Good Practice: Education in Lincolnshire -- School saved from the brink of closure

Setting Mablethorpe Tennyson High School
Funding £175,000 from Lincolnshire County Council
Purpose To turn around a failing school

Background

Back in 2006, the end looked nigh for Mablethorpe Tennyson High School in the Lincolnshire coastal town of Mablethorpe. Fewer than one in five pupils attained five grade A* to C GCSEs. The poor results and plummeting pupil numbers created significant pressure to close the school. "We were told it was going to be a real struggle to survive," explains Lincolnshire director of children's services Peter Duxbury.

Closing the school and shifting pupils elsewhere would have been the easy option if the school had been located in an urban area.

But shutting it down would have meant that pupils' journeys would have been significantly longer. "The school was the only secondary in the town and closing it would have meant all children going outside their home town to get an education," says Duxbury.

Action

A multi-agency board was set up to oversee improvements. It was chaired by Duxbury and included representatives from the school, feeder schools, governors, social services, youth services, the healthy communities team and the council's communications team. The school was partnered with high-performing Lincolnshire secondary The Giles School, which has since become an academy, to gain expertise and management support. Mike Eyre, deputy head at the partner school, became head of Mablethorpe Tennyson in September 2006. "When I first came, staff were demoralised and students were studying a curriculum that was wrong for them," he says. A new curriculum was introduced with a wider choice of subjects and more vocational courses, which allowed those who struggled in a formal classroom environment to achieve.

Improvements in attendance and behaviour were key priorities and there was a focus on all-round support for young people. Pupils were given on-site access to a range of professionals, such as mental health workers. The school set up an "internal support unit" for pupils who might otherwise have been excluded and put in place a new special educational needs co-ordinator.

When Duxbury first went to talk to staff, he says he was struck by their lack of aspiration for the children. The school has worked to encourage all staff to recognise that building pupils' confidence and self-esteem is part of their job description, he says. It has also enlisted parent liaison officers to ensure families get the support they need. Activities outside teaching hours were introduced such as sports clubs, after-school revision and mentoring sessions for Year 11 pupils.

Involving pupils was also key.

A school council was established and young people were consulted on a new uniform. "They said the old sweatshirts made them feel like they were still in primary school," says Eyre. A smarter uniform helped give the school a new image and makes students feel "more professional". The school now has post-16 education on site, working closely with Monks' Dyke Technology College.

Outcome

When it came to pupils' behaviour, initial data seemed to show this was getting worse.

But this was simply because staff were intervening more and taking action where once they might have let things go, explains Duxbury.

Quite quickly things began to change, with attendance figures soaring and the number of exclusions falling. In 2006, 18 per cent of pupils achieved five grade A* to C GCSEs, with just 11 per cent with five including English and maths. In 2010, this improved to 86 per cent, with 33 per cent including English and maths. The number of parents wanting their children to attend the school doubled over the period and the number of exclusions dropped from 174 to 50.

The past two years have seen the first sets of pupils progress directly from Tennyson to do degrees. The school's motto is "Aim High". "It has always been there but we revisited it and made it much more prominent in everything we do," says Eyre.

EXAM RESULTS AND EXCLUSIONS

2006 (% achieving five GCSE grades A*-C)

Without English and maths 18%
With English and maths 11%
Less than five GCSE grades A*-C 82%

Exclusions 174

2010 (% achieving five GCSE grades A*-C)

Less than five GCSE grades A*-C 14%
Without English and maths 86%
With English and maths 33%

Exclusions 50

Source: Mablethorpe Tennyson

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