Successful Students in UK's Poorest Schools

Report on Visit to Tower Hamlets June 16, 19, 20

Judith Bishop

July 2008

Summary

Facts about Tower Hamlets

98 schools and 37,500 pupils

HWDSB projected 2007-08 enrolment FTE 50,599.

Major Findings:

1.         More resources make a difference

Tower Hamlets schools are better funded than HWDSB. This is seen in their richer staff complement.  Although the poorest borough in England, their 7 and 11 year old students are above the national average in reading and math..

Conclusion: HWDSB needs more resources!

Continue to lobby for more support for high needs urban board.

2.                  Use of teaching assistants and support staff provides a rich support network for students.

It allows them to employ many diverse people from their local community to support their high ESL population and at risk and special education students. They have more teaching assistants and support workers than they do teachers. They provide 20 workers to work solely with parents. Most classes we visited had at least two adults in them.

Conclusion: need to consider how we can better use support staff

3.                  Children’s services are closely integrated,

The Director of Education is the Director of Children’s services in the borough. So he is able to link to many services: specially strong for at risk groups such as children in care.

HWDSB cannot educate high needs students on its own: it need community services to actively support HWDSB students.

Consider:

• Education plans for all CAS students
• Identification and work with other agencies for students who care for adults
• Lobby for cohesive provincial and local social policy on children within local integrated setting.

4.         Special Education

Practices we might emulate:

• Link Glenwood to pre-school services, and consider a pilot to serve students 2 to 3. 8 months
• Bring in again the lunch room assistants for feeding students at lunch time
• Invite developmental paediatrician to hold student medicals on Glenwood and other school sites
• Glenwood provide outreach support to similar population of students in other HWDSB schools
• Panel of community professionals to assist our system IPRC committees
• Parent Advisory Committee that supports special education families with direct advice:
• Multi-professional teams in schools that also work with parents and families.
• Work to get similar resources as exceptionally well resourced ( special education school had more staff than students with best practice programs)
• Provide great sensory materials in our playgrounds for developmentally delayed students
• Lobby for all IPRC students to be part of a provincial register, so that seamless service for the student if move from one area to another.

5.         Caring and outreach practices we might consider

• Visiting the home countries where large number of foreign-born students come from
• Greater links to all child care to support early literacy and particularly boys’ development

6.                  Parental programs:

Practices we might emulate

A concerted effort is being made to reach and support a large number of families in Tower Hamlets, and work is conducted in a co-ordinated fashion with other branches of government and agencies.

• Consider parenting programs under two categories :
• of engagement,
• support to parents,

and add more resources to each

• Develop a conceptual framework of support available to families across all agencies in Hamilton.