LEAVE the Conservative Party and save your country!
Comments
-
Better put than my post. If you don't understand the way they are being taught the next 10 years will be hard work.TheBigBean said:
" I am self aware enough that my own experience of school is not helpful for decision making in this regard."rick_chasey said:
Workshops?rjsterry said:
You'll find it's more difficult to help with homework, etc. if you haven't been to the meetings, workshops, and so on. Teaching, unsurprisingly has moved on a great deal since your or my time at school.rick_chasey said:
I am self aware enough that my own experience of school is not helpful for decision making in this regard.rjsterry said:
This. You need to play along and if you really want to change stuff join the governors.TheBigBean said:
You're being a bit naïve about how independently she'll be able to do it. Maybe you will be lucky.rick_chasey said:Yes, I am resigned to that.
I'm not doing the homework, she is. I can help obviously. I like teaching my own kid. I am also not above cheating the homework system if it's objectively ridiculous.
Absolutely no problem teaching kids to think for themselves and work the system in their favour.
The school work is fine; I was a straight A student so I can help with the content but me and my wife know she will do the heavy lifting with the school itself and I’ll be backup.
Lol half the parents can’t speak English, good luck to the teachers if they want to try that.
Where do you think I’m sending them? To the local private school?!
You need to apply this not just think it is true. State schools invite parents in periodically to learn stuff. The reason is that most six year olds know what a split diagraph is whereas most adults don't. You can disagree with the teaching methods, but that is the current approach.
And stop worrying about parents with poor English - they'll learn from their kids and the schools will have processes in place. You've got plenty of your own stuff to deal with 😁.1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)0 -
I'm sure your reception aged child will just spell out all the words, so you can google them and understand them better.rick_chasey said:
Genuinely, what do they do with parents who don’t speak English?TheBigBean said:
" I am self aware enough that my own experience of school is not helpful for decision making in this regard."rick_chasey said:
Workshops?rjsterry said:
You'll find it's more difficult to help with homework, etc. if you haven't been to the meetings, workshops, and so on. Teaching, unsurprisingly has moved on a great deal since your or my time at school.rick_chasey said:
I am self aware enough that my own experience of school is not helpful for decision making in this regard.rjsterry said:
This. You need to play along and if you really want to change stuff join the governors.TheBigBean said:
You're being a bit naïve about how independently she'll be able to do it. Maybe you will be lucky.rick_chasey said:Yes, I am resigned to that.
I'm not doing the homework, she is. I can help obviously. I like teaching my own kid. I am also not above cheating the homework system if it's objectively ridiculous.
Absolutely no problem teaching kids to think for themselves and work the system in their favour.
The school work is fine; I was a straight A student so I can help with the content but me and my wife know she will do the heavy lifting with the school itself and I’ll be backup.
Lol half the parents can’t speak English, good luck to the teachers if they want to try that.
Where do you think I’m sending them? To the local private school?!
You need to apply this not just think it is true. State schools invite parents in periodically to learn stuff. The reason is that most six year olds know what a split diagraph is whereas most adults don't. You can disagree with the teaching methods, but that is the current approach.
It’s not uncommon at the pre school pickup to be the only English speakers there, or at the very least in the minority.
I suspect this’ll change when all the full time nursery kids who stuck with their nursery when they were put in at 1 years old turn up, but it’s at least 1/3rd of the class.
Edit: it’s not hard to look this stuff up.
Here we go, quick google, split digraph is a digraph split by a consonant, eg the an and e in cake.
Digraph is, (clue is in the name) two vowels that combined to make a sound in a word, like ea in leak.
Quadgraph is the same but with the ough sound or other 4 letters.
