Does Your Child Go To A Proper School Or An Academy?

peachyprice

It's a crying shame, there are too many parents out there who believe it's only the schools job to educate their child and seem unwilling to play an active role themselves. Those are often the ones who shout loudest when their little darlings are behind the rest of the class, placing the blame firmly at the feet of the school.

DecentLivingWage

If the academy system is good ... then why are they changing it? Can anyone tell me that? How is allowing 'teaching helpers' without their QTS status going to 'help' (apart from being cheaper?)

as a very helpful poster mentioned earlier, many TA s taking 'Reading Booster Sessions' are sub-literate and harm the children s spelling, doing them more harm than good!

Issues to address (yet again:)

1. Funding - there will always be 'bums on seats' as poor children have nowhere else to go.

2 Why would academies hire cheap staff? - when the thumb-screws are turned up in the Autumn budget, they won't have any choice!

Simple - just ask 'Excuse me, but does my son's 'teacher' Ms S have her QTS certificate to teach? Oh really? Why's that then? How come his little pal Johnny is being taught in Mr J's group who's been teaching 20 years? Oh I seeee..... little Johnny's Clever! '

peachyprice

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

as a very helpful poster mentioned earlier, many TA s taking 'Reading Booster Sessions' are sub-literate and harm the children s spelling, doing them more harm than good!

Yup, that's happening, everyday, in your so-called 'proper schools'. Your point is?

balletshoes

Welshwoofs wrote: »

Do they still give a word list every day to pupils in primary school? When I was a kid, every single day we were given a list of 10 words to research and the next day we had to demonstrate that we could spell them and use them correctly in a sentence.

I mention this because it's often quoted that an elementary school student in 1945 had a vocabulary of around 10,000 whereas today's elementary school student has a vocabulary of around 2,500. If that's the case I'd imagine that it must be down to less reading (in school and out) and less exploration of language.

I didn't have word lists every day at primary school (it was more like every week, but it was regular).

My DD has never had daily word lists through primary school either, and although they were given word lists and reminder books at the start of the school year, I don't think they were ever referred to again. They do weekly spelling tests and twice-weekly mental maths though. And they are encouraged to read every evening to a parent/guardian. Being able to read whatever they like instead of certain books certainly seems to have been a success with my daughter's class over the last couple of years.

Mr_Toad

DecentLivingWage wrote: »

If the academy system is good ... then why are they changing it? Can anyone tell me that?

Because improvement entails constant change. If you stand still there is no improvement. Change is about trying different approaches and ideas, some are good, some aren't but it's the continuous cycle of evaluation and the willingness to change that help keep any organization on track so it can deliver what it needs to deliver. Our world and it's needs change and it isn't just education that needs to keep up.

As unpleasant as it is to accept, any government or business has to look at it's spending and constantly look for both improvement and value for money. This country does not have unlimited funds for anything. It would be a fantastic place if we could give the NHS and education unlimited money but we can't.

Take your head out of the sand and look around you. Look at the countries on the verge of bankruptcy. Look at the numbers of people loosing their jobs because organizations are having to change and adapt, doing the same or more with less money and people.

ViolaLass

masonn wrote: »

Because improvement entails constant change. If you stand still there is no improvement.

You're being sarcastic, right? What about standing back occasionally and waiting to see what effect the changes have had, rather than running in and assuming things need to be changed?

Mr_Toad

ViolaLass wrote: »

You're being sarcastic, right? What about standing back occasionally and waiting to see what effect the changes have had, rather than running in and assuming things need to be changed?

No I'm not being sarcastic which is why my post included the phrase "continuous cycle of evaluation", something you chose to cut out.

Evaluation - Making a judgement about, an assessment of.

