'Polish students are not to blame for West Croydon school's performance'
A POLISH student has defended her peers from any suggestion they are partly to blame for her former school's poor performance.
Joanna Pawluk decided to speak out after reading her former head teacher Ejiro Ughwujabo's comments about struggling St Mary's Catholic High, in West Croydon.
Mr Ughwujabo told the Advertiser earlier this month the school's "fully comprehensive" intake was not being used as an excuse but could not be ignored.
He said: "I can take you round and show you all the Afghani [sic] and Polish pupils who come here and speak no English at all. It can be difficult, but I rarely exclude.
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"Even though they don't get the GCSE grades, at least they achieve something.
"I'm not making excuses but it would be wrong to throw out these factors."
Just 40 per cent of St Mary's students left last summer with five or more good GCSE grades, results described as "unacceptable" by the council's education chief, Tim Pollard.
But Miss Pawluk says poor teaching and a lack discipline – not the number of overseas students – is the real cause of the decline.
The 17-year-old, who left the school after her GCSEs last year, said: "I saw his comments and I thought, I must sort this out, because it was so unfair to blame it on the Polish students.
"It is [more] because of disorganisation from the teachers themselves and their inability to teach their students properly.
"Students are demotivated by what is happening around them."
Miss Pawluk started at St Mary's in Year 7 when her family moved to England from Poland. She spoke no English, and says the teaching was inconsistent.
She added: "There is support and we are very grateful for that, but still after one year they expect you to know it.
"They have a small department for English language learners and I thought that was brilliant for the first year when I came there, but the teachers outside of the department, they do not really care and expect you to know it."
Miss Pawluk left with ten GCSEs at grades A* to C – success she puts down to her own hard work more than help from her teachers – and is doing her A levels at Riddlesdown Collegiate in Purley.
Some 61 per cent of students at St Mary's do not speak English as their first language, and Miss Pawluk added that inadequate measures to help them means "you get a lot of discrimination and there is not enough integration".
Mr Ughwujabo could not immediately be reached for comment, but previously told the Advertiser the school had started evening and weekend classes, to improve results.
7 Comments
by joannap
Tuesday, February 26 2013, 10:55PM
“The problem with pupils not having english as their second language is the smallest in that school. I was the one who was interviewed and the actual article was twisted around making it look as if i am defending only 'Polish students' while i cleary stated that im defending 'ALL OF THE STUDENTS' . I wrote to Croydon Advertiser and asked what was the reason for this and i still havent got any reply back.”
by Chris_Wilcox
Tuesday, February 26 2013, 2:39PM
“@napopfro: I'm loath to damn a school that's clearly trying and also is rolling out extra classes to help.
If Ms Pawluk did well then so will others. Eventually. With work & patience.
Her argument about integration seems to be that she wants classes taught in two ( or more ) languages. That's the bit I feel is unrealistic. As for dejected staff? Maybe they should try a change of career. The strategy as I see it ( the extra classes ) is a good one. I'm just not seeing the problem.”
by napopfro
Tuesday, February 26 2013, 2:23PM
“Chris - yes the UK, or more specifically the English have historically always been more inclined to think that if they shout loud enough at Johnny Foreigner then they will be understood, hopefully this attitude is beginning to change. Unlike some other immigrant groups in this country, I have always found that Polish people are far more pro-active at language learning and improving their social situation, they are by and large hard working and not inclined to sit on their backsides expecting sympathy and handouts - more than we can say for the indigenous population. Miss Pawluk would like to see more opportunities for integration at the school - good for her, because whether we like it or not we live in a global society and yes, I do believe that if we go to live in other countries we should be mindful of their social traditions and beliefs, but also that we should be prepared to help those coming to our country to achieve this. And I'm afraid I have to agree with Miss Pawluk on this one Chris, St Mary's is a stink hole with many disillusioned teachers and unruly pupils - and those are the words of people I know who have worked there. Time for a new head teacher to sort out the whole shambles before it gets any worse.”
by Chris_Wilcox
Tuesday, February 26 2013, 1:34PM
“@NormalBloke: They're definitely from the Ethnic Minorities, and The UK has always been weak at languages.
Sources:
http://tinyurl.com/auv2q8g
http://tinyurl.com/bk7oy5n
http://tinyurl.com/bch2nqw - A drop in kids taking languages at GCSE level. Which is the gateway level to future language skills.
I prefer to work with the facts...”
by NormalBloke
Tuesday, February 26 2013, 1:23PM
“'Ethnic Types' LOL, talk about patronising.
Almost as patronising as saying "The Brits have always been weak at languages"...
By this logic, if you holiday anywhere in the world, you would expect the locals wherever you go to be fluent in the language YOU speak?
Must we now then also make sure we teach our disabled/people with learning difficulties, pensioners, the most vulnerable in society to be able to communicate in multiple languages just so as they're able to operate normally? maybe to buy everyday items like food and clothes in this 'Increasingly Global world' ?
Apart from the issues of who would pay for this, am I truly alone in thinking that the mass immigration 'utopia' and overplayed vibrance and diversity we have in the area is being tempered somewhat with many unseen effects which will see all sorts of problems arise in years to come, our resources are stretched, our housing dwindling, young people out of jobs in the thousands, there's got to be a tipping point, even the most liberal amongst us has got to see this now surely?”
by Chris_Wilcox
Tuesday, February 26 2013, 11:30AM
“And, FYI, I see the future of The UK in an increasingly global world as being multi-lingual. The Brits have always been weak at languages, and that needs to change. So why not use our ethnic-types to bridge the gap?
Which means if you're an ethnic-type, and are willing to be patient and study to get the language and skills down, your future is VERY bright indeed in The UK. You can sit GCSE's at any age after all.”
by Chris_Wilcox
Tuesday, February 26 2013, 11:26AM
“Expecting all teachers to be multi-lingual seems a touch unrealistic to me. That is clearly the stuff of fantasy, and cannot be provided in the real world. Sorry young lady, but it doesn't work that way.
Having a language school and evening classes to help are clearly good ideas. They should be encouraged.
But, like it or not, if your first language is not english and you speak no english you're going to suffer in an english school. It will take longer for you to attain the grades, although it is clearly possible you will succeed if you're patient and study hard. It'll just take a little longer for most, as you'll need to learn the language first.
Expecting someone to know it after a year? Hopefully the evening classes will help there. But it's really very obvious this school takes on kids from 'challenging' situations/ backgrounds, and as such won't be a high performer all the time. I still can't help but feel that Tim Pollard is also being unrealistic on this one.
But then Tim likes Academies. Who have entrance exams. So will cherry-pick, and will leave the average students for other schools as they take the best to rig their stats. Tim likes stat-riggers, basically.
Where-as this bloke likes a challenge, and isn't afraid to try. We need more like him in Croydon.
As for the lower scores? Of course it's to do with things like language barriers. It's really very obvious. We live in the real world. I'm surprised this story even made it to print.
These barriers can be beaten, but it might take you until you're 18 ( instead of 16 ). It's just how it is. I was useless at RE at 16, and I'm now pretty sharp at it. You never stop learning.”