We continue our series giving local headteachers the opportunity to tackle educational issues. This week the head of Belle Vue Boys' School, Bruce Berry, looks at what makes a good school and how schools give added value.

WHAT IS a "good school" and how does it "add value"?

Some would say a school where the GCSE results are good (that is a reasonable percentage of pupils achieving five passes at A* to C grade). Some would say a school where children are happy. Some would say a school where discipline is very strict.

Everyone has their own ideas, but some or all of the above can be in place without the school being very good at all.

Take GCSE results. One school may have 40 per cent of children achieve five or more A*-C grades, but when looking at the high levels of attainment of pupils on arrival at the school, a figure of 80 per cent at least A*-C grades may be more appropriate.

Similarly, a school with very low levels of pupil attainment on arrival might only expect five per cent to achieve at least five A*-C grades, but actually achieve 15 per cent. One has to then ask which school is doing a better job in terms of pupil progress.

What about children being happy?

Children could be happy for a variety of reasons, some very positive educationally, but others which could have a detrimental effect on pupil progress.

For example, pupils may be happy because they are not expected to do too much while they are at school, don't get too much homework and can generally just have a good time. Fortunately, schools where that happens are few and far between these days.

And then there is strict discipline. Many, in my generation, will look back at a time when discipline could be, sometimes, quite brutal, but every one of us will remember certain teachers with great fondness, who would never have to resort to such tactics.

Their discipline was built on respect. We respected the teachers because their lessons were exciting, showed an interest in the work we were doing and showed that they cared about us as individuals.

So what is value added?

Value added is taking a child from the attainment level she/he has on entry to the school and ensuring that she/he achieves progress well beyond what would normally be expected.

It is ensuring that children are taught in an environment which is both supportive of their learning and values them as individuals.

It is about creating an ethos which is built on the respect of individuals both in school and out of school.

It is about ensuring that our young people become caring, thoughtful and conscientious adults of the future.

Success cannot always be guaranteed with every child, but if we have high expectations of what can be achieved, then the vast majority of our children will be the better for it.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.