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Revealed: How ‘strictest’ school’s new branch will work

Revealed: How ‘strictest’ school’s new branch will work

Details of new Stevenage outpost of Michaela free school – whose head was dubbed Britain’s ‘strictest’ – are published

4th February 2020, 5:36pm

Katharine Birbalsingh, Headteacher Of Michaela Community School, Dubbed The Country's 'strictest' Headteacher

A new branch of the Michaela free school in London - described as Britain’s “strictest school” - has been approved to open in Stevenage, Herfordshire.

And the Department for Education (DfE) has today published the application form for a Michaela Community School for Stevenage, due to open in 2023, which sets out how the new secondary will operate.

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The form contains details of how pupils will be expected to behave, as well as plans for exam entry and assessment.

The strict ethos of the existing Michaela school in Wembley, north-west London, is echoed in the plans for the new school, which include a “behaviour boot camp” for pupils, biannual assessments of teacher performance, and a “rigorous recruitment process”.

MIchaela Community School expansion

The plans for the new school include:

Pupils will sit twice-yearly exams, in January and in June, and “enjoy weekly quizzes in all subjects”.
Classes will be streamed from Year 7.
The school will aim to enter 100 per cent of the first GCSE cohort in EBacc subjects.
Pupils will take part in a “behaviour boot camp” in the first seven days of Year 7.
The school will aim to achieve zero exclusions and an attendance rate of over 98 per cent.
Less experienced teachers will be able to enter teaching areas freely to observe more experienced colleagues.
Teachers will be assessed twice yearly by heads of department and SLT on various aspects of their work, including teaching and overall conscientiousness. Any staff who are underperforming will be set mandatory targets working with their line manager.
A “rigorous recruitment process” for staff will involve a day’s interview with the head of department and headteacher, an observed lesson (after which candidates will receive feedback on which they are required to comment), and a meal with pupils.

The original Michaela Community School was founded by headteacher Katharine Birbalsingh in 2014. It is known for its strict approach to discipline, with silent corridors and a traditional approach to teaching.

In summer 2019, when the school gained its first set of GCSE results, 54 per cent of grades awarded to pupils were a 7 or above - equivalent to an A or A* grade in legacy qualifications.

In June 2019, Damian Hinds, then education secretary, approved a second branch, the Michaela Community School Stevenage - a mixed 11-19 free school, opening in 2023 with a planned intake of 180 Year 7 students.

Eventually, it will provide 1,260 school places as part of a newly formed academy trust, including the original Michaela Community School, which was judged “outstanding” by Ofsted in 2017.