Ultimately you can do as you like.0 -
Also a diagraph is any two letters not just vowels.0
-
I would genuinely be surprised if there are workshops for this kind of thing. It’s not been mentioned by anyone anywhere including parents with kids there already.TheBigBean said:
I'm sure your reception aged child will just spell out all the words, so you can google them and understand them better.rick_chasey said:
Genuinely, what do they do with parents who don’t speak English?TheBigBean said:
" I am self aware enough that my own experience of school is not helpful for decision making in this regard."rick_chasey said:
Workshops?rjsterry said:
You'll find it's more difficult to help with homework, etc. if you haven't been to the meetings, workshops, and so on. Teaching, unsurprisingly has moved on a great deal since your or my time at school.rick_chasey said:
I am self aware enough that my own experience of school is not helpful for decision making in this regard.rjsterry said:
This. You need to play along and if you really want to change stuff join the governors.TheBigBean said:
You're being a bit naïve about how independently she'll be able to do it. Maybe you will be lucky.rick_chasey said:Yes, I am resigned to that.
I'm not doing the homework, she is. I can help obviously. I like teaching my own kid. I am also not above cheating the homework system if it's objectively ridiculous.
Absolutely no problem teaching kids to think for themselves and work the system in their favour.
The school work is fine; I was a straight A student so I can help with the content but me and my wife know she will do the heavy lifting with the school itself and I’ll be backup.
Lol half the parents can’t speak English, good luck to the teachers if they want to try that.
Where do you think I’m sending them? To the local private school?!
You need to apply this not just think it is true. State schools invite parents in periodically to learn stuff. The reason is that most six year olds know what a split diagraph is whereas most adults don't. You can disagree with the teaching methods, but that is the current approach.
It’s not uncommon at the pre school pickup to be the only English speakers there, or at the very least in the minority.
I suspect this’ll change when all the full time nursery kids who stuck with their nursery when they were put in at 1 years old turn up, but it’s at least 1/3rd of the class.
Edit: it’s not hard to look this stuff up.
Here we go, quick google, split digraph is a digraph split by a consonant, eg the an and e in cake.
Digraph is, (clue is in the name) two vowels that combined to make a sound in a word, like ea in leak.
Quadgraph is the same but with the ough sound or other 4 letters.
Ultimately you can do as you like.
I think the school struggles with more basic things than being that concerned about parents getting the right terminology etc.
We’ll see.0 -
I found helping the kids with homework at primary school a bit of a challenge. Firstly, there’s a good reason why I’m not a teacher - I’m simply not very good at it! Secondly, the current methods are very different from what I was taught.
I did find my uses though. Whilst I used the “wrong” methods on maths, I could still tell them what they were aiming for as the correct answer if they got stuck.
And as they get older, there’s a lot of help that one can give around the revision and preparation process even in respect of subjects one knows nothing about. Or should that be in respect of subjects about which one knows nothing?0 -
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition1 -
Also, on this, have you been reading the Mail?rick_chasey said:
Genuinely, what do they do with parents who don’t speak English?0 -
Nah, i've just witnessed a couple of interactions between the teachers and parents that really made me wonder. Just really struggling to communicate basic messages.TheBigBean said:
Also, on this, have you been reading the Mail?rick_chasey said:
Genuinely, what do they do with parents who don’t speak English?0 -
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.0 -
as for them not being 'customer service' orientated.
Here's one: the school didn't think to send the application details for the new wraparound care provider to parents for kids starting this year in reception, despite telling the parents they would receive it, so they are all now in a flap because they missed the deadline they didn't know existed.
Because it's a private provider, apparently they are now being quite difficult to accommodate the reception kids.
What a shambles. Glad I don't need to deal with that stress.0 -
None of this is exactly new is it? The same applied when I was in school nearly half a century ago.rick_chasey said:
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.0 -
I don't remember my parents ever *having* to help, and certainly not being asked by the school to educate after hours.Pross said:
None of this is exactly new is it? The same applied when I was in school nearly half a century ago.
I would ask because I am competitive and I wanted the top grades, but even then.
That is definitely new to me.0 -
No parent 'has to' help, the schools are just trying to give parents to understand current teaching methods so that they can help out. I'm pretty sure most responsible parents want to help their children maximise their potential. Homework was a thing in my primary years albeit in a less formal manner so having parents able to understand what is needed is better than leaving the kids to try to muddle through themselves.
