Open Letter From High View Primary and Nursery School's PTA

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jorigby
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Open Letter From High View Primary and Nursery School's PTA

Postby jorigby » Thu Oct 25, 2012 11:00 am

Hello

We are parents who represent High View Primary and Nursery School's PTA.

Recently, we've been made aware of some negative comments being made about High View on Nappyvalleynet. We've even read criticism aimed at the parents of children at this school for not responding to these comments, and this silence has been interpreted in threads as further evidence of High View's poor standing.

We're deeply saddened by these threads. We respect freedom of speech, but we also respect the rights of our children to go to a school that is not stigmatised in this way, the rights of our teachers, and our Head, Miss Hussain, to not be publically criticised and undermined.

These threads serve to fuel what are already deeply prejudiced views of High View within the wider community. We wanted to give the other side of the story. We want to do this because we are proud of our school. We want to do this because even if people choose not to send their children to High View, we believe that parents who have taken this decision should feel supported by their wider community.

High View is a school going through great change since Miss Hussain became the Head Teacher in September 2011. That's not to undermine the work that the former Head, Miss Ridge, devoted herself to for many years. However, change was needed, and it is being delivered in a measured and considered way. There have been attacks on the school in these threads for us not having a 'proper' website. This is on the list of things to do, it will be done, but the lack of a fully functioning website is not having a negative impact on our children's education. So, please be patient, and if there is information you cannot find on the website then please contact the school or the PTA.

Many of these threads attack the parents of High View pupils for not being friendly enough in the playground. We believe that we are a friendly community, we welcome people from all backgrounds and we would be happy to meet with anyone on Nappyvalleynet to discuss the school.

Communication and PR is another area which has attracted criticism. Our children come home with a newsletter each week, sharing news of what each year group has been learning about, key dates and other information. The focus is on the children's education, PR is perhaps something that this community could help us with, and we hope that this message is a good start.

We have a very strong sense of community within High View. If prospective parents want to experience High View, then we'd suggest contacting Miss Hussain and coming along to the Friday assembly. It is in the Friday assembly when we feel most proud of our school: pride at our children, how much they are enjoying learning and interacting with each other. If we could bottle our pride at these assemblies, then we would post it on this site for the whole community to experience. Wouldn't that be a more informed and positive thread to enjoy?

We are parents too. And we understand how emotionally charged the education debate can get. But we want to encourage parents to look beyond this negativity. High View is trying to achieve great things. And, as a school we have achieved great things. We need the support of the whole community, whether you intend to bring your children here or not.

To hear more about our school we are more than happy to meet with you or invite you to come to High View to have a look around.

Thank you for listening.

High View Primary and Nursery School PTA
Last edited by jorigby on Thu Oct 25, 2012 2:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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LauraBrown
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Re: Open Letter From High View Primary and Nursery School's

Postby LauraBrown » Thu Oct 25, 2012 12:06 pm

Thanks so much for posting High View parents. I posted on the original thread to say that I was very concerned about some of the (largely unsubstantiated) criticism of the school. There is such a lot of rubbish talked about many of our excellent schools in Wandsworth based in hearsay and prejudice. I am involved with Broadwater and Smallwood primary schools in Tooting and have experiences similar comments/opinions from people who have never visited either school!

Let's celebrate the unsung great schools of Wandsworth! There is a world beyond Honeywell, Belleville and the bilingual stream of Wix...
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sw11mumof2
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Re: Open Letter From High View Primary and Nursery School's

Postby sw11mumof2 » Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:26 am

Thank you so much for posting. I’m a mum of two (25 & 6 months) and am facing the nervous task of deciding which school to send my little ones too. The whole private vs. public (HV vs. BV) debate (I’m according to Google maps 8min walk from BV and 7min walk from HV).

Reading this post makes me feel confident, I strongly believe that parents contribute to the success of any school and I would endeavor to be fully present in every way possible.

I’ve only lived in the Northcote ward for the last 7 years, but I’ve spoken with older neighbors, who mention that there was a time when BV didn’t receive such high praise as it does now, but it was the slow steady effort of the local parents that changed the school.

I believe the same can be done for HV, and your post is a good start.
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Pud1
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Re: Open Letter From High View Primary and Nursery School's

Postby Pud1 » Mon Oct 29, 2012 9:46 am

An excellent letter Highview PTA. Good for you. I imagine that you were very hurt and upset by the comments on here. As you say, freedom of speech is important, but not when it paints an unrealistic picture and causes upset. It is, of course, very important that people visit your school and make their own minds up.
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FraggleRocks
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Re: Open Letter From High View Primary and Nursery School's

Postby FraggleRocks » Tue Oct 30, 2012 9:24 pm

Thank you for this High View PTA. It is an excellent response. I have been one of those who has struggled to understand why some people are so negative about High View, when seemingly they know nothing about it and could rarely point to a single real issue. I hope that this post is read as much as the original thread and I would really encourage people to go along to one of the open days next week (6th / 7th November I think). It would be interesting to understand more about the settling in process, which is the one thing that came up in the previous thread which I thought would have bothered me, as a potential parent.

In my view the school deserves to get a much better profile in the local community. It's not a school's job to 'do' PR, in my opinion - I would like to see the council do more to support all the good schools in Wandsworth and the good things they do, so that there isn't such an incessant focus on one or two schools. This could include supporting all schools with their websites for example (High Views is by no means the only one that is in need of work - St Faiths for example is no better). Clearly the school should be focused on teaching, and not on fiddling about online. Having said that, it's an important 'shop window' for the local community.

Good luck with the PTA. I really hope this post makes a difference and that people realise that we have yet another good school on our doorstep.
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