Student questions and answers

Many thanks for the student feedback forms.

Please find below the questions and answers.

All your feedback will be provided to the governors as part of the consultation process.

The process:

Q. Please confirm this is a proposal and has not been confirmed.

A. Yes this is the start of a consultation process. Governors and directors will meet in January to make a final decision in light of the consultation.

Q. Who came up with the idea of becoming a co-ed school?

A. This proposal was brought forward in discussion between the Trust Directors and the Local Governing Body. The Local Governing Body unanimously agreed to move forward with this consultation.

Q. Why don’t we get to vote on this?

A. As a consultation all views are taken into consideration. We are having a vote on the name to give Directors and Governors a perspective on your views on the name. All the feedback you have provided will be put before Directors and Governors. The decision on whether or not to proceed has to be made by the Directors and Governors who are considering the best interests of the future of the school and meeting the needs of the local area rather than only responding to the opinions of those who are in the school now.

Q. Why is this happening in 2 years’ time?

A. It takes a very long time to consult and gain approval for this type of change. September 2017 is the earliest date for which we could change admissions arrangements.

Q. Can we stay as a Boys school?

A. Yes. This is a consultation on a proposed change. Directors and the Local Governing Body will meet at the end of the consultation to consider all the views expressed. One possible outcome of this review could be to remain as a single sex Boys for Years 7-11.

Q. How many parents made this choice?

A. Students were the first group to be consulted on so parents have yet to respond. Parents will be able to respond in writing and by attending the public consultation meetings.

Q. How are these propositions if they have already been decided?

A. The only thing that has been decided is to consult on the propositions. Directors and the Local Governing Body will meet in January to decide whether or not to pursue these proposals following the consultation feedback.

Q. Who has more of an influence students or parents?

A. All feedback will be provided to the Directors and Local Governing Body. The students were told first and are the only group where every person has been informed directly about the proposed changes. Therefore, student voice is likely to be the largest element of feedback. However, Directors and Governors will consider ALL feedback and is consulting with other admissions authorities, parents of students at the school and also with children of age and the wider community. All these points of view will be taken into account before any final decision is made.

Why change?

Q. Why do we need to change?

A. We believe this proposal is in the best interests of the whole community:

Students:

 Achieve academically as well in co-educational as in single sex schools.  Boys prefer attending mixed schools.  Have enhanced life outcomes.  Benefit from a campus approach to the school experience.

Parents / carers:

 Have the choice of choosing the right type of school for their child – coed or single sex.  Coed schools are popular with parents.  The school will prioritise sibling links in its over subscriptions criteria to support parents who wish to send their children to the same school.

Local Authority:

 As the demand for places rises over the coming years a mixed grammar school is best able to meet the growing needs for places.

Local High Schools:

 As entry to the school reaches the PAN there will be much greater stability in student places across the local area.

This opportunity for change and a reorganisation of the school arises from:

 The desire to offer a new educational choice for parents of students deemed selective in the local area.  The evidenced positive impacts of moving from a single sex school to a co-ed school.  The right time for the change: the school is now rated as a “Good” school; there is significant positive momentum at the school; the school has significant staffing with experience of co-ed and girls’ educational settings; the school has the opportunity to invest in appropriate facilities to move to co-ed.  Connection to all TSAT primaries. The New Horizons Children’s shares a site with Chatham Grammar School for Boys and works in partnership sharing resources and expertise. It is approriate that all students, boys and girls, who are able to attend a grammar school can attend the school they have worked with in the later years of their KS2 education and not just the boys. The other TSAT primaries also work within the family of trust schools and parents have committed to the mission statement of TSAT. For those deemed selective and attending TSAT primaries moving to co-ed would ensure that commitment would be recognised formally in the new admissions arrangements.  Connection to The Victory Academy. The Victory Academy, 0.8 miles away, is a mixed high school which has been supported by the Thinking Schools Academy Trust and Chatham Grammar School for Boys since April 2015 and it became part of the Trust in September 2015. There are even greater opportunities for support and sharing of expertise and best practice between a mixed grammar school and a mixed high school rather than support from a single sex school.  The expertise within both Chatham Grammar School for Boys and the Thinking Schools Adademy Trust in the teaching of boys and girls.  The need to provide flexible additional capacity within the secondary grammar sector to meet the growing local population over the next five years. A co-ed grammar school is much better placed to work with the Local Authority in meeting the demand for places from both boys and girls rather than a single sex school only able to meet the demand for places of one gender.  The need to address under-used capacity within Chatham Grammar School for Boys.  The need to rationalise admissions to meet the needs of the local area, relieving pressure on Chatham Grammar School for Boys due to appeals and therefore allowing for a more stable population to the benefit of non-selective high schools.