You were fortunate to be raised by parents who were academics weren't you so possibly not a typical environment?0 -
Pfft, my mother is just like me, she took one look at it, realised it wasn't how the Dutch taught and told me to work it out myself, which i did.Pross said:No parent 'has to' help, the schools are just trying to give parents to understand current teaching methods so that they can help out. I'm pretty sure most responsible parents want to help their children maximise their potential. Homework was a thing in my primary years albeit in a less formal manner so having parents able to understand what is needed is better than leaving the kids to try to muddle through themselves.
You were fortunate to be raised by parents who were academics weren't you so possibly not a typical environment?
I am beginning to realise why the grads expect the bosses to feed them all the info and don't just go and work it out themselves.0 -
That's all pretty normal e.g. a colleague's daughter needed to join a waiting list for the after school club. It was expected to take at least a year to get a place. Mine doesn't accept reception kids until January and then only 5 out of 60. It's all a shambles.rick_chasey said:as for them not being 'customer service' orientated.
Here's one: the school didn't think to send the application details for the new wraparound care provider to parents for kids starting this year in reception, despite telling the parents they would receive it, so they are all now in a flap because they missed the deadline they didn't know existed.
Because it's a private provider, apparently they are now being quite difficult to accommodate the reception kids.
What a shambles. Glad I don't need to deal with that stress.
0 -
That's just ridiculous. What are parents expected to do?TheBigBean said:
That's all pretty normal e.g. a colleague's daughter needed to join a waiting list for the after school club. It was expected to take at least a year to get a place. Mine doesn't accept reception kids until January and then only 5 out of 60. It's all a shambles.rick_chasey said:as for them not being 'customer service' orientated.
Here's one: the school didn't think to send the application details for the new wraparound care provider to parents for kids starting this year in reception, despite telling the parents they would receive it, so they are all now in a flap because they missed the deadline they didn't know existed.
Because it's a private provider, apparently they are now being quite difficult to accommodate the reception kids.
What a shambles. Glad I don't need to deal with that stress.0 -
School is about education and not childcare etc. Parents are expected to do the same thing that they do for all the other random closures. An acquaintance had to give up work for four months.rick_chasey said:
That's just ridiculous. What are parents expected to do?TheBigBean said:
That's all pretty normal e.g. a colleague's daughter needed to join a waiting list for the after school club. It was expected to take at least a year to get a place. Mine doesn't accept reception kids until January and then only 5 out of 60. It's all a shambles.rick_chasey said:as for them not being 'customer service' orientated.
Here's one: the school didn't think to send the application details for the new wraparound care provider to parents for kids starting this year in reception, despite telling the parents they would receive it, so they are all now in a flap because they missed the deadline they didn't know existed.
Because it's a private provider, apparently they are now being quite difficult to accommodate the reception kids.
What a shambles. Glad I don't need to deal with that stress.
0 -
The wraparound is about childcare though?TheBigBean said:
School is about education and not childcare etc. Parents are expected to do the same thing that they do for all the other random closures. An acquaintance had to give up work for four months.rick_chasey said:
That's just ridiculous. What are parents expected to do?TheBigBean said:
That's all pretty normal e.g. a colleague's daughter needed to join a waiting list for the after school club. It was expected to take at least a year to get a place. Mine doesn't accept reception kids until January and then only 5 out of 60. It's all a shambles.rick_chasey said:as for them not being 'customer service' orientated.
Here's one: the school didn't think to send the application details for the new wraparound care provider to parents for kids starting this year in reception, despite telling the parents they would receive it, so they are all now in a flap because they missed the deadline they didn't know existed.
Because it's a private provider, apparently they are now being quite difficult to accommodate the reception kids.
What a shambles. Glad I don't need to deal with that stress.
This is why I refuse to feel bad for only having one parent work, despite the barbed comments that come our way.0 -
This story was regularly read to us in primary school when we were 5/6 years old!ddraver said:Pa raver still has a "Little Black Sambo" book somewhere... 😶
Wilier Izoard XP0 -
Believe it or not a church school won't actually harm your child. It's beneficial for them to be exposed to things you disagree with.rick_chasey said:
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
I'll stick to a multi-cultural environment rather religious indoctrination. Each to their own.rjsterry said:
Believe it or not a church school won't actually harm your child. It's beneficial for them to be exposed to things you disagree with.rick_chasey said:
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.1 -
I have no beef with the religious aspect.rjsterry said:
Believe it or not a church school won't actually harm your child. It's beneficial for them to be exposed to things you disagree with.rick_chasey said:
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.
