All girls or mixed secondary school?

mountainofdebt

Humphrey10 wrote: »

Why?
I almost never have to put pen to paper in my current job.
The only times I write things down in my current job is to write on post-its to give messages to others, and that's only because I have an impressive collection of post-its and like to use them - in reality I could just use email (but given the choice of email or a Dalek shaped post-it the Dalek is ALWAYS the correct choice).
I wouldn't let the iPads scare you off.

But what happens when the OPs daughter comes to sit exams -or will exams be taken on ipads in the future and she'll get the results instantly?

Personally i think technology has its place but it shouldn't take presidence.

HPoirot

A school run on an ipad? Sounds like a mad sci-fi experiment to me. Certainly wouldn't want my child's education to be a test product for Apple Inc.

daisiegg

I would send a girl to a single sex school in a heartbeat, but I would only send a boy to a mixed school.

I went to a mixed school, taught in mixed schools, and was very apprehensive when I got a job in a girls' school; I thought I would hate it. I was wrong. The atmosphere is great, there are far fewer behaviour problems, and more than anything, it took me ages to get used to how confident and poised our girls are compared with girls I have taught in mixed schools. Without boys to worry about in lessons, they completely come into their own. They are much happier to try and fail than they are in a mixed school, and they have much more of a voice within lessons. Also, girls and boys are generally different at that age, and if you are teaching them separately it is much easier to tailor teaching methods and style to the class.

So yes, I am a complete convert to single sex girls' schools. However, NOT boys. I would never send a son to an all boys' school.

daisiegg

As for the iPads, it sounds awful! We have them in our sixth form (they are given them, no one has to buy them!) and the teachers all hate it. They are not remotely useful and they actually end up being more of a hindrance than a help.

fluffnutter

An 'apple regional training centre'?? !!!!!!? I despair, really I do. Welcome to Education.com as sponsored by Apple/Tesco/sportsdirect *!

* Insert your company of choice.

mrcow

Having worked in both, I would choose a single sex school for my children over a mixed school probably every time.

*Robin*

daisiegg wrote: »

I went to a mixed school, taught in mixed schools, and was very apprehensive when I got a job in a girls' school; I thought I would hate it. I was wrong. The atmosphere is great, there are far fewer behaviour problems, and more than anything, it took me ages to get used to how confident and poised our girls are compared with girls I have taught in mixed schools. Without boys to worry about in lessons, they completely come into their own. They are much happier to try and fail than they are in a mixed school, and they have much more of a voice within lessons. Also, girls and boys are generally different at that age, and if you are teaching them separately it is much easier to tailor teaching methods and style to the class.

^^^ This. Isn't the point of going to school to get good exam results? Teen girls still have plenty of time for socialising with boys at clubs, in their neighbourhood, on the bus etc.

And I [STRIKE]may[/STRIKE] will probably get flamed for this, but must say I've noticed girls who don't go to mixed secondary [up to GCSE at least] manage to avoid the worst of the biatchy behaviours, cliques and bullying which every parent of a teenage girl dreads.

Prothet_of_Doom

squibbs25 wrote: »

Most of the kids here chose the mixed academy purely for the iPad's.
.

This fact would put me off.

Toto

Handwriting is a skill so the ipad thing would worry me. I struggled a little bit when I started my current job where I have to write reams of notes I realised that having used computers almost completely for close to 20 years my handwriting skills had declined. My hand ached after a couple of hours and my writing was nothing like as neat as it once was.

I also think there is something to be said for not relying on things like spellcheckers all of the time. Having to learn spelling and grammar skills isn't a bad thing.

Perhaps I'm a dinosaur though and these things are much less important in the real world these days.

balletshoes

DUTR wrote: »

At my daughters school the homework is ona PDF document, some of the children don't have machines that can run the software, however the children can stay after school and use the school computers to complete the homework (eg detention).

but that doesn't mean they need an Apple product to complete their homework, does it?