Student Places:

Q. Is there a shortage of girls’ school places in Medway?

A. Currently there is not a shortage of girls’ school places in Medway. However, in this part of Medway there is no option for a mixed grammar school experience for students living here. The governors have committed to ensuring that all Boys in the local area who pass the 11+ will be able to gain a place at our school.

Impact of change:

Q. What if no girls come?

A. This is very unlikely, however, if no girls apply then there would be a boy only Year group.

Q. Is the expectation for results to be better or worse?

A. Large studies have suggested that boys achieve better academic outcomes in mixed schools than in single sex schools. The data from single sex and co-ed grammar schools suggests that boys and girls do well in mixed grammar schools and single sex grammar schools.

Q. Will the school time table change?

A. No the school will remain on a two week timetable.

Q. Will there be separate changing rooms for girls?

A. Yes, in the new gym there will be both boys and girls changing rooms.

Q. Will this change the Houses?

A. The school is consulting to remain a 4 for entry school. If in the future we need to add an extra form each year then we will look at adding an extra House. All current House activities will continue.

Q. Will it affect our education?

A. As this change does not directly impact on any student currently at CGSB no these proposals will not affect you.

Q. Will there be mixed classes or single sex classes?

A. Initially we expect the number of female students to be quite low and, therefore, we would have mixed classes. Once there is a balance in the intake we could consider having single sex teaching in some subjects but this decision has not been discussed yet.

Q. Will the curriculum change?

A. We will review the curriculum to ensure we are meeting the needs of all our students. However, curriculum offer is more closely linked to ability rather than gender and so we do not anticipate any significant changes being needed.

Q. Are you going to change the layout of the school?

A. No.

Q. Will you need to change toilets?

A. No we already have toilets for both genders in the school – no changes will be required.

Q. Will girls be in my year?

A. We would not expect female students to be entering year groups other than Year 7 or the sixth form in 2017. However, we are currently successfully meeting the needs of a small number of Gifted and Talented female students in Year 8 from The Victory Academy, despite Year 8 being a predominantly male year group.

Therefore, we would consider any application to other year groups on a case by case basis ensuring that this was a fully informed decision by the student and parents and only allow this to happen where it was clearly in the student’s best interest which out-weighed the inevitable difficulty of being a single female student or very small group of female students in an historically male year group.

Q. Is the site big enough for more students? Will we have extra classes to make more space for girls?

A. The school has accommodated year groups of 5 and 6 form entry at points in the past. We are in the process of putting in 5 new classrooms and if we do need additional capacity we will be able to gain funding for this from the Local Authority.

Q. Will we lose our traditions?

A. No, we will maintain the school traditions e.g. Charity Days.

Q. Is there enough infrastructure around the school e.g. road congestion.

A. Yes the infrastructure has historically coped with significantly larger numbers of students on this site – notably when two secondary schools were sited here.

Q. Will there be a change in uniform?

A. There would be no change in the boys’ uniform for current students. The proposed new girls’ uniform will be similar in tone to the current boys’ uniform and would be consulted on should the school decide to apply to go co-educational.

Q. Will it be more expensive to maintain the facilities?

A. No, all evidence is that the more girls there are in the school the less damage and costs there are to the fabric of the buildings.

Q. How will the school approach issues between boys and girls e.g. harassment?

A. We would deal with issues between members of the student community much as we do now. By working with all those concerned to bring inappropriate behaviour to a stop and ensuring that there is a suitable PSHE programme to prevent these types of behaviour in advance.

Q. What will happen to the Sixth Form?

A. The Sixth Form is already mixed. This proposal will not change the Sixth Form.

Q. Will there be limited places for girls? Will there be 50% boys and 50% girls?

A. We cannot select by gender to artificially determine the proportion of boys to girls.

We anticipate that the balance between boys and girls will evolve. Initially we expect there to be a higher proportion of boys than girls in a year group, however, over time we anticipate that the proportion of boys and girls will become much more even.

It should be noted that the experience of other mixed grammar schools in and Medway is that they have a slightly higher proportion of boys than girls.

Q. Will class sizes increase or will more classes be made?

A. The school currently has capacity for 120 students in a Year group. If more than 120 students apply then the school will put on an extra class.

Q. Could this change how we learn and live at school? How will the changes make learning better?

A. As this proposal does not directly affect you it will not have a substantial impact on how you learn and live at school.

Large studies have suggested that boys achieve better academic outcomes in mixed schools than in single sex schools. The data from single sex and co-ed grammar schools suggests that boys and girls do well in mixed grammar schools and single sex grammar schools.

Q. Will the girls be joining the Boys in PE?

A. This will depend on the number of girls in a year group. Where appropriate and possible classes will be taught in gender groups.

Q. Will this mean kicking out some boys to make space for the girls? Will this mean less grammar school places for boys?

A. No – current year groups would not be affected and the governors are committed to ensuring that any boy who passes the 11+ who wants a place here will receive one, even if this means putting on an additional form.