I actually believe it's important to understand it not just from the books but also what it means to some people, especially as she won't see it from us. I only really learned it from books and it took me to be a grown up to understand the value to people, because none of my circle were religious.
Furthermore, given about 1/4 of the class seems quite muslim (to the point the mothers will only talk to my wife when their husband isn't about, in all the attire that suggests they're quite devout), it clearly isn't really about the faith itself, but the space to "reflect" which is all well and good, but if they're struggling to teach enough of the curriculum, I can find 5 hours in the week where they could be more efficient....0 -
You'll find a church school fairly multicultural - possibly more so.TheBigBean said:
I'll stick to a multi-cultural environment rather religious indoctrination. Each to their own.rjsterry said:
Believe it or not a church school won't actually harm your child. It's beneficial for them to be exposed to things you disagree with.rick_chasey said:
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
This seems to be the case in my experience.rjsterry said:
You'll find a church school fairly multicultural - possibly more so.TheBigBean said:
I'll stick to a multi-cultural environment rather religious indoctrination. Each to their own.rjsterry said:
Believe it or not a church school won't actually harm your child. It's beneficial for them to be exposed to things you disagree with.rick_chasey said:
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.0 -
Sounds good.rick_chasey said:
I have no beef with the religious aspect.rjsterry said:
Believe it or not a church school won't actually harm your child. It's beneficial for them to be exposed to things you disagree with.rick_chasey said:
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.
I actually believe it's important to understand it not just from the books but also what it means to some people, especially as she won't see it from us. I only really learned it from books and it took me to be a grown up to understand the value to people, because none of my circle were religious.
Furthermore, given about 1/4 of the class seems quite muslim (to the point the mothers will only talk to my wife when their husband isn't about, in all the attire that suggests they're quite devout), it clearly isn't really about the faith itself, but the space to "reflect" which is all well and good, but if they're struggling to teach enough of the curriculum, I can find 5 hours in the week where they could be more efficient....1985 Mercian King of Mercia - work in progress (Hah! Who am I kidding?)
Pinnacle Monzonite
Part of the anti-growth coalition0 -
Indeed. My kids' school had a very dynamic RE department, but they didn't push one religion over another and the school wasn't religious. They just explained how each one operated, and covered some key historical events. All quite superficial really as only at GCSE level, but it sounded genuinely very interesting.TheBigBean said:
I'll stick to a multi-cultural environment rather religious indoctrination. Each to their own.rjsterry said:
Believe it or not a church school won't actually harm your child. It's beneficial for them to be exposed to things you disagree with.rick_chasey said:
It is a church school; it is only church schools in the catchment. That's another annoyance but beggars can't be choosers; I can't fork out £8k a term.rjsterry said:
You just need to suck that stuff up - 'customer service' to parents is not their priority. And also give the school the benefit of the doubt rather than starting from the position that you are going to be annoyed.rick_chasey said:To be clear, I’ve got no beef with how they want to teach. I’m very happy to look that stuff up myself. That’s the easy bit.
It’s all the other bits of school. The pettiness, the arbitrariness, the poor communication etc
(Though I do think it is a failing of the system if I need to get involved in the actual teaching. If you want to create an unfair system that’s one way to do it. What are they doing all day if they then need the parents to teach them?! Maybe they should give up the hour of “worship” every day, eh?)
On the second bit, OMG, it's not a failing: there's a limit to the number of hours in the school day and what any child can absorb in that time. Time spent at home to support that teaching is really something money can't buy. Also, unless it's a church school there won't be an hour of worship every day. There's not enough time. It feels like you have a lot of baggage that you are projecting onto the school before you have even started, I'd really try to be a bit more open to it not being terrible and just ignoring the irritating stuff like nuts being absolutely banned but other allergens being served in the canteen regularly.
