Literacy should be a good 20 points higher than today’s national averae. Do the guilty hide this by saaying it is too good to be true? Or do they just say “We are the professionals” and that ends all discussion?
Once you UNDERSTAND (which takes perhaps an hour, no more), you have to wonder how the silly ideas ever got accepted by, I suppose, intelligent? professionals!
Until the teachers wake up, it is up to parents to teach their child to read before he starts school, from www.phonics4free.org which IS DEcoding phonics! Teachers please note.
Name and email supplied

The Education Secretary also wants more checks on how teachers perform in a bid to weed out any who are not up to the job. He said: “A headteacher should be able to observe a teacher whenever he or she wants to in order to keep standards up. You have regular supervision to make sure teachers are constantly improving.” Parents also come under the spotlight with teams of troubleshooters targeting 120,000 of the most troubled families.
Mr Gove warned: “If you don’t ensure your child is in school we can take you to court, where you can be fined and your benefits can be docked.
“You’ve had a system in the past where some of the fines haven’t been enforced, where some fines have been reduced to take account of the cigarette consumption or satellite TV subscriptions of families.
“We need to change how the courts and how the system operate to send a consistent message that if your children are going to succeed they need to be in school and nothing is more important than this.”

As the Chief Executive of the Independent Association of Preparatory Schools (IAPS) says, The Prime Minister is ‘wrong’ to suggest that independent schools have a ‘duty’ to sponsor academies. “The sponsoring of academies is an entirely laudable role for any independent school which has sufficient resources and will not compromise their commitment to fee-paying parents”, he told Attain magazine this week. “But the Prime Minister is wrong to suggest that our schools have a ‘duty’ to sponsor academies. It is well beyond the capacity of most independent schools to be a sole sponsor. More fundamentally, those who can will simply scratch the surface of the problem the Government seeks to solve.”

Hanson’s comments follow pressure from the Government for independent schools to become lead sponsors of academies. There is growing concern amongst Heads that the Government needs to move beyond the headline-grabbing ‘quick fix’ of persuading a tiny minority of rich and financially well-endowed schools to create academies. Instead, they should be encouraging strong partnerships between state and independent schools.

“I believe that all our schools have a moral imperative to share best practice and establish lasting and meaningful partnerships with local state schools”, suggests David Hanson. “The potential benefits of greater partnership are legion. Academy sponsorship however is sadly beyond the reach of all but a few schools.”

A highly successful partnership scheme is the Dorchester Area Schools Partnership (DASP). The main objective is to work together to assist all the DASP schools to improve academic results for all their children. For the independent prep school involved – Sunninghill Preparatory School – the additional benefits have included access to expert advice, INSET support, and the sharing of best practice with state-sector colleagues. The financial benefits have been considerable thanks to joint buying power across the partnership: Sunninghill saved £20,000 in IT costs in the first year and are aiming to save 10%-15% in utilities costs each year.

Sunninghill’s Headmaster, Andrew Roberts-Wray, comments: “There has to be a better and less patronising way to develop academies and improve education provision across the country. As increasing numbers of state schools are converting to academy status, many state school heads are having to make business management decisions that they are not used to making. I find that by working in partnership we are learning a great deal from our state school colleagues and they are interested in our broader approach to education, but that together we all able to offer a better provision for all the children in our local area. This does not mean that our staff or those of our State school partners are being taken away from caring for their own pupils.”

“As well as the academic, behaviour support and financial incentives, the most important benefit for my school is that all the pupils gain enormously from the opportunities of working alongside their state school peers on science, maths, humanities, sport, music and enrichment activities.”

