Why schools do this!!?

[FedUpOfYetAnotherCold]

AIBU to wonder why children in primary school are taught 'head, shoulders, knees and toes' in French, can tell the difference between metamorphic, sedimentary and ignious rocks, can trace a stone age picture, can create great models of the tower of London, and learn (and promptly forget) all about the Victorians, Romans etc... but...

Quite a few can't swim 25m by end of primary (a skill which could save their life), many barely know what the term 'mental health' means - let alone know how to manage their own or support others with MH difficulties. Most state primary kids are not given access to decent sports provision to support future athletic dreams, better manage in-school behaviour, and promote healthy lifestyle and reduce obesity, and very few kids are supported to learn key life skills. (I'm focussing on primary here - but we also need more life skills like MH and budgeting and cooking etc... taught in secondary)..

Surely we need more teaching in schools on mental health, life skills and better access to sports and teaching which will lead to physically and mentally healthy adults of the future.

When my children finish primary I'd like them to be able to read, write and do basic maths. But in terms of the rest of the teaching - surely we now need to re-evaluate how much emphasis we place on teaching less vital skills such as French (if a language is deemed important why not Chinese, Spanish or Arabic, or something more useful in this current global village) which could be learnt later if desired?

AIBU?

Why who's kids are you raising and what does it have to do with this thread

If you've read the thread, you'll know that many posters believe many of the skills found wanting by the OP (who hasn't been back much), are correctly the domain of the parent, not the school.

That's why they wrote what they wrote.

Yet, there is no learning of Civics in the UK - kids leave education with a vote but zero education about how the political or financial system of their own country works, basic finance etc

So what is PSHE about then?

Tories sold off school playing fields and barely any new swimming pools have been built for years. Under previous labour governments joint school and community sports and community facilities were built. Now it is all private leisure companies only - they keep on with creaking decaying sports facilities and swimming pools with zero investment.

This is what you get for voting Tory.

@echt

Yet, there is no learning of Civics in the UK - kids leave education with a vote but zero education about how the political or financial system of their own country works, basic finance etc

So what is PSHE about then?

IME it wasn't the political or financial system of the UK. It was soft social right-on subjects as well as important stuff like sexual health, race etc.

Would your offenders be offenders if they can/can't swim 25 metres?

I happen to agree with you that sports & swimming are important - personally, I wish children were taught to run, not set off on cross country to divide the cans and can'ts - but honestly, offenders tend to come from complex families and no curriculum is going to change that. Helping them to read and write might.

They're your kids - you are their main educator so you should be teaching them these important life skills.

You can't just park them outside the school gate at 5 years old and expect teachers to raise them for you. Sorry OP, but yabu.

Costs us £1000 a term to teach swimming.

I teach French as I speak French to a much higher standard than I speak Spanish or Russian: my alternative offerings.

The rest all gets repeated at least weekly here. Some stuff needs to be taught by families: I educate DS on things not covered in school, I think it’s reasonable to expect others to do the same.

Having run a payroll for a large company I think it would be really helpful if children were taught about NI, income tax and pensions plus their rights to things like SSP

Teenagers should be taught about investing too. £50 a month invested into a dependable ETF like S&P500 between the ages of 18-50 and you could quite likely have a pot of 150k when you hit aged fifty (based on a conservative 10% growth per year: “According to historical records, the average annual return since its inception in 1926 through 2018 is approximately 10%–11%”…..Course no guarantees, but people should be taught at a young age that these kind of options exist and that this is essentially how many of the worlds most wealthy people make their money.

Totally agree with OP and it's appalling that schools are so underfunded.

I’m sure lots of primary schools do these things. My son’s school buses the children to a local pool every week in year 4 for lessons so the vast majority of children achieve the national standard. They also learn about the brain and mindfulness via the MindUp programme and teach the ‘zones of regulation’ so children have an understanding and language for mental well-being.

They get good academic results too. So the above isn’t at the cost of good teaching.

It’s a local authority controlled primary so nothing ‘special’. But we do live in an affluent area and the school is well supported by the parents.

I fear a lot of young people who end up in prison don’t have the benefit of attending a school that does these things. And that’s wrong.

@user452369
Our kids are mentally destroyed by the exam system in the UK. Secondary school is worse

Agree with you about the Tories, but disagree about exams. Compared to what kids in Asia face, school life in Britain (and Europe generally) is a walk in the park.

I get that, but many kids don't not have parents able to teach these things or provide lessons etc...

Then educate the parents!