And I think it's unfair on the kids who don't have parents who have the bandwidth to support them beyond school. Fair enough if parents want to and can, but it shouldn't be a *requirement* for success.0 -
You'll criticised whatever you do, so you might as well get criticised for doing something that is your choice. But whatever you do, never complain about the consequence of your choices. There is precisely zero sympathy for that at the school gate.rick_chasey said:
This is why I refuse to feel bad for only having one parent work, despite the barbed comments that come our way.TheBigBean said:
School is about education and not childcare etc. Parents are expected to do the same thing that they do for all the other random closures. An acquaintance had to give up work for four months.rick_chasey said:
That's just ridiculous. What are parents expected to do?TheBigBean said:
That's all pretty normal e.g. a colleague's daughter needed to join a waiting list for the after school club. It was expected to take at least a year to get a place. Mine doesn't accept reception kids until January and then only 5 out of 60. It's all a shambles.rick_chasey said:as for them not being 'customer service' orientated.
Here's one: the school didn't think to send the application details for the new wraparound care provider to parents for kids starting this year in reception, despite telling the parents they would receive it, so they are all now in a flap because they missed the deadline they didn't know existed.
Because it's a private provider, apparently they are now being quite difficult to accommodate the reception kids.
What a shambles. Glad I don't need to deal with that stress.0 -
I can assure you, I limit my complaints to semi-anonymous bike forums. It's all smiles at the drop off.wallace_and_gromit said:
You'll criticised whatever you do, so you might as well get criticised for doing something that is your choice. But whatever you do, never complain about the consequence of your choices. There is precisely zero sympathy for that at the school gate.rick_chasey said:
This is why I refuse to feel bad for only having one parent work, despite the barbed comments that come our way.TheBigBean said:
School is about education and not childcare etc. Parents are expected to do the same thing that they do for all the other random closures. An acquaintance had to give up work for four months.rick_chasey said:
That's just ridiculous. What are parents expected to do?TheBigBean said:
That's all pretty normal e.g. a colleague's daughter needed to join a waiting list for the after school club. It was expected to take at least a year to get a place. Mine doesn't accept reception kids until January and then only 5 out of 60. It's all a shambles.rick_chasey said:as for them not being 'customer service' orientated.
Here's one: the school didn't think to send the application details for the new wraparound care provider to parents for kids starting this year in reception, despite telling the parents they would receive it, so they are all now in a flap because they missed the deadline they didn't know existed.
Because it's a private provider, apparently they are now being quite difficult to accommodate the reception kids.
What a shambles. Glad I don't need to deal with that stress.0 -
I can believe that. Despite my rather cantankerous approach to forum life, in the real world, I am meek, mild and considered a natural diplomat.rick_chasey said:
I can assure you, I limit my complaints to semi-anonymous bike forums. It's all smiles at the drop off.wallace_and_gromit said:
You'll criticised whatever you do, so you might as well get criticised for doing something that is your choice. But whatever you do, never complain about the consequence of your choices. There is precisely zero sympathy for that at the school gate.rick_chasey said:
This is why I refuse to feel bad for only having one parent work, despite the barbed comments that come our way.TheBigBean said:
School is about education and not childcare etc. Parents are expected to do the same thing that they do for all the other random closures. An acquaintance had to give up work for four months.rick_chasey said:
That's just ridiculous. What are parents expected to do?TheBigBean said:
That's all pretty normal e.g. a colleague's daughter needed to join a waiting list for the after school club. It was expected to take at least a year to get a place. Mine doesn't accept reception kids until January and then only 5 out of 60. It's all a shambles.rick_chasey said:as for them not being 'customer service' orientated.
Here's one: the school didn't think to send the application details for the new wraparound care provider to parents for kids starting this year in reception, despite telling the parents they would receive it, so they are all now in a flap because they missed the deadline they didn't know existed.
Because it's a private provider, apparently they are now being quite difficult to accommodate the reception kids.
What a shambles. Glad I don't need to deal with that stress.0
