User talk:Adams178

Hi James

I am a member of staff at Tupton Hall School and would like to update the school page. I appreciate the school ip address has been blocked due to vandalism from other users. Would it be possible to remove the semi protection on the page so I can edit and update.

Please advise on the most suitable way forward. Thanks

adams178 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Adams178 (talk • contribs) 11:57, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I am not keen on removing the semi-protection, as it would be likely to open the flood gates to vandalism again. A better approach would be to give your account confirmed status, so it is not affected by semi-protection. However, whatever happens, you should be aware that, as an employee of the school, you have a potential conflict of interest, and Wikipedia's conflict of interest guidelines recommend exercising care in editing about the school. If your editing is simple factual updating, such as giving the name of a new head, there should be no problem. However, some people in your situation interpret "update" as meaning "add the school's latest promotional PR material", which would not be acceptable, and could even lead to your account being blocked. Indeed, I have just looked back at the article, and have found that some of its content was far from neutral, such as a statement that the school has "a long tradition of highly regarded drama". I suggest that for now you let me know exactly what changes you plan to make (by which I mean give me the exact wording that you intend to insert). If that seems OK, I will give your account confirmed status, but even then I suggest that if you intend to make any changes which even might possibly be considered non-neutral, you either consult me or else post an edit request at Talk:Tupton Hall School to ask someone else to make the edit. You can see instructions on how to do that at Template:Request edit/request. JamesBWatson (talk) 12:40, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

By the way, whenever you post to a talk page, end your message with 4 tildes, i.e. ~~~~ . That will be automatically converted to a signature, which, as well as showing who made the edit, will contain a link back to your talk page, making it easy for other editors to get back to you. JamesBWatson (talk) 12:44, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks for clarifying. How best would you like to receive the information for the page. On this or via email? Thanks. Adams178 (talk) 13:02, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I generally prefer all communication about Wikipedia editing to be on Wikipedia pages, for transparency. Naturally, there are situations where need for confidentiality means that email is more appropriate, but I can't imagine that will apply in this case. I suggest posting here. I will keep a watch on this page, but if you want to drop me a note on my talk page telling me you have posted here, to be sure I don't miss anything, feel free to do so. JamesBWatson (talk) 14:51, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Actually, there should be an easier way to make sure that I see your edit. If you link to my user page from any talk page, for example by posting [[User:JamesBWatson|JamesBWatson]], I should get an automatic notification. However, I have tried that out on an alternative account I have for testing purposes, and I can't get it to work. You can, of course, try it if you like. JamesBWatson (talk) 15:12, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Editing of the article Tupton Hall School

Thanks for your message on my talk page. Normally, I prefer to answer a talk page message on the page where it was posted, to avoid fragmenting conversations, and making them hard to follow. However, in this case I think there may be a benefit of having a record of what has been said on this page, so I am copying your message here, and replying to it below. JamesBWatson (talk) 12:40, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks James.

Please change Motto: Aspire to Motto: Aspire, Learn, Achieve Specialism: Sports College to Sports College with ICT

Please add Education Minister to the following: Tupton Hall was founded as a Tupton Hall Grammar School in 1936 as a secondary school in the Clay Cross area on a site purchased by the Derbyshire Education Committee in 1929. In 1936, the school moved to its present site, formerly Tupton Hall. The original building was designed by G.H. Widdows, the county architect,[1] and it was opened by Oliver Stanley, Education Minister.

Under Sixth Form please change: Tupton Hall has one of the largest sixth forms in the North East Derbyshire area, with nearly 400 students. The Sixth Form offers courses in diverse subjects including Philosophy, Law and Drama alongside the more traditional subjects, such as Mathematics, English and Science.

To

Tupton Hall has one of the largest sixth forms in the North East Derbyshire area with a focus on students’ academic and personal development. The school is committed to providing a friendly and supportive Sixth Form for all students, in order that everyone may achieve their potential. The pass rate at Advanced Level has remained over 98% since 2008, with on average of over 70% of the cohort opting to continue into Higher Education after completing their A Levels. 2013 A Level Results: 99% pass rate with 43% A* - B.

