Official Burgess Hill Uncovered Statement
Re:The
Bugess Hill School for Girls Internet Video
Burgess Hill Uncovered
is a website that is designed to simply live
up to its name - to 'uncover' Burgess Hill
in a fun, tongue-in-cheek way. This does not
mean that we will skip over news if it's of
public interest - and the YouTube video of
Burgess Hill School for Girls certainly fitted
into that category
Burgess Hill School for
Girls often appears in the local media in
an extremely positive light - with good reason.
They have a 100% GCSE pass rate, and are renowned
for their tradition and success in the fields
of sport, music, and drama and for their work
in the community. The school seems to think
however, that they can simply brush these
negative stories under the carpet and continue
to create a glowing image of themselves in
the local community, which I am afraid is
not the case.
Parents of pupils already
at the school and parents considering sending
their children there have a right to see both
the positive and negative aspects of the school,
especially given the fact they part with large
sums of money to give their children the best
possible education they can.
Headteacher Ann Aughwane
claimed in a recent interview with Bright
106.4 that we had sensationalised the story.
While we don't disagree that we may have made
more out of it than was strictly necessary,
we did not make any false claims regarding
the content of the video. Those that viewed
the video will know this to be true.
The fact of the matter is that we simply commented
on the video, and bought it to the attention
of the public in order for them to form their
own opinions on it. If other media outlets
feel it is a story worth reporting on, and
perhaps sensationalising, then that is their
prerogative.
We disagree with Mrs Aughwane's view that
no swearing means the children were "not
using bad language" as we feel that bad
language is any language, including slang,
that can cause offence whether it be swearing
or not.
Mrs Aughwane went on to
suggest that we are against private education.
This is simply not true; if you can afford
to have your child privately educated then
good luck to you. What we are against however
is one-sided and unbalanced views, which is
why we felt the need to address the fact that
this video gives an alternative to the idyllic
and high-standard image that has been created
of Burgess Hill School for Girls |