Andrew Roberts Wray

A third of parents are so unhappy with their child’s school they would advise other families not to send their children there, new figures from Ofsted have revealed.
Thousands of parents who have rated their schools on a new website run by the schools watchdog have raised concerns about teaching, behaviour, bullying and levels of homework. An initial analysis of results shows that just under a third of families with children at the 650 primary and secondary schools with sufficient responses to give results said they would not recommend their school to others. This rose to half for schools with a poor Ofsted rating. More than 9,300 parents have filled in the online anonymous questionnaire since the school inspectorate launched the “Parent View” rating website in October. Results are published if the school has received more than three responses. It is designed to give families more power to raise concerns about schools and can, with other indicators, trigger a snap inspection. Parents’ views will also be passed to inspectors carrying out routine visits.
Jean Humphrys, Ofsted education director, said: “It is very useful to parents when they are choosing schools. Parents very often go by word of mouth. They like to go by other peoples’ experiences so it will help them in that respect. “It also helps people who are unsure about whether what they are experiencing at the school is a one-off event that is happening to their child or whether it is more common. “As the results build it will be possible for parents to get a good view about what other families are thinking and feeling about the school. “Schools will also be able to look instantly at the areas that parents are very happy with and where they may have concerns.”
Minster School in Nottingham, which is rated “outstanding” by Ofsted has received 107 responses from parents so far. While many were positive, nearly one in five parents disagreed with the statement that their child made good progress at the school and 23 per cent did not think pupils received appropriate homework. A similar proportion said the school did not respond well to concerns raised by parents. More than 80 per cent of parents said they would recommend the school to others. More than a quarter of parents disagreed with the statement that their child was taught well at Hanson School, a secondary in Bradford, which has received 69 responses. More than half of parents said they would recommend the school.
An Ofsted spokesman said: “Slightly over two thirds of parents have answered that they would recommend their school. If you look only at the responses for schools which are inadequate you still see close to half of parents saying they would recommend their child’s school.”

Margaret Morrissey from ParentsOutLoud had this to say:

“If I take my child off school I am in danger of having to pay a fine but teachers can close a school down for their own needs…. What an example to set, what a sad day it will be, Never never complain to a parent if they take their child out of school for a day saying “it is irresponsible and affecting their education”. You obviously do not believe that or you would not be striking.”

Ministers warn a wide range of steps are needed to combat ‘transphobic bullying’, which is defined as
the taunting of children who express ‘gender variant behaviours’. The document
was produced by the Home Office, which is responsible for equality policy
within Government.It states that schools need to be ‘more inclusive for
gender-variant children’.‘We know that over 70 per cent of boys and girls who
express gender variant behaviours are subject to bullying in schools,’ the
document states. in. ‘Tackling
transphobic bullying helps to address unacceptable behaviour and ensures that
our society becomes more tolerant.’ As part of its review of PSHE, the
Department for Education will consider adding ‘the teaching of equality and
diversity, including transgender equality’ to the curriculum.But critics said
there was a danger that children were being overloaded with ‘adult issues’ as a
result of such lessons.

Margaret Morrissey, founder of
campaign group Parents Outloud, said: ‘These are adult issues and we should
leave it until children are older or until they ask. ‘The problem is we are
overloading our children with issues that they should not have to consider at a
young age. PSHE is already overloaded with other issues. ‘We have given them
sex education and teenage pregnancies have risen year on year. ‘We have told
children about drugs education and we have a serious problem with drugs. We
have told them about drinking and cigarettes and we have more children with
alcohol problems and smoking.’

Transgender people include
those who have had sex change operations and people who have both male and
female sexual organs. Other measures proposed as part of the equality drive
include help for transgender job seekers and rules for the NHS designed to
ensure transgender people are dealt with fairly. The move comes after a
Government survey found nearly nine out of ten transgender employees suffered
discrimination or harassment at work. Also announced yesterday were longer jail
terms for murderers who are motivated by hatred of transgender people.The basic
sentence for anyone convicted of such killings will be 30 years, Kenneth Clarke
said. Similar attacks on disabled people will also face the same tough minimum
term. The Justice Secretary said that offenders ‘should be in no doubt that
they face a more severe sentence for these unacceptable crimes’. Click here to see Daily Mail article

]]> http://www.parentsoutloud.com/transgender-lessons-for-pupils-aged-five/feed/ 0 http://www.parentsoutloud.com/my-teacher-hates-me%e2%80%99/ http://www.parentsoutloud.com/my-teacher-hates-me%e2%80%99/#comments Mon, 05 Dec 2011 18:37:54 +0000 Margaret http://www.parentsoutloud.com/?p=2388 There are some things you never want to hear your child say, and when it comes to his education, “Mummy, my teacher doesn’t
like me!” tops the list. So what can you do if your child insists the teacher thinks they’re bottom of the class? Sarah Ebner offers some advice.

Join TheSchoolRun now to instantly download
100s of educational worksheets, past SATs papers, essential learning packs plus
much more – all for just £1.97.

