General Chat

Didn't see Summer Scribe's comment before about how seven year olds should not be suffering with exam stress but I totally agree with it.

I was frazzled enough doing my GCSEs at sixteen. I would often work very late into the night to make sure my homework was done for the next day (although Year Elevens had a study room they could use at lunch, for any other year there was a culture perpetuated by the kids that if you were doing forgotten homework at dinner time for the next lesson, you were doing something illicit). I never felt like what I was doing was good enough and always felt bad about having to tell teachers if I had tried to do my homework and genuinely been unable to finish it.

I was fifteen and sixteen then. So to think that seven year olds are under that kind of pressure is heartbreaking and very depressing.

Hi Abigail, I went to a secondary modern, formerly a very good grammar school. But it was so good that in the 1940s, my dad, a clever lad , but not rich was victimised and bullied for being from the wrong part of town.


SS is so right about academy in barrow, i signed against it 2 weeks ago,


Caz xxxxxx

My two were completely different as well.

Our daughter always wanted to go to grammar school as her cousin went there. She loved the hard work, organisation and discipline.

Our son went to the local comp. did really well despite the, shall we politely say, lack of discipline.

Daughter went on to uni. son did well enought to get into uni. but didn't want to go.

Both have excellent jobs and we are very happy with the way it all turned out

Linda

and in repsonse to Dermots comment about Scandinavian children starting formal education at 7, they also said that despite starting 3 yrs later than our children, they are consistantly betterthan ourchildren!!!

My daughter is currently in yr 10 local all girls grammar school and is doing very well. It suits her needs perfectly. Like Tinas' daughter she needed no coaching, no tutor, no extra help, she's a ntaural academic.

When it came to choosing a high school for my twin boys it was a very different story. They are SO not academic. We have three comps nearby, two mixed and one all boys that they could choose from. And yes I let them choose as they have to spend 5 yrs of their lives there not me!!! They started in Sept and both are doing well. One is on the rubgy team and is doind well in sports (it is a sports college) The other is doing well in drama and art ( see what I mean about not being academic) However this school priases the child for doing his best even if that means it's not straight A's which is something their primary school lacked. Means they are really blooming now with confidence, p'haps too much at times!!

Every child is different and needs different things.

I went to a comprehensive because at the time I wanted to be with my friends from primary school. (My parents did ask if I wanted to go to the grammar school in our town but I declined their suggestionfor the above reason.)

It is something I still regret a bit. At our high school, the teachers spent half the time trying to shut the class up so they could teach and there were many, many disruptive kids that. I didn't feel like there was a real work ethic there, although the school did have a good reputation.

I got good GCSEs compared to many pupils in my year but when I went to the grammar school sixth form, I realised how much better the pupils were who had come from the main grammar school to the sixth form. They had a much, much better work ethic and there was far more emphasis on "it's your responsibility to do well", whereas at my secondary school, they sometimes didn't praise us so much as rant at us from time to time in assembly about how "if your mocks were any indicator of your final GCSEs, you won't do as well - as a year group - as last year's Year 11". I think, ultimately, they were worried that a "lapse" would mean OFSTED inspectors coming round.

You cannot cut competition out of education.... life is one huge competition.

It will always be there... a level playing field would be nice though.

I am with you Abigail, I was devastated when my little boy had to turn up at school at the age of 4 1/2... far too young.
He was okay, but I can't say the same about me. I missed him so much.

Deanna X

According to the radio today, Scandinavian children start their schooling at age 7.

I sometimes felt that when we were getting our little ones ready for starting school, some parents seemed to think of it as a free six hour babysitting service.

I was not looking forward to it at all, I knew I would miss him desperately!!

They're discussing this issue on the ITV news right now.

A new report saying that our country sends our children to school younger, tests them younger and more and don't show as good a results.

Abigail, it's not just that one week either is it, they spend weeks preparing for it too.

I do think our children are 'formally' tested too much and too young. There's not really any need to test a child until they're 10/11 in my mind.

When we were in junior school I remember frequent spelling and maths tests....just little 10 question things that kept us all moving forward or identified those who were struggling or not working. It worked well and didn't take up the teachers time tied up in administrative c***. Time should be spent teaching not testing at those ages and school should be fun not stressful. 7 year olds with nervous anxiety and exam related stress is just unforgivable.

Oh Pink! You don't need to apologise!

I understood what you meant. What I meant was she was not one of those people who have an ideal in their head of how things should be without having any idea of how any of the real world works, or who dissociate themselves from it.

She seemed to be reacting to something rather than philosophising.

I think the exam structure works to a certain extent but i don't think we need all the extra optional sats on top. They could be doing something useful in that week!

Did you really hate your school? I wanted so badly to go to one like that. I don't even know how different it would have been to my own. The discipline at ours is absolutely legendary. Don't know what it is like now but the myth of it has passed down the generations!!!

I went to a grammer school and hated it, probably because I'm idle and didn't want to 'do' school, any school. The pressure to keep up was immense.

My daughter passed to go to a grammer school and it was exactly right for her she needed no coaching and got there on her natural ability.

My other 4 children didn't have that natural ability so went to the catholic school which was the progression from the junior feeder school.

It is down to individual choice and ability.

Tina x

Abigail

I completely understand what you are saying we have changed the exam structure to ensure that children get a fair deal and more attention is given to those under performing (or at least it should be that way)

I went to a Grammar School..... I hated it, but I wouldn't change it now as I have fought to achieve everything I have in my life and I am guessing there is some credit the school can take!

Apologies for generalising on the word nuts, it was a flippant comment!

Both of our daughters passed for Grammer school but neither wanted to go personal choice,,,,we gave in and sent them to a school that didnt have the best reputation on the understanding that if their grades fell we would have to rethink..........eldest leaves this yr and has done so well,,,she even took 4 of her gcse's last yr a yr early and came out with the highest grade poss....and youngest is also doing very well too.....Rachel..xx

I don't think this lady was nuts Pink. But I think she must have had a bad experience at some stage as she was so passionately emphatic about it.

I agree about competition. There were limited places for uni for me and I had to make a good pitch because I wanted it so badly.

Then work wise, how is any child who has no notion of competition, going to get throught the interview process.

It really is not joined up thinking but on the other hand I do think we test children too much. A whole week is taken up by SATs at seven and then schools have the option again the next year of wasting another week.

Teachers are skilled and do monitor progress on an individual basis. I feel the figures generated by these tests are just desk fodder for that species I despise, the pen pushing, work avoiding, real life evading administrator/civil servant/publicist/politician!

Yes, we had one school in the area that served about ten villages.

In the middle of the country it wasn't unusual for the classes to be missing several people as they would be helping out with lambing, or the harvest.

Fortunately it was a good school but again if you were needing extra help it was not so easy to come by.

I think it did a good basic job and if you were in the middle you would have stayed there.

Hear hear Pink, We cannot risk letting these kids into what is undeniably a cut-throat world without taeching them how to survive in it, and that includes competing.

I'm not a parent but I think anyone who wants to remove competition froms schools is absolutely nuts!!

The real world is full of competition and if a child doesn't know how to compete in any way then they are going to fail abysmally to get on in life!

D