristol. For many, their parents have endured self imposed poverty to avoid the disaster of state provision in the City. We need to start from scratch in Bristol and build a system people want to be part of. It would help if the Council would admit to being an utter failure instead of wriggling with statistics to show that we are 'only' in the bottom 5%. Childrens lives are being ruined, there is no time for politics,. Only solutions matter.

Mary
The only real hope is for control of education to be taken out of the hands of the city council. I never thought I'd say this - I believe in democratic control of public services. But Bristol LEA has a recent record of serial bungling over really important issues. It's not just the awful GSCE results: remember the way they foolishly instructed schools they must NOT punish bullies, for example. These counil people do not know what they are doing. They cannot be trusted any more. It is in the interests of all our children if the Director and her highly paid deputies are removed - and quick.

Chris James
Bristol should reintroduce grammar schools. Most of the best performing local authorities in England have grammar schools and the highest achieving area of the country is Northern Ireland which has a fully selective system. Before someone states that this would only benefit a few pupils please note that these statistics are for ALL pupils.

Lorretta Dowe
Inner city areas have been failed by the LEA for more years than I can remember. Stop making excuses we all know why, it dosen't take a mensa member, it isn't rocket science. Start by tackling the real issues. For once fully understand EVERY CHILD DESERVES THE RIGHT TO GAIN KNOWLEGE AND A DECENT EDUCATION whichever class they maybe.

R Webster
It's a vicious circle and I have no idea how the city is going to break out from it. So many private schools creaming the brightest pupils have made it increasingly difficult for state schools in Bristol driving down results. Motivation amongst the hard working teachers and remaining young people and parents decreases which in turn means many good teachers aren't attracted to the schools. As a result performance gets worse, more pupils move over to the private system and results worsen again. This has been happening for more than a generation and if we are not careful, Bristol will become two-tier in more than education ..... if it isn't already. Sad, sad, sad.

N Baldwin
Without a doubt, halve class sizes. With classes of 30 the children who come from homes where parents don't care about education don't stand a chance. If inner city state schools could offer the same teacher/pupil ratio of the independent schools then some of the families who have reluctantly taken the private route might in time be tempted back and a more natural balance restored to schools.

K Richards
I have just left Henbury school with 1 B, 3 A*s and 7 As. One of the As and the B are currently being appealed. Why do people continually get on Bristol School's backs. Why not praise us for the improvement and hard work going on. Henbury's results raised by 11%, that's pretty damn good. I loved my time at Henbury and would NOT have done any better at a private school. I went into Henbury with 2 5s and a 4 at sats and got 3 7s at year 9, therefore i improved! Currently I am studying Intensive Maths, Chemistry, History and Biology at As Level and Henbury has produced 3 intensive maths students, more than any other school at City of Bristol. Both my parents are teachers and they know that the press is ridiculous. Parents do not have to turn to private schools, state schools produce perfectly good results but their children have to be prepared to work. Remember some of the backgrounds some people come from, some are deprived, yet nobody takes that into account when comparing results. I intend to go on to University and my brother is already there, also coming from Henbury.

P Thomson
I grew up in the Chew Valley and went to Chew Valley School from '86 to '93. I now enjoy an elite job and priveliged lifestyle in the US.... all as a direct result of a great state education in the region for which I'll always be grateful. Chew Valley, like other high achieving rural state schools is now broken into the Bath and North East Somerset region.... which skews the sample toward the underfunded deprived inner-city schools. The bigger issue is the social construct of Bristol, a huge disparity between the wealthy and the 'so called' local underclass. Generations of families living in deprived almost ghetto environments such as Knowle West, Hartcliffe and Southmeade. While the relocators from the south east create an environment where there really is no hope of affording to buy your own house if you're local and on average regional income due to higher pay and south-eastern home equity inflows. This creates a cycle of several generations of deprivation, crime, zero respect for authority and therefore no hope.... which means no family desire or belief in education as a means to escape.... therefore the problem comes from the government down to local useless beaurocrats in the city council not doing their jobs correctly.... but themselves receiving high above-inflation guaranteed pay rises annually based on number of years in a seat and with no link to performance....

J Wilson
Please do not blame the parents who have to turn to the Independent sector for the shockingly bad state provision in this City. The number of fee paying schools is a direct consequence of years and years of neglect throughout primary and secondary state provision in this country and a useless group of representatives who appear incapable of improving matters and implementing change . I have a question? What would happen if parents who currently pay massive fees (and who, by the way, save the city millions by NOT having to provide the places) decided to take all of their children out of the independent sector and asked the LEA to do their job properly, to be responsible for their schooling - that is what we pay our taxes for - is it not? Instead of trying to dumb down entry to universities and actively discriminating against children from independent schools, it is time to top slice a chunk of money from the University higher education provision and re-align it to primary and secondary provision. It is not rocket science - someone just has to be brave enough to do it.

