Re: Local schools could close
 

I wouldn't say that St. Christopher's pupils are necessarily gifted but there is certainly some truth in the saying that schools can only do so much with the children they get coming through the door.

A school isn't going to get good results in English exams if they have a majority of pupils for whom English is not their first language. They cannot be expected to get the same results as a school where the majority of pupils do have English as their first language.

This is why league tables are unfair. They give the impression that children haven't learned anything and that teachers haven't worked hard.

This is why the value added figure should be looked at more closely than anything else because this shows how the children have improved from when they entered to when they left.

Schools can only do so much though. Parental support for the child and school are paramount and make such a difference to the child's attitude to school work.

Re: Local schools could close
 

It's all political posturing by a Labour Government that is now getting desperate (and I say that as a person for the past 30 years who has always voted Labour)

2 years ago Rhyddings were in the top 100 schools in the country for its results however examine other statistics and their faced with closure!!!

Rhyddings has an admission number of 225, where in Hynburn would those 220plus kids per year go to? If they closed a High School in Hyndburn it would simply reopen the following day with a new name!!!!

In every school you will always get a minority of parents who are not happy with the school but if I lived in Ossy I would have no hesitation in sending my kids there