Yesterday:
Lovely swim first thing. In the water for well over an hour and it was great.
The shower is now in and my loo has a handle again. Both look great. Here's a photo of the shower over the bath. It looks very tidy because all the stuff is in my bedroom, where all good stuff seems to go. I might try and keep round the bath clear from now on, it does make a difference
Today's tuition went really well. I enjoyed it, the child enjoyed it. Lucky me.
And I had fish and chips. It was nice but I think these things are better in anticipation than in reality.
Today:
I'm off to my parents. Sonja and Milli are house sitting, lovely ladies that they are.
I shall test the shower!
So - today's food:
B: poached egg on toast
L & D: I have absolutely no idea whatsoever! :-)
And now I need coffee.
Love the shower. Have a nice weekend away.....
ReplyDeleteDid you see this yet, it's on FB.
ReplyDeleteSorry all.. just need to get this rant off my chest :-)
Dear Government,
This year, you have planned that children will leave junior school with a statement that they either meet, or do not meet age related expectations. This means that seven years of primary education are summed up with an equivalent of pass or fail.
I have a few problems with this.
Firstly, you have by your own admission “raised standards”. Unfortunately, this does not mean that you have invested millions into our crumbling buildings or raised the pay of hardworking and dedicated teachers and support staff. It does not even mean that the children are being given a higher standard of education than previously. “Raising Standards” just means that you have increased the threshold for the equivalent of a “pass mark”. Under the new system, the teachers have to teach 10 or 11 year old children work they would not have previously done until secondary. Teachers have to get their pupils to meet age related expectations which are significantly more challenging than they have previously been. We have the same children as last year: the same learning difficulties, the same social and emotional challenges and yet teachers are expected to magically up their game and increase what these children learn. I feel the implication from this is that teachers have not done a good enough job in the past, and if only they tried harder they would be able to get so much more from the children. Anyone who has any knowledge of the education system knows this is not the case. Teachers are committed and dedicated to getting the best possible results from every child in their class. They are already at breaking point. You cannot expect them to work harder than they already do.
My other problem is a personal one. As a parent of a child who has medical and educational needs, I know that under the new SATs he is very unlikely to reach age related expectations. But how am I going to tell him when he is sobbing because he has “failed”, that in fact he has exceeded HIS age related expectations? How can I convince him that to me he is not a failure, but a shining example of success? He is the most tenacious, hardworking and brave child I know. He always tries his best and wants to succeed. No matter what, telling him he has not met “age related expectations” will be telling him he is a failure. When he came to the school, we were unsure whether he would be able to remain in mainstream education at all. The school, his teachers and the support staff have worked very hard to make sure that he has progressed and it is a credit to the school that he has made as much progress as he has. However, the fact stands that no matter how hard he works this year, it is very unlikely he will meet age related expectations.
Is this really fair? Can we really judge our children against a standardized norm? Do we want a generation who grow up to feel they are failures already at the age of 11?
What does it matter if a child can not name the "preposition" or “determiner” in a sentence? What matters is whether he loves books and has got a love of language. It matters that he is creative and imaginative. These are not standards by which they are judged in the new SATs. Similarly, in today’s society it does not matter if you can do long division. I have certainly managed to get through a university degree and have never mastered this skill. We no longer teach our children to be inquisitive and love learning for its own sake. It is now just an exercise in exam technique.
I
t is not my child’s fault that he was born in the school year that all the goalposts change. It is not his fault that the new tests are judging him against standards that he will struggle to reach. In Government, you do not see the child who burst into tears tonight at the thought that he would not be able to “make the grade”. I strongly believe that these SATs tests will have a profound effect on some children’s self esteem and maybe destroy their love of learning. Do you want a generation of disaffected children? Do you want children to be reluctant to learn as no matter how hard they try they will always be found wanting? If the answer is no, I would ask you to reconsider this new change to the education system, and instead concentrate on “raising the standards” of education in its true sense: a love of learning and the joy of achievement.
ReplyDeleteYours faithfully
Lucy Hoggan
ReplyDeleteIt goes along with your post from yesterday. I wholeheartedly agree. One cherub I work with, only learned to read in y5. Now able to answer basic retrieval and inference questions. Certainly no higher than AF3/4 with support. Just failed the sample Y6 SAT. Meaning that I am rubbish at my job ( I taught that kid to read ) and the teachers who taught them are rubbish. Yet the progress that they have made since arriving at our school in Y4 is IMMENSE.
It makes my blood boil.
Anyway!! Sorry for taking over your blog! I hope you have a lovely weekend and your bathroom looks very gorgeous! I agree with you re the fish n chips! Anticipation and chippy smell is always always better than the eating experience!!!
ReplyDeleteNo problem. I strongly suspect that I will use it for my entry tomorrow, if you don't mind. Thanks - I haven't seen it on fb yet - could you send it over to me (I'm Joy Clark on there and my picture is primroses (at the moment).
ReplyDeleteThe shower is brill, Diane. Really great!
J x