Emmanuel City Technology College

Emmanuel City Technology College is a secondary school based in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear in England. It was founded in 1990 as a City Technology College. Emmanuel now instructs 1250 students, aged between 11 and 19, and has almost 100 staff working on the purpose-built site. It is part of the Emmanuel Schools Foundation and in each of its' three OfSTED inspections it has achieved a status of 'Outstanding School' [http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/oxedu_reports/display/(id)/61661]

Students come from a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds but predominantly from the inner-city areas within Gateshead and Central and West Newcastle upon Tyne.

The school originally had a speciality in Technology, but in 2005 Emmanuel was awarded a second specialism in Business and Enterprise.

Controversy surrounding policies

The institution is well known for achieving some of the highest GCSE and A-Level examination results among state establishments, but accusations have in the past been levied that they 'filter' out the students they do not expect to achieve as well as they would like, leaving a higher chance of above-average success among remaining students. However, no evidence has yet been provided to support this, and by law, the school must admit pupils from a normal distribution representative of the whole population, based on a series of tests. These tests are set and marked by the National Foundation for Educational Research, a leading independent research organisation, to assess general intelligence, as opposed to prowess in Literacy or Mathematics. After marking, the test results are place into nine separate categories by the NFER, and informs the school how many are to be taken from each category. This is a legal requirement, and so results in a mixed ability intake. The second precedent is that 66% of places are given to students considered to be from the most socio-economically deprived wards within the Catchment Area, with the other 34% coming from other areas of the Catchment area, ensuring a mix not only academically but socially too. [http://www.emmanuelctc.org.uk/emmanuelcollege/information/intake.php]

In terms of Sixth Form admission, the reduced number of places available (130) are first offered to the schools' own Year 11 students, but others are invited to apply for places should any become available. [http://www.emmanuelctc.org.uk/emmanuelcollege/information/intake.php]

The school has been at the centre of a storm of protests from scientists and educationalists when it was revealed that some members of the senior management (including the head of the Science Department) were sympathetic to Young Earth creationism and had allowed its hall to be rented by Answers in Genesis, an organisation which promotes such views. This has led to concern that students may be made to listen to school's beliefs to the exclusion of competing world views (such as other religious views, and scientific theory). Some of the alumni have claimed this to be the case but, again, no evidence has been provided. The majority of alumni will claim that scientific theory is taught along with the aforementioned theory, as is dictated by the National Curriculum. Other faiths are also studied in Religious Education, a compulsory subject for each student up to GSCE, mainly Judiasm and Islam which can be studied through the "largely biblically based" [http://www.emmanuelctc.org.uk/emmanuelcollege/curriculum/religious_studies.php] syllabus

Accusations have been made against the strictness of the school, as some punishments have allegedly been meted for offenses such as students walking with their hands in their pockets, or taking off their ties and jackets outside of school hours. Some criticism has also been made of the boundaries of the school's punishments - students are expected to show impeccable behaviour off school property, as they are considered to be acting as 'ambassadors' for the school while they wear its' uniform. Such guidelines are detailed in an agreement that all parents must sign on behalf of their child as they enter into the school, so irrespective of the opinion of the rules, they are expected to be obeyed and justly punished if not met.

Notable Alumni

*Michelle Heaton - Singer and television presenter

Notes

References

* [http://www.emmanuelctc.org.uk/emmanuelcollege/emmanuelcollege/ Emmanuel College] , Emmanuel College website

External links

* [http://www.emmanuelctc.org.uk/emmanuelcollege/emmanuelcollege/ Emmanuel College] , Emmanuel College website
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/1872331.stm The BBC] , BBC item about Emmanuel College and Dawkins
* [http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4371165,00.html The Guardian] , UK newspaper article about creationism and Emmanuel College
* [http://www.cloudsoup.com/weblog/2004/06/21/emmanuel-college-lying-for-jesus cloudsoup] UK blog which broke the original story about creationist influences at the school