The Sixth Form offers a wide range of A Level subjects including Art, Biology, English Language and Literature, Health and Social Care, Law, Psychology, all three Sciences, three Modern Foreign Languages, Media and the full range of Humanities subjects. Students will select to study between three and five subjects at A Level and specialise in these subjects for a two year programme of study. The school offers an extensive extra-curricular programme, which includes Duke of Edinburgh Award, Sports Leaderships Award, Community Volunteering and work experience.

Please add a section called ICT at Tupton Hall School and include: ICT and Computing is taught to all pupils at Tupton Hall School, from Year 7 to Year 11. The ICT & Computing Faculty was established in September 2004 with the appointment of a Head of Faculty. The School was newly built in 2003 and the ICT facilities are, in keeping with the rest of the school, of an exceptional standard. Nearly 600-networked PCs in 8 Faculty based computer suites, along with an Interactive whiteboard and data projector in each of these. There is also a central area with 2 Post 16 rooms, a Learning Support suite and the Library suite for general use. The school is a specialist Sports College with ICT as a second specialism and is also a member of the National ICT Register, and has been accredited with the ICT Mark. ICT is taught across the full age and ability range, with the new Key Stage 3 National Curriculum model, OCR Cambridge Nationals, GCS Computing and OCR Applied ICT at Key Stage 5. A full ICTAC programme operates across the school; and ICT staff are encouraged to assist in ICT training and initiatives.

Please add to Alumni under Comprehensive Savannah Stevenson.

Adams178 (talk) 15:42, 18 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

I have made some of your suggested changes, which are simple objective facts. Certainly what you say about Oliver Stanley is a verifiable fact, though I have chosen to use the accurate title of Secretary of State for Education, rather than the more generic "Education Minister", which could refer to a junior minister in the education department. Evidently you know perfectly well what the school's motto is, and I have corrected that. Those are simple examples of the sorts of things which an insider is likely to know, and which are uncontroversial. However, your suggested extension to the section on the sixth form and your suggested section on "ICT" are a different matter altogether. They are, in fact, very good examples of the reason why Wikipedia's conflict of interest guideline strongly discourages editing on a subject in which you have a close personal involvement. An involved editor, even one who sincerely intends to write objectively, as I have no reason to doubt you do, is likely to have difficulty standing back and seeing how his or her writing will look from the detached perspective of an uninvolved observer, and will be in danger of writing in a promotional way, and so it seems in this case. Virtually the whole of your suggested addition reads more like a passage from a school prospectus than like a neutral observer's article in an encylopaedia. With the best will in the world, such language as "with a focus on students’ academic and personal development", "committed to providing a friendly and supportive Sixth Form for all students, in order that everyone may achieve their potential", "of an exceptional standard" is straight marketing-speak, and not the sort of thing that would ever be written by anyone other than someone employed to promote the school's image. It also tells us nothing objective about this school, over and above what we know if we merely knew it was a school with a sixth form, because in decades of working in education I never came across a school that did not regard itself as having a "focus on students’ academic and personal development", and a "friendly and supportive" approach. It tells us merely that the management of the school thinks saying those things will sound impressive. Even where you appear to be making statements of objective fact, the selection and presentation of those facts is promotional in character. Also, inclusion of lists of the subjects taught in a school, and such trivial detail as the fact that computer rooms are equipped with interactive whiteboards, is the sort of thing that a school publishes in prospectuses and similar material in order to impress prospective parents, but not the sort of thing that the general reader of an encyclopaedia article is likely to wish to wade through. I am therefore not making those additions to the article. I am not sure how notable Savannah Stevenson is, but she doesn't have a Wikipedia article. JamesBWatson (talk) 16:37, 19 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]