Q. If you have a younger sibling will it make it easier for them to get into the school?

A. Yes. As part of the new admissions policy students with sibling links to the school will be given priority access to the school.

Q. Do we share tents with girls on camping trips?

A. No – overnight activities would have single sex sleeping arrangements.

Q. Will boys and girls be disciplined in the same way?

A. Yes, there will be a single behaviour policy – the same as the one we use now – which will apply to all students.

Q. Will the teachers treat girls differently?

A. No. Teachers treat students individually within a behaviour for learning framework regardless of gender.

Q. Will we be allowed to hold hands?

A. All school behaviour policies refer to appropriate behaviour and interaction between students including personal space. It is not appropriate for students to be holding hands, kissing etc in school.

Will we have cheerleaders for sports matches?

A. This will depend on whether or not the girls ask for a cheerleading club and a member of staff is able to run the club.

The Gym:

Q. When will the new gym be completed?

A. We should be able to use the Gym in the New Year and the fitness suite should be available by about Easter.

Q. Will there be gym membership?

A. We are in discussion with gym providers and expect the gym to be available outside school hours for gym members.

Q. Do you have to pay for the gym?

A. The gym will be a school facility during school hours – until 5pm – and therefore free for students to access at this time. Outside school hours the gym will be run by an external company.

Q. Why are we making the Gym open to the public?

A. Schools are obliged to make their facilities available for the benefit of the wider community when not being used by the school.

Q. Will there be another entrance to the school for the Gym?

A. Yes the Gym will have a separate entrance for use by the public outside of school hours (after 5:00pm and weekends).

The Name:

Q. Can I suggest a different name?

A. Yes, as part of the consultation you can suggest alternative names to be considered. We are going to ask through form time for any other suggested names to add to the school vote.

Q. When will the name change take place?

A. The name change is likely to take place in September 2016 to be ready for admissions documentation for September 2017.

Q. When putting the school name on my CV which one would I use?

A. It is normal to put the same name as the named school for your qualifications. However, it is usually worth noting on your CV that the school name has changed in case an employer wishes to check your credentials.

Update:

The results of the student vote on Friday were as follows:

Holcombe Grammar School - 456 votes

Holcombe Manor Grammar School - 146 votes

Holcombe House Grammar School – 37 votes

Holcombe Manor House Grammar School – 31 votes

General:

Q. Why do we currently already have some female students?

A. As part of our support for The Victory Academy we have offered a limited number of Year 8 students Gifted and Talented Alternative Provision, a few of these students are female. These students remain Victory Academy students and can return to The Victory Academy should they ever wish to do so.

Q. Is it true that the wages of the Headteacher goes up as the capacity of the school increases?

A. This is partially true. A Headteacher’s salary range will depend on the “school group” the school is in. There are 8 “school groups” ranging from the smallest to the largest schools. Different “school groups” have different numbers of students in e.g. there is a difference of approximately 350 students between the bottom and top of “school group” 6 but 700 students between the bottom and top of “school group” 7. Therefore, for the school to move “school group”, and therefore impact on the Headteacher salary range, a very large number of additional students would have to join the school; this is not an expected outcome of this consultation.

This has no impact on the pay range of the Executive Principal.

Q. Is this just a method for getting more money for the school?

A. When assessing the future of the school the Directors and Local Governing Body has to consider the financial as well as educational future of the school.

Directors and the Local Governing Body have worked hard to ensure that the school is on a sound financial footing and will be able to go forward regardless of whether or not these changes are taken forward.

The Directors and Local Governing Body are very aware of the difficulties of running a successful school that meets the needs and expectations of the whole community when the school is essentially incurring the costs of a 4 form entry school with only the income of a 3 ½ form entry school.

One of the anticipated outcomes of this change is that the school will fill to PAN (120 students) in this way the school will have the right resources to run a 4 form entry school and have the appropriate funding to do so.

However, the Directors and Local Governing Body would not have moved forward to consult on this proposal if they did not believe that there were other significant benefits to be gained for the school and the local community as outlined above.

Q. Are we joining Victory Academy?

A. No.

Q. Why can’t we just mix with an all-girls school? Could we join with Chatham Grammar School for Girls?

A. The governors did approach a local girl’s grammar school to see if they would consider the schools working more closely together towards a possibly mixed future. However, this school did not feel this was right for them at this time.

Q. What do I do when I reference my Secondary Education?

A. This will depend on whether you feel the employer or referee would wish to contact the school. If you think they will want to contact the school e.g. to give a reference then use the new name to avoid confusion. If you do not think they will need to contact the school then use the name on your examination certificates.

Q. Will we still do discos with Fort Pitt?

A. Current year groups would certainly do discos, we have not considered if these would continue with a mixed cohort of students – it would probably depend how many girls there were in a Year group.