Richard Lilley
It's important to distinguish between the schools and the council. Schools are staffed by hard-working professionals generally doing a good job in difficult circumstances. They deserve quality support from the council but don't receive it. The council is packed with overpaid senior officers whose work is at best mediocre - and they meddle unnecessarily, getting in the way of schools' efforts. I'm proud of my children's school, but ashamed of the council.

Melinda Bell
We saw the writing on the wall 5 years ago. We were lucky enough to be able to leave Bristol and relocate to a small town in Leicestershire. It has been worth all the time and money. My sympathies are with the families who don't have this choice.

Richard Taylor
There is little wonder that Woodhead was effectively sacked. He would get a D for observation. Bristol has more private schools per child than any other urban area in the UK I believe - this naturally drags down results if you look at averages. Combined with some bizarre, centrally driven school funding, there is little surprise in these results.

C Spalding
The question is not why Bristol has so many schools which are unattractive to so many parents but rather, the answer lies in the number of independent schools in the city which must surely be higher than average? This means that for those who can afford it the 'best' students are creamed off into the private sector leaving, I suspect, a higher than average proportion of less able students in the public sector. Because the state schools have developed a poor reputation they will not attract the highest calibre of teacher and so the children will not achieve their potential and thus the vicious circle is perpetuated. There are 9 independent schools within a radius of a few miles of each other alone.

rosie
My daughter has just entered Year 8 at Ashton Park and is having an exciting and rewarding time. She has grown in lots of ways and I feel that she has recieved nothing other than support and encouragement from the staff. Her timetable is diverse and enriching, and there are some wonderful opportunities made available to her. She wears her uniform with pride.

Owen
Bristol and its surrounding areas have exemplary primary schools. The senior side is a different story. Bath is becoming the city of choice for 11+ age group. This in turn has its part in driving up property prices in the surrounding areas of Bath. Bristol is just another example of inner city turmoil. Class room sizes far too big, a lack of discipline, and above all make the parents accountable! Having run a business in Bristol we chose a complete seachange. The choices of education both private and public are far better here in Australia. A years worth of private education in Queensland a mere 750 gbp for 2. Coupled with a great lifestyle! A tried and tested argument I know! but it all comes back to the good old UK is going to the dogs. We could never go back.

laura copeland
I have just been to see a girls school in Bath for my daughter for next year. we live in bristol and there is no way she is going to any of the schools here, poor perfomance, poor dicipline, bad attendance the list goes on.

G Shore
Stop cramming 30+ children into classrooms. Invest in more teachers per school so class sizes can be kept below 20. Stream classes according to ability - less able students are in smaller classes therefore getting more one-to-one with the teacher. Stop allowing students who are barely literate to progress onto GCSE courses - instead focus on getting them literate and numerate. Start demanding more from parents - just because a state education is free some see it as 'worthless'. Start charging parents if their children destroy school property. If state schools introduced nominal means-tested fees (say £100 per year) many more parents would stop allowing their children to play truant and might actually show a bit more interest in what their child does at school all day. Zero-tolerance on low-level disruptive behaviour and low effort. Head of Years should have a greatly reduced teaching load in order to have more time to discipline students who are wasting their time and others'. Discipline should be much more immediate and relevent to the misdemeanour - you trash a textbook? Spend an hour reshelving books in the school library - learning how to respect books. I could go on...

Tuarita Lawson
My daughter had very disappointing GCSE results. Because she wasn't 'gifted or talented' she was forgotten about and her results meant she couldn't do what she wanted and has been very down

Paul Clayton
For atleast 10 years the children of Bristol have been failed by LEA and the schools. For the last three years the current educational head has been saying things will get better. They have not. Sack the lot. Get a head of service on performance related pay.

Steve Knowlson
There are six main reasons for the consistently appalling GCSE results in Bristol, England's wealthiest city outside of London. Firstly, because the city is wealthy there are a high number of good quality private schools, more than in cities of a comparable size. Secondly, because of the way that parts of Bristol have been chopped off into made-up places such as "South Gloucestershire" and "North Somerset", parents can send their kids to schools outside the city boundaries just as easily as sending them to a Bristol school. Thirdly, Bristol City Council spends vast amounts of taxpayer's money on private educational consultants, despite the fact that these have consistently failed to deliver results over the years. Fourthly, the education department in the city is poorly led by people who have been comfortable in well-paid jobs for far too long. Reason number five is that the Government has underfunded Bristol in virtually every aspect of life, including but not limited to education compared to other Core Cities. And finally, because of the above factors there has evolved an entrenched culture of failure that is now beginning to span the generations in Bristol. Until these factors are tackled with vigour, cash and courage, Bristol will never break out of its cycle of underachievement.

Judy Johnson
Take a look at St Mary Redcliffe school hours.Perhaps other pupils would actually achieve better results if they were at school for a little longer each day. St Mary redcliffe start at 8.30 and finish at 3.20pm , every day I see pupils for Monks Park school and Faifield Grammar still strolling to school after 9am and then returning home at 3pm, how can they fit in all the learning into these hours?

John Walker
2nd rate schools stem from 2nd rate management within the council.