The headteacher of Stewards Academy in Essex has defended the strict policy. A parent is up in arms after his child was given a detention for getting under 90 per cent in maths homework. The unnamed Year 7 pupil got the 30-minute punishment at Stewards Academy in Harlow, Essex for getting 81%. But headteacher Stephen Drew, who appeared on the reality show Educating Essex, stood up for the strict policy saying homework support was offered to pupils at the school given “requires improvement” by Ofsted last year.
He said the pass threshold varied according to which ability group pupils were in. The child’s parent told the BBC he believed the policy had been detrimental to children who were "in a higher set but not able to get a higher result". "He'd done the homework with his mum. She'd supported him with it, and they'd struggled," he said. "If children have made an attempt to do something and then they're being punished for that attempt, I feel it will have negative consequences for children's mental wellbeing and confidence.
"It seems schools are under pressure to provide excellent results all the time, and that 90 per cent isn't good enough.". He added: "Those children in the middle ground are going to be continuously in trouble for not quite hitting those thresholds. "And that would be really depressing as a child: trying to do your best and not quite hitting the mark, and so having to attend mandatory detention.”. The academy’s head said the school was under pressure after receiving a ‘requires improvement’ rating from Ofsted last year.
Mr Drew, who joined the school in September, told the broadcaster: "Yes, it is a challenge for young people to say, 'you have to reach this standard', but in order to help them do that we are putting in place the support in the classroom. “I'm very, very clear we have a significant amount of work to do in order to enable our young people to reach the standards they are capable of.”. The Department for Education said: "It is for school leaders to develop and implement a policy that works for their own schools and school community.
