My Article Topic
Is Deyes High Overcrowded
Students Suggest that Deyes is too full and that the situation is only
getting worse.
My article will be about if the school is becoming too
overcrowded and weather it is a problem for student’s educations in the lower
years of the school.
I will be able to discuss
the number of students in comparison to the other schools in the UK and
Maghull, I will also be able to discuss the amount of students that come into
the school recently and how the size of the school’s years are becoming larger,
putting a stress on the amount of teachers.
Perhaps talk about some students concerns with how big their
class is or if they feel like it’s fine.
Primary Sources
Here are some of the Primary sources that I could possibly
use in my Article. Primary Sources are sources that I have collected by myself,
these for example can include a questionnaire or some small interviews.
Questionnaires
A Primary Source that I could use would be to survey some
children in each year to find out if they think they receive enough time with a
teacher, and if they have classes that they believe are too large. I think
interviewing the younger years would also be a good indicator as to which year
has the largest class sizes.
A good year to interview would be the Year 13’s as it is the
smallest year in numbers, and also being the top of the school making sure that
the classes are not too big as they have the largest amount of work to do.
Interviews
A good person for me to interview would be Mr. Ellis, as he
is in charge of creating all the time tables for the schools lower and higher
years, I could ask him about
• Difficulties trying to create the time tables that the
school uses, 25 lessons a week, needing a certain amount of math, English and
science as well as with the amount of teachers that are needed.
• As him if there has been an increase in class size since
2011, as the main point in the article will be that the school is taking on
more and more children each year in year 7.
• Another question I could ask Mr. Ellis would his thoughts
on how the amount of teachers per student has decreased, and the repercussions
of larger classes.
Perhaps I could talk to someone like Mr Delaney who is the
head of Sixth Form, he would be a good person to answer as he knows how many
students have come and gone through the sixth form and he could talk about the
increase in size for the sixth form years, since 2011-2018. Another question I
could ask him would be to ask him about the negative repercussions of having a
large year, and what stresses it causes with things like allocating teachers
and lessons.
Another good Reason to interview Mr Delaney would be to get
his opinion, as he is quite an important member of the College @ Deyes, making
sure to get important people’s opinions would be a good idea to show the
credibility of the Article.
I could also possible conduct some smaller interviews with
students to get a more detailed opinion on the subject at hand, such as if they
believe the school is overcrowded, and what the school does to make sure that
they have a good education.
Secondary Sources
Some secondary sources I could use would be some recent
studies into the growth of the younger generation Z and the increase in large
numbers of children being born in the north west. These children being born
will need somewhere to learn and be educated so the massive amounts of children
will obviously cause strain on an already strained system.
To the side the Secondary Sources that I have found could be
used to show the state of UK schools and then I would apply it to Deyes High
BBC Article About the Size of Schools in the North
“According to the latest school census, in 2016 there were
17,780 state secondary school children in 2016 being taught in classes with 36
or more pupils. This is the highest number for a decade. In comparison, in 2011
the number was 6,107” This is a good Statistic as it backs up the point that
the size of classes is growing in the UK and that there is a problem with
classes of over 36 children in the UK, which is unacceptable.
It also says that about 90% of children who attend state
schools in England are taught in classes with 30 pupils or fewer. However,
teachers' unions warn growing pupil numbers and shrinking budgets are placing
strains on the system. This shows that there have been inquiries into the
problems with overcrowding in UK schools, launched by the Teachers Union
Telegraph Article About Overcrowding
Around £15 billion is needed over the next four years to
guarantee every child a place in a safe school environment, according to
research published by the Local Government Association (LGA) and the
Association of Directors of Children’s Services last month. This Article shows
more statistics and the cost of making sure that all UK children can get into a
Primary or Secondary School
NUT Article
The Teachers Org is a good place for me to look for
information because it is main written in the UK so that means that I won’t
have trouble finding relevant statistics if I want to use any in my article. It
also gives some other opinions from people who work in and around schools, it
is a good place also for more statics about the amount of schools available and
how much room they have.
PDF File About Mental Health
This PDF clearly States that there is a link between
“Overcrowding in Schools, that could have a Limited Effect on students in the
Classroom” This could tell us that the amount of students in a classroom can
affect how much education a student receives as the large number of students
lowers the amount of one on one time with a teacher or someone that is teaching
them.
GOV.UK Article
In 2017 the overall number of pupils in secondary school
increased for the second year, reaching 2,797,000. This is primarily because
increased births from 2002 onwards means there are now larger numbers entering
secondary schools at age 11 than are leaving them at age 16. The rate of
increase is projected to increase in 2018 to 2.4% and to remain high until
towards the end of the projection period.
https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/627388/SFR31_2017_Projections_Text.pdf
Extra Secondary Sources
https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/al/research/groups/llta/resources/telc/strategies/
- Here is an article talking about the some of the problems with the larger
class sizes that could be seen in Deyes High in the future, as well as some of
the problems for the students and the teachers in the class in relation to the
work that they have to do as well as things like the marking of work and the
distribution of the school’ supplies. As well as some of the ways teachers can
relive the stress of a larger class.
https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED532900.pdf
- This is an article about how some countries have tried to
combat the effect of overcrowding in school classes such as limiting the amount
of students in lower years to a maximum of 30 students per class and also some
other ways different countries have fixed the issues.
Moral Panic
One of the main problems that I could cause would be
resentment of the lower years of the school, if I accidentally suggested that
the schools lower years were too large and that they were somehow ruining the
school for the higher years it could cause friction between the years. To avoid
doing this is must make sure that only include statistics that I have found or
created myself, and I will try not to insinuate anything that could be take
negatively
Hyperbole
I could create moral panic using Hyperbole to describe how
crowded school is, perhaps I could use adjectives that exaggerate the truth,
adjectives like Crowded, Crammed, Stuffed and other adjectives to simulate
claustrophobic feelings would be a good way to make the reader feel as if there
is a larger problem with the amount of students in comparison to the amount of
teachers that are available.
Emotive Language
Using emotive language would probably entail me suggesting
that the school’s staff are at ‘breaking point’ and that there is ‘no more
room’ this type of language would make it so that the reader feels apologetic
and grief in the fact that the poor teachers can’t provide enough education to
the students of Deyes High.
Another way I could spin the article would be to use emotive
language that could be read by the children’s parents. ‘Deyes High sorry for the
lack of spaces available for new year 7’s’ this article could spell outrage as
it would possible strike a nerve with some parents who are trying to place
their child her in year 7 and have possibly been rejected.
Frequency – Elon musk and his company SpaceX are quite