You can tell from an early age those with difficult home lives who are more likely to end up in prison, because parents are a bigger influence on children than school -

Children who have parents disinterested in education or have low attendance because they can’t be bothered to send them to school, etc, won’t suddenly be inspired by a finance lesson about mortgages when Mum doesn’t have two pennies to buy dinner!

Basic Parenting 101 is what you are asking for.

Why do so many parents think that teachers should take the role of loco parentis to such ridiculous levels?

@AngelicaElizaAndPeggy

They're your kids - you are their main educator so you should be teaching them these important life skills.

You can't just park them outside the school gate at 5 years old and expect teachers to raise them for you. Sorry OP, but yabu.

Such a lazy and ignorant response. Of course all children and young people should be supported holistically and the most sensible place to deliver much of this is through the school. It's about equity and dignity and the general growth and betterment of a society.

News flash, schools in many other countries manage to deliver music and swimming lessons, mental health programmes, and financial literacy feom an early age.

You must not live in the U.k then or live in a very influential area because it IS NOT the norm for state schools to have swimming pools - they cost an absolute fortune to run!

Many of the newer primary schools are on a shared campus with a high school and pretty much every high school in our are has a swimming pool.

many barely know what the term 'mental health' means - let alone know how to manage their own or support others with MH difficulties.
Children are not pseudo-therapists and schools are a place to give a rounded education, not train children to compensate for the failings of adults.

Oh gosh!! Just curious me back to this thread and see people are not in agreement!!

I understand people saying 'its the parents job' etc..

For what it's worth - my children are both competent swimmers as I have sent them to lessons and one is in a swim club. I do also teach them skills and MH awareness etc...

But I am not asking for a change in schools for me! Its about ALL children - especially those who have parents that are not in a position or able to send children to etc lessons, or able to teach them to be healthy or help them with life skills.

As I said before, I work with offenders. Many can't read or write, have significant mental health difficulties, don't know how to eat healthily or budget or time manage, many have substance use problems. Many can't manage their emotions and have no understanding how to look after themselves or others. I'd love schools to play a roll.in teaching these things as I don't know where else kids can learn this stuff if their parents are not in a position to do so.

I appreciate the pressures on schools. I love my kids school and think the teachers are amazing - my thinking is more about an overhaul of the system in general to make sure ALL kids leave school with basic life skills and knowing how to live healthily with good mental health. To me, this is more important than learning pythagorus theorum or about ox bow lakes, or about the great fire of London ....

Having run a payroll for a large company I think it would be really helpful if children were taught about NI, income tax and pensions plus their rights to things like SSP

Teenagers should be taught about investing too.

I haven’t seen the detail of it yet, but Martin Lewis’ financial education textbook which is going in to schools is a great addition to school teaching.

Finance, politics, first aid, relationships, mental health and more are already compulsory in secondary schools...

www.gov.uk/government/publications/changes-to-personal-social-health-and-economic-pshe-and-relationships-and-sex-education-rse

No wonder the corridors of youth prisons resound with 'Tete epaules genou pieds', if only they'd learned to swim instead

You must live near particularly rubbish schools, my kids school does all of this except the swimming which in my opinion is a parent’s responsibility

Would your offenders be offenders if they can/can't swim 25 metres?

No,but many of them can't swim because they weren't lucky enough to have parents able to send them to lessons. At least if they fell or were pushed or jumped in a river when under the influence of substances (as does happen), they would stand a chance of living if they had learnt to swim....

@EnidFrighten

No wonder the corridors of youth prisons resound with 'Tete epaules genou pieds', if only they'd learned to swim instead

♥😁♥

I can speak conversational French, I got every swimming award that was available to me, I can read, write, cook. However, I still have anxiety and depression. I don’t believe being taught about it in school would have prevented this, as y’know it’s my brain chemistry.

You’ve had lots of good replies from people about the excellent work many, not all primary schools do in relation to mental health and some of the other things you mention.

As a French teacher, it certainly sounds to me like you have a bee in your bonnet about French. I teach secondary but do lots of work with primary schools to help develop their offerings. A second language is incredibly useful to primary children and helps develop so many skills, including literacy in their own language. It’s also a super age to introduce them to languages as they don’t have the fear barriers they have as they get older; they are more than happy to have a go and get involved. Although French is my subject, any language would encourage these skills and would also nurture the linguistic skill which would be so useful for learning further languages in the future and as you allude, in this global world, languages are important. French will forever remain the primary language, with Spanish a close second until more budget is allocated to use on specialist teachers. Until then you are often relying on primary teachers, some of whom don’t even have a GCSE in a language to use whatever resources they can find and rely on the secondary schools to help if possible!