Grey Socks Won't Wash

‘No, those are grey. You’ll have to go home and change.’

‘Are you telling me that I’ve taken the day off work and you’re not going to let my daughter in on the first day of secondary school because she’s got the wrong colour socks?’

‘I’m sorry but they do have to be grey. Could you go home and get some others or buy some from the high street?’

‘So you’re not going to let her in?’

‘I’m sorry, no’

Being on the front gate of a The Academy on the first day,determined to set expectations high from the beginning was harder than I expected. Ten years in London schools has made me sympathetic, understanding and accommodating. It took some courage to take the stand which clearly put the parent and the child out.

Of course the principle does not just apply to socks. It applies to every aspect of school life. It means that every teacher has to follow up every small infringement of the rules. Consequences for not submitting homework, talking in corridors, getting out of a seat in class to retrieve a wayward pencil without permission, a late arrival or being late to line up in the playground at the end of lunch. It is of course by concentrating on the little things that the big picture remains calm, ordered and safe.

Two weeks ago Mossbourne Community Academy published their GCSE results. 85% of students achieved 5A* to C including English and Maths. An incredible achievement , giving 17 out of 20 students the freedom to choose their next step in education. This wasn’t achieved through negotiation and accommodation but through creating a safe environment for learning through rigorous structure that some have criticised for being too harsh. The results have silenced critics.

In the back of my mind all the time is a fear that without noticing at some point our culture could slowly slip and our The Academy could become like so many other London schools where rules change as children go from one member of staff to another. It is this fear as well as the certainty that children need structure and safety that I hope will keep us vigilant and that The Academy, like Mossbourne, will be a school of which parents are rightly proud.