I had the pleasure of attending a fund raising event laid on by a group of volunteers at Tonypandy Community College on the 16th of January. The event was to raise money to provide improved facilities at our link school in Mbale, Uganda. A group of staff and students intend travelling out there in February to help with building work.
An excellent meal courtesy of Browning’s caterers was followed by entertainment from Sophie Evans, an ex-pupil of the College who rose to fame on the BBC Programme “Over the Rainbow” and is currently starring as Dorothy in “The Wizard of Oz” in the West End.
Not for the first time I felt an enormous sense of pride in being associated with the College. The sense of team work that exists, the genuine community engagement, and the evidence in the form of Sophie of how much our pupils can achieve.
Much has been said about the new school banding system recently, and I have made it very clear that I think the scheme serves no useful purpose and merely serves to demoralize staff.
Tonypandy Community College band 4 ranking comes about because of the number of free school meals pupils attending and the attendance record – factors which we can only have so much influence on.
They take insufficient account of educational performance, and certainly no account of the tremendous amount of value added benefit that the College – and indeed others – provide. Sophie still obviously has a tremendous amount of affection for the College and for the teachers who supported her along the way and who, along with her family and friends, encouraged her to aim high and helped develop a can do attitude.
That cannot be measured by any banding system.
Karen Roberts
Vice Chair of Governors, Tonypandy Community College
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