Your child-teacher conflict action plan

• Start by
  finding out more about why your child believes there is such a problem with their teacher. Don’t panic – it’s vital that you
  stay calm in order to try to help. You can’t just go rushing to school making accusations; you need to be properly prepared.
• Give yourself
  time to chat through the problem with your child, and ask specific questions about what has happened and when. This will
  help reveal how serious the problem is, or if your child is overstating the facts a little (for example, they might not actually like the teacher, but that doesn’t mean they’re being treated badly). This is also important because, if something really serious is going on, you will need to arm yourself with proper evidence before you speak to the school.
• Personality clashes can, and do, happen in the classroom, and they can prove to be particularly tricky in primary school because children have just one (or sometimes two) teachers eachyear. If the situation sounds salvageable, speak to the teacher about it first. Make sure you’re tactful, as Margaret Morrisey from parentsoutloud.com  recommends. “Suggest to the teacher that your child is struggling to form a relationship with them. Ask if they could try to keep an eye on what’s going on and for suggestions on how best to workit out. Don’t infer that it’s the teacher’s fault or accuse them; their defence will be that you don’t know what the child is like in the classroom. You need
  to be polite, but also to get to the bottom of it. You could always suggest meeting again in a few weeks to see how things have improved.”
• If the situation is seriously affecting your child and you don’t think it would help to speak to the teacher, make an appointment to see the headteacher and make sure you bring your evidence to the meeting. The head’s responsibility is to work with your child
  and the teacher to sort out the problem if at all possible. Sometimes the whole thing is a misunderstanding, and the teacher is horrified when it is mentioned. Unfortunately, at other times, this is not the case. The headteacher can address this through discussions with the teacher, as well as lesson observations.
• If your school is a two-form entry school, you could ask for your child to switch classes. Leaving the school altogether is not a brilliant solution as it could look like “running away”. Do try to see if the situation could be resolved in other ways.
• Approach the
  school governors only if you feel there is nothing more the headteacher can do (or if you think they haven’t done enough).
  Contacting Ofsted is a much more serious last resort.

Uncover the real problem

Don’t forget to consider that sometimes children use the “my teacher hates me” line to cover up other challenges they’re facing. Yes, it could be a personality clash or a genuine example of bad teaching, but it could also be that your child is struggling in school or behaving badly. In other words, ask yourself some honest questions about your child’s school experience, and consider if there are any other issues (friendships, for example) which might be the real cause of their unhappiness.

Join our forum discussion about whether children like or dislike going to school,
and find out what to do when your child hates school.

Sarah Ebner is the author of The Starting School Survival
Guide: everything you need to know when your child starts school,
published by White Ladder and also available on Kindle.

Monday 28 November 2011

A  complete shutdown of every state primary and secondary school in several areas of the UK
is expected on Wednesday.  Two authorities – Blaenau Gwent and Newport in Wales have indicated every school
will close.  A survey of local authorities by The Independent revealed support for the strike appeared harder in the country’s industrial
heartlands. Only two schools in North Tyneside have been confirmed as open and just five in South Tyneside. In Durham, 168 out of 277
primary schools will definitely close. By contrast, only 44 of the 313 primaryschools in Devon have said they will be closed. Overall, from the 44 authorities who responded to our survey, a total of 2,421 schools declared they would either be fully or partially closed. If this picture was mirrored across the country, it would  mean around 10,000 schools – mainly primaries – would close. But the final figure is likely to be much higher. Some union leaders estimate that around 20,000 of the 26,000 schools in England and Wales will close.A total of four teachers’ unions and one head teachers’ organisation are striking. The only union not to strike is Voice, whose members vow never to take strike action. It says it is receiving 100 applications for membership a day. Many of those striking on Wednesday will be walking out of the classroom for the first time. John Paul, a primary school teacher  33 years, said: “I’m hurt and offended by the injustice of what is being proposed. I didn’t come into teaching to make a fortune – that’s not what happens. I knew there would be no bonuses, no overtime but I did expect a decent pension.”Government concessions to those in their last 10 years of teaching would protect his pension, he admitted. But he said he had already lost hundreds of pounds as a result of basing the final figure on CPI rather than the RPI  Support for the strike comes today from Education International, which represents 10 million teachers world-wide. It is publishingresearch showing £25bn was lost to tax avoidance in the UK last year –£18.5bn
of which was lost to tax havens through avoidance by individuals and corporations. “It is quite clear from our report that billions of pounds
are being held back from funding essential public services by corporate tax dodging,” said general secretary Fred Van Leeuwn. “It is absolutely wrong for the UK government to accuse teachers and other public service unions of being irresponsible and ignoring the financial crisis,” he said.Some parents groups condemned the move to take strike action. Margaret Morrissey, of parentsoutloud.com  , said: “Teachers who strike – we expected better from you. You who lead our children you make no one feel proud and many feel ashamed. To the
thousands of teachers who are working and not striking, thank you so much.”