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Secondary education

does anyone have a child at Highbury Grove in Islington?

9 replies

mamateur · 07/10/2010 16:04

I have a couple of questions if you don't mind...

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EvilTwins · 07/10/2010 23:00

I used to teach there. Left in 2004 though, but will help if I can.

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mamateur · 08/10/2010 11:32

Hi EvilTwins,

We have DN there. It's all going pretty well I think, at least he's very happy.

The thing I don't understand is, the school say he needs to be in by 8.45. Then on the website it says anyone entering the school after 8.55 would be marked late. According to DN this never happens.

He has a homework notebook which apparently we're suppose to sign every week. But when we asked him he said that's rubbish and they never ever get signed.

We've got an appointment with the school coming up but I just wondered.

He's year 8 by the way,

Thanks!

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EvilTwins · 08/10/2010 16:54

Hi

Registration is from 8.45-8.55. Any student arriving after that time will not be registered by their form tutor, and so will get a late mark automatically.

As for signing the homework diary - it IS supposed to be signed by both parent and tutor every week. Unfortunately, it seems (at most schools) to depend on the diligence of the form tutor and how often the Year Head checks it. If I were you, I would sign it anyway, no matter what DN says, and then if the tutor doesn't sign it, you can bring that up with the school. Best to be in the position where your bits are all up to date -that way DN never has to be "reminded" (which is often a bit unfair as it's the parents' job, not the student's) to ask for it to be signed. It's just so that the school knows that the parents know what homework is being set, and so that parents can communicate with school if needs be.

Hope that helps.

Not sure who the Yr 8 Head of Year is now - when I was there, the Year Head tended to follow the students through (so Head of Yr 8 one year was Head of Yr 9 the next, IYSWIM)

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mamateur · 08/10/2010 17:21

Thanks, so I think when we get to speak to his form tutor it will emerge that he has a few late marks. He's been better recently as we've made him go to bed earlier.

I was confused, when I looked at the staff list, that the head of year 8 is down as a teaching assistant. Is this possible?

Thanks very much, ET, good idea to sign the book anyway. He doesn't get much hw, and what he gets is incredibly easy, so often he doesn't even really need to 'do' anything, (i.e. spellings, he's a whiz at scrabble!),

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EvilTwins · 08/10/2010 21:49

Head of Yr 8 is definitely not a TA - he's been there years and is an excellent teacher (Science, I believe)

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mamateur · 09/10/2010 10:13

Hi Eviltwins, it's a woman - EA?. We had our initial interview with her and there was a lot of confusion over induction which resulted in DN starting a week late.

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mamateur · 09/10/2010 10:14

Sorry, E.L.

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EvilTwins · 10/10/2010 18:34

Oh, OK. Well I was getting my info from the website which says that the Head of Yr 8's initials are GP - I know him and he's an excellent teacher. That info may be out of date though??

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mamateur · 10/10/2010 20:04

Hm, we had a meeting with the head of Y8 before DN started. We were a bit underwhelmed. I had a conversation with one of the deputy heads and she confirmed the name. I looked on the website and her name appears under a list of TA. Where are you looking on the website Eviltwins?