There has been much celebration in the local press this week about the newly published Ofsted report of one of our local secondary schools, Brentwood County High School (BCHS). The school has received an across the board “Good” rating having been judged as “Satisfactory” since 2001. Much of the coverage centres on the acknowledgement within […] Continue reading
Essex County Council (ECC) is currently consulting on proposals to change entitlement to free school transport in the county. For many of us in Brentwood it will have little impact but for most in our villages and in Ongar these changes could have a massive impact on home budgets. It would also completely undermine the […] Continue reading
I fear that I am not alone as a parent in largely being unaware of the school policies of our children’s school until I have to be. Now that I am asked to write a monthly local newspaper column I have visited most websites of our local schools to check on standard practice relating to […] Continue reading
Before Christmas, Richard and I took up an invitation to meet with two of Brentwood’s Secondary Head teachers. In a convivial and constructive meeting, we discussed the town’s new educational landscape and, in particular, whether there were any plans to protect curricula diversity and expand vocational provision in the borough. We were greatly encouraged by […] Continue reading
What an unforgettable summer we experienced this year. For sports fans like me it was fantastic but for some students and their teachers it will not be remembered so fondly. When GCSE results were published in August, in particular GCSE English results, considerably more pupils than predicted who had been working toward a C grade […] Continue reading
Following our post in June, “Uncertain future – Current uses, users and facilities of the Sawyers Hall College site” http://wp.me/p2dr6s-8B, we have kept an eye on how Essex County Council (ECC) have been allocating the site which is under their freehold and that we, as Council tax payers, are funding. As we reported before, at […] Continue reading
Just as the dust appeared to be settling on an extraordinary year or so in education in Brentwood, we receive news that there may be more change in the offing. The following article appeared on the “This is Total Essex” website on Tuesday, too late to make it into the week’s papers but none the […] Continue reading
We are now well into this year’s round of open events in Brentwood’s schools and I have been fascinated to see how each of the secondary schools that serve the five parishes of the town has set about attracting students for next year. It has underlined to me how important it is to visit schools […] Continue reading