Or, to use your own words "standing back occasionally and waiting to see what effect the changes have had."

suki1001

kelloggs36 wrote: »

I had a child in my class (of 30) who never read at home - the mother worked shifts and couldn't possibly spend any time listening to her child read, and the woman's mother was 67 so how could she be expected to listen to the child read??? Why didn't I listen to every child read every day? I shall tell you:

there are 30 children in the class, if I spend just 5 minutes with them each plus writing down any notes, that makes 6 minutes each child. 6 X 30 = 180 minutes which is half the teaching day. Take out lunch and break time and I am left with only 125 minutes to teach maths, English (writing and reading), History, P.E, Art, Music, DT, French, Geography, PHSE. Now clearly we can't teach all subjects every day, but there is not enough time as it is to do it all justice, without giving up half the day to listening to children read. It doesn't need to take a long time at home, 5 minutes for one child is just that - 5 minutes. 5 minutes in a class situation is per child!

But to be honest, that isn't the parents fault. As far as they're concerned their children are going to school to learn to read, because that's what they did when they were at school. That's what I did. I didn't have to do reading every night when I was young and my reading age was good. there were only occasions when I had homework at primary school. Now suddenly when mine start primary school - it's every night.

Unless you are a parent who is fully aware of the school day works, you can't expect them to understand that they should be teaching their children to read, because as children, that's not what they did.

The reason why I struggle with the notion, is because children spend 6 and a half hours learning in a day - why is that not enough? Children should have time to be children and I feel if they get tasks to do everyday at home, then when do they get a break. As I understood it homework was supposed to be a back up. You cannot expect parents to know this is a problem unless they are made aware. Of course they think their children are going to learn to read at school, because that's what they did. That is why children go to school isn't it?

If somebody had said to me can you please make sure you read with your child because we actually don't have time, then that's a different matter to can you please assist your child to read because it's good to do that as a parent.

As a parent, I really struggled some years to have the time, especially when I was working 12 hour days and nights and getting home and having to make tea. I did always explain to the teacher when it was a struggle and it was fine. You can't always assume parents are lying. Sometimes as a parent it is very difficult to have time to do things everyday, because we have to earn a living and fit life around that.

You cannot blame parents when that was how they were taught. No one has explained to them that the boundaries have changed.

Of course secondary school is fine they are older, but 4 and 5 years old - I find that crazy. Do I think I should assist in my children's learning - you bet. But should we be classed as mandatory extra teachers because the school day now has loads of extra things that teachers can't fit in - no, because that's just silly. If it gets to a stage where teachers can't manage, then the education system is wrong. I just don't get how 6 and a half hours isn't enough. Please don't think I'm a silly lazy parent - I am a parent who thinks that a reception child shouldn't be getting homework every day and that if we managed before and had a better level of literacy and numeracy - then something is seriously wrong.

susancs

The secondary school my children attend changed to an academy last year. It is rated as an outstanding school with very high GCSE results. We were assured this high performance would not change and it does not seem to have done so. In regard to unqualified teachers, I see that may be a bonus. I base this on the fact my eldest daughter had a maths teacher who has a degree in the subject but is so good at the subject that she could not comprehend that top set children do not always understand a new concept without the need to use a variety of teaching strategies to explain it. She was going on maternity leave and for the last term, the head employed a young maths student who was on a break from University to help in the class. This student was brillant at "teaching" and as a result of her input the children who only achieved "C" grades in mocks found the GCSE paper they sat fairly easy and hopefully will get high results grades in August. A native french speaking exchange student was employed to support the degree qualified french subject teacher and she has been brillant in helping them achieve high results in their oral exams, when again their mocks were not as good. Both these students left at the end of the school year, with a number of Parents and most of the children stating they wished to have them teaching them again instead of the qualified teacher. In both cases the students planned and took the lessons with the qualified teacher in the room to support them and students if required (but they were not required by the students).

balletshoes

Now you see Suki my experience is the complete opposite of yours. From my first year at primary school (40 years ago) I had daily homework (either flash cards, reading word strips - kept in a little tin box - or beginners reading books).

My DD has never had daily homework from her primary school, its always been once a week, handed out usually on a Friday, has to be completed and back in class by the following Tuesday morning, and is almost always one literacy worksheet and one maths worksheet. Its only the last couple of years that the children have been actively encouraged by the school to read at home every evening.

I think, because my DD hasn't had loads of homework in primary school, she's likely to struggle with the concept of timetabling and then doing all her homework once she gets to secondary school in September.