...but to good to be true

Sorry but no end of spin will make me think it's anything but Hope High bestest school in Salford what taught me all the reet proper English what I speak.

I don't think the school is the focus of the post.

Yeh I know, but it is still Hope High to many.

Derailing even further but does anyone know why the school was called Hope in the first place as well as the hospital which is only a stones throw away?

Without looking, Hope was probably a manor since Hope Hall (which the school was named after) was a medieval mansion.

A reliable source tells me that they're both named after the Inn of Good Hope.

A Wikipedia entry on [url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salford_Royal+hope+hall+demolished&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnkSalford Royal Hospital[/url cites: [iThe hospital opened in 1882 as the Salford Union Infirmary, a hospital for sick paupers, in association with the union workhouse. It was later renamed as Hope Hospital, taking the name of the medieval Hope Hall, demolished in 1956.[/i (Cooper, Salford: An Illustrated History, p. 84)

There are more online references to Hope Hall, the Hope area (part of the Eccles parish of the Salford Hundred) and the seemingly influential Bayley family that lived there going back to the 1600s: [[url=http://www.mancuniensis.info/Chronology/Chronology1764FPX.htm1[/url [[url=http://www.archive.org/stream/familyofbayleyof00axon/familyofbayleyof00axon_djvu.txt2[/url

Interesting, cheers pal.

So Hope Hall was once situated on the grounds where Hope High school now is, hence the continuation of the name. I forgot about the pub so there is now 3 references to the name hope.

Looking into it a little further it seems Clive of India once lived at Hope Hall and even planted a mulberry bush within the grounds which is still there today. Amazing eh?

Pretty sure the library opposite the Inn o Good Hope is/was called Hope Library too.

You also have Hope church facing the Inn.

And he has only been there a year, but if i remember there were only about 15 schools nationwide who bothered to nominate their heads, two from Salford. Which is quite a high proportion from a City which is very low down on academic success. I reckon this was an exercise in self promotion the other nominee being the head of Swinton High who gets more coverage in the Advertiser than Hazel Blears.

They should concentrate on improving their schools not their own images

hope high as it was ,was previously called hope hall school

The Head at Hope won the award for Headteachers in the North West, not whether it was actually a nationwide competition?

Not sure what makes you think that John Biddlestone from Swinton High was nominated either?

Also, what criteria are you using for the conclusion that Salford is 'very low down on academic success'? (just made it up by any chance?)

Salford is the 4th best authority in England (out of around 150) at 'adding value' to their secondary school students. Nice to see you celebrating that success.



And besides, why would the fact that Salford was 'very low down on academic success' mean that the headteachers in the area don't deserve recognition?

Swinton High is the 32nd best school in the country (out of around 4000) at 'adding value' to their students. They've posted record results every year since Biddlestone arrived and have been above the national average in each of the last 4 years. They've just been announced as the most improved Performing Arts College in the country, last year received an award from the SSAT for Sustained Improved and were given 'High Performing Specialst School status last year too.

Whether you think this 'an exercise in self-promotion' is pretty much irrelevant, as you've proved that you have very little idea what you're talking about.

The only thing you've posted that might actually be true is that John Biddlestone is in the Advertiser more than Hazle Blears; I sincerely hope that this IS the case as, if it is true, it is thoroughlly well deserved.

Can't believe they trashed an Robert Adam Style Mansion to build a deadbeat Secondary Mod.

Remember the Inn of Good Hope as the Heath Mount Hotel.

"Adding value" on it's own doesn't mean that much

Nice to know that I know nothing about what I am talking about
the league tables for Secondary schools in England for 5 good GCSE A*- C places Salford in 125th place out of 148, with an average score of 40.3% against a national average of 47.6%
In Salford Swinton high school lies 11th out of 17 schools with a score of 38% and Hope/Oasis is 13th with a score of 33%.
These are the results employers look at on CV's not how much value added I got at school.
As I said where it counts Salford and both schools are well below the national average. if anybody should have got this award it should teh Head of St Georges has he fights to keep open a school that is above the national average for 5 good GCSEs. But I know nothing
One other thing Salford is also 9th out of 10 in the Greater Manchester Region.

I'm glad that you reiterate twice in you post that you know nothing, because that's precisely what your second post on this matter suggests.

Employers don't look at what percentage 5+ A*-C a school gets at all (another inaccuracy which shows your lack of knowledge/understanding). An employer won't look at an individual student's value added score either, because the measure was invented to measure the effectiveness of schools. At that individual level the number/quality of qualifications is what matters, not their CVA nor their school's headline figures.

However, how in God's name is a school that takes kids from deprived areas with low aspirations and many social issues meant to compete with a school that has a bright, middle class intake on a crude measure like % 5+ A*-C?! That really does prove beyond any doubt that you have no understanding of how a school/Headteacher should be judged.

Your original post was an attempt to ridicule the Head at Swinton High. As tried to explain earlier, he has done an excellent job since his arrival and continues to do so [uconsidering the kids he has to work with[/u. FWIW I do have some sympathy with Phil Harte over his campaign to save his school, but the percentage of students who reach the level 2 threshold is not, and should not, be enough to keep it open on its own.

CVA shows that if Swinton High had St George's intake and vice versa that Swinton would significantly out-perform St George's in every measure. The fact that Swinton gets a relatively weak intake, with which they do fantastically well, does not mean that the Head is not doing a good job.

And, unlike you, people who do know what they're talking about (DCFS, SSAT, etc) recognise the fantastic work of John Biddlestone and Swinton High in the awards they have been given over recent years.

The phrase? Maybe not. However, the measure cetainly does.

It tells us how effective a school is in moving it's students' forward. It does not penalise a school with a weak intake in a tough area when comparing it to a school with a middle class intake in a leafy suburb.

It tells you how much they will 'improve' your child regardless of their starting point.

That's pretty significant when it comes to judging schools.

I know why the measure was invented, but as i stated an employer looks at a persons CV and looks for what GCSEs they have got, just reading my post again I should have made this clearer.

He was nominated and came second.

PS - judging by your posts, you're not John Biddlestone are you?

Fair enough point, but can't see how this is relevant to how good or bad a Headteacher is?!




Glad he was nominated

Shame he only came second

I'm his wife

Never known a wife to complain about that before.

Would make a change though