Wanting the best for their children

Parents and pupils were shocked to hear that the Magnus Church of England School, Earp Avenue, would need special measures to improve the quality of education provided for its 1,111 pupils.

Although the school is not officially in special measures until the Ofsted report is signed off by the Secretary of State for Education and published at the end of June, a meeting with parents has been arranged for after this week’s half-term.

Mr Richard Gettings and his wife have two girls at the school, a 15-year-old who starts the final year of a her GCSEs in September and a 12-year-old.

Mr Gettings, who lives in Newark, said it was too late to move his 15-year-old but he would have to think long and hard about what was best for his youngest.

He said that he had always favoured local schools and that both he and his wife had gone to the Magnus.

But, he said, in recent years he had not been overly impressed with the school’s performance and the standards of education it provided.

He said that both girls were doing well but there had been a slight decline in their grades since each moved to the Magnus from Barnby Road Primary.

Mr Gettings, a policeman, said: “We will have to seriously consider either The Grove or Lincolnshire. We want to make the right decision.

“We would be devastated if we thought we made the wrong one. This is our children’s education we are talking about. It is a shock but perhaps not a surprise.”

For mother-of-two Mrs Lisa Nice, of Victoria Street, Newark, the decision is more clear-cut.

Mrs Nice said Christopher (14) and Danielle (12) were happy and settled at the Magnus.

Mrs Nice, who works in advertising, said: “There may be a lot of problems with the school but my children are doing really well. Their grades are good and they have good friends there.

“I am proud to have them at the Magnus and would not move them.”

The head, Mr Ian Anderson, who has been in post for less than a year, told the Advertiser last week that everyone connected with the school was committed to turning the situation around and plans were in place to do that.

He said exam pass-rates had to improve, differing ranges of courses had to be made available to those at risk of dropping out, and attendance had to improve.

The school’s attendance record currently stands at 90% compared with 86% in 2006/7. It needs to be 93%.

He said he looked forward to future inspections as a lot of things that had already been put in place had not yet borne fruit.