to think that this HT should not be so openly criticising parents?

[AllTheLightWeCannotSee]

I am really quite cross about this.

You get the gist of the article without having to go through the paywall.

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/scotland/citys-schools-highlight-a-world-of-difference-between-rich-and-poor-63m6hb677

Within half a mile (google maps says 0.2 of a mile, in fact) there are two more schools, and their results are significantly higher. Given Scottish admissions, the catchment areas will overlap (esp. with the Catholic school).

I think she is very wrong to go to the papers in this way.

it's the parents that are the massively deciding force in how well a school "performs". If they are supportive of education then you're set.

We are in a "posh" area of Glasgow and the turnout at the Primary School parents' evening is 100%. Parents are engaged and interested and hugely supportive of their children and the school. Same thing happens at the local secondary school which again, produces very good exam passes.

Would be interested to find out what the turnout at parents' evening is in poorer performing schools. There seems to be a huge culture in parts of Glasgow going back generations where school is something which has to be tolerated and endured by the children, and where parents aren't interested in the slightest in what their kids are up to.

This makes interesting reading

[[http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20130401151715/www.education.gov.uk/publications/eOrderingDownload/RR433.doc ]]

woo I find it really surprising that teachers aren't prepared to work with the school....
It definitely isn't the case in our school - and it wasn't the case in the inner city school in a deprived area I worked in in the 90s - in fact in that school the school provided the costumes for plays etc because otherwise most of them wouldn't have one ...

Like a PP my children go to the "nochurch"/middle of council estate type of school even though we are fairly wealthy academics. We chose that school above the "Boden" school (not church here just lots of yummy mummies and stockbroker type Daddies - and yes, I, generalising but that's the area where we live) due to the nurturing ethos of the school which we felt would fit our two highly sensitive children.

The other reason is that the children consistently make outstanding progress despite a significant number starting school below age related expectations. This is all done without pressure or stress and the children love school, have fun learning, adore their teachers and are encouraged to achieve to the best of their abilities.

I can also see the difference in the children - mine have a few hobbies and belong to a few clubs but generally are fairly good at chilling out and playing together or with friends. Some of the children I see from the Boden school are tired all the time, under a huge amount of stress and pressure from the school not to let the side down and somehow spoil their results. I guess what I'm trying to say is that at my children's school the ethos is that it is the school's responsibility to get the best out of the children, whilst at the other school the children have the burden and any child seen as slacking (i.e. Not getting the grades for whatever reason, inc SEN, home stuff etc) are swiftly encouraged to get a tutor - or rather the parents are, or, instead of spending a Saturday morning at ballet they are at home doing extra work or doing an extra language.

unlucky83 I was surprised by it too but it doesn't change the fact that every time there is a costume needed in DD's class, it's always the same DCs who don't have it, and their parents are teachers. And even though there are always class pics from the events (which make it blatantly obvious who doesn't have a costume) it doesn't seem to have any impact.I'm not saying it's indicative of how all teachers are, rather I was amused at the assumption upthread that it was indicative that such parents don't value education.

Would be interested to find out what the turnout at parents' evening is in poorer performing schools.

We used to ring 2 weeks and then 2 days in advance to all parents who hadn't attended the previous year to try to encourage them to attend. If you didn't do the 2 week phone call some would say they were booked up. If you didn't do the 2 day call some would say they forgot.

Getting some in through the door was a massive leap for them. Often I think they had had bad experiences at school themselves. Other times they couldn't face hearing more problems I expect. I don't think they fully recognised the massive impact them actually being there had on their children, even if they weren't particularly engaged. Kids can't quite bring themselves to say "my mum doesn't care" if mum has made the effort to come up for parents' evening. It's a really massive thing in my opinion.

Tbh not alot of us parents knew about this, Why is she bad mouthing us parents of Aultmore Park Primary School HT states that theres loan sharks out side school at the run up to xmas also kids arent fed enough as she would like kids to be! As a HT She has a lot too say about the parents of these kids! Well to me and alot of other shes totally telling lies here
As i am a parent i go to the school every day i dont see loan sharks chasing parents
For the smoking canabis HT states that she never said this it was the reporter!!!
I have contacted the papers about it
One last thing please dont judge our kids by the posh side of the city and eastend
HEY HOO YEAH WE ARE IN THE EASTEND ONE THING FOR SURE is that you seem to be having alot too say and judging us have you lived in easterhouse so dont try and make us out to be bad parents as some of us in easterhouse DO HAVE JOBS!!!

I actually think this highlights up issues with Glasgow not so common in other cities very nicely. It is not just in this one location across the city you have communities living shoulder to shoulder who have very different levels of social deprivation. Mary hill and bearsden also spring to mind, literally a short bridge separates my friends house from an area of social deprivation. The catchment schools are very different.

People will have never strayed those 0.2 miles to the nicer suburb it may as well be 10 miles away. I spoke to a police officer about three years ago who said some people can't go further than a few streets from their home because of gangs. 10 year old Glaswegians who have never been in the city centre! Yes this is very real and not an excuse from the teacher.

I can't help being reminded of the secondary school we fought so hard to get dd into. Very highly regarded, excellent Ofsteds, we were the envy of our circle to have got two children in there (on SN considerations). A year after ds got there, the head left and a new HT was appointed. His first assembly was all about how he was going to turn the school round, how he realised that the demographic meant students would not feel engaged with the school work, parents would not understand the benefits blahablaha. Ds and his cohort went home incensed. Parents felt shat upon. This turned out to signal major problems with management style: in a year or two he had managed to alienate the parents and pupils, results dropped, all the best teachers left because they couldn't get on with him, school now in special measures. Didn't take long for him to wreck a school simply by walking in and showing his low opinion of it.

We may live in easterhouse but our kids are still entitled to an education as i say its not bad parenting or bad kids its bad teaching some of these teachers dont have the time to teach them the way they are suppose too do or they simply cba doing it!!! We have been brung down to the lowest point but the REPORTER WHO DONE THIS HEY YOU WONT KEEP US PARENTS AND KIDS DOWN AS IF WE ARE S**T OFF YOUR SHOES AS WE ARE BETTER THAN THAT OUR AREA IS IN POVERTY BUT WHO GIVES YOU THE RIGHT TO BAD MOUTH US AND OUR CHILDREN
TBH ALL US PARENTS NEVER KNEW ABOUT THIS IN THE PAPER TILL I SEEN IT ON FACEBOOK!!!!

Hey i just read you comment and its not bad kids it must be bad teaching dont you bring our kids down asif they were sh*t off your shoe!!
I guess your from the posher part of glasgow or where ever dont you bring kids down that youve never